Sell your car in Tampa: running or not, flooded or leaving MacDill
Get a real offer online, with pickup at your address on either side of Tampa Bay. Leaving MacDill Air Force Base on orders? The base's resale lot and the PCS shipping rules are below.
Prefer a callback? Leave your number ↓
Offers powered by our buying partner — ★ 4.7 Trustpilot (205,000+ reviews) · ★ 4.5 Google (8,900+)
From the offer to the toll account
- Get the offer, then the truck. Fill in the form or call with the car's details. The truck comes to your address and sale day itself is quick; the offer holds at pickup as long as the car matches what you described.
- Clear your toll accounts. Take the car off your SunPass account. If it carries an E-ZPass or Peach Pass transponder, update that account too: THEA takes both on the Selmon Expressway alongside SunPass.
Where we pick up around Tampa
On the Tampa side, pickup comes to your address anywhere from downtown (33602) to New Tampa (33647), and in Town 'n' Country, Brandon, Riverview, Plant City and Wesley Chapel. Across the bay, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo and the beach communities are covered too.
On the Tampa side, your county tax collector is Hillsborough's. Its offices handle the county's Florida DMV (FLHSMV) title work and take walk-ins with no appointment, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (from 9 on Wednesdays), including Downtown on the 14th floor of County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd. For an electronic title, its E-Title Express service takes online requests for a printed copy.
A car that sat in Helene's surge
At its worst, Helene's surge inside Tampa Bay stood 5 to 7 feet above ground in September 2024, and the Old Port Tampa tide gauge measured 6.83 feet above the normal high-tide line, per the National Hurricane Center's report. We buy cars that sat in that water, including ones now carrying a flood, salvage or rebuilt brand. Whether an insurer paid a claim decides most of what follows, and our flood-damaged car guide starts there.
Electric cars drew their own warning. Before Milton in October 2024, the City of Tampa opened its garages free to residents of low-lying, flood-prone areas and told EV owners to park on the third floor or higher, noting that floodwater can damage the battery and, in extreme cases, lead to an electrical fire.
Shipping from Orlando or selling on the Lemon Lot
Cars shipped on PCS orders are turned in at a vehicle processing center, and the only one PCSmyPOV lists in Florida is in Orlando, on Boggy Creek Road. Turn-in is by appointment only, booked on PCSmyPOV, weekdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; call at least 24 hours ahead to confirm. MacDill's Traffic Management Flight (Building 49, Cypress Stand Drive) can explain what your orders entitle you to.
To sell on base, MacDill has a Lemon Lot in the Pharmacy parking lot on Kingfisher Street. As of September 2026 a space costs $30 a month, for up to two 30-day periods, or $10 a month for an online listing alone. You email a registration form, pay at the Arts and Crafts Center (for now inside MacDill Lanes Bowling Center) and show proof of insurance and registration to get a parking tag.
Or ask for an offer here and have the car picked up at your address. Not sure the car is worth the drive to Orlando? Our PCS guide sets shipping against selling.
Cash for your car in Tampa
The City of Tampa puts a clock on a dead car. Section 19-56 of the city code bars leaving an inoperative vehicle on residential or commercial property for more than 72 hours and lets the city remove one that appears to break the rule. Inoperative means it can't move under its own power or doesn't meet the minimum requirements to be driven legally, down to a valid license plate properly placed on it.
That reaches junk cars in Tampa, including a flood car that no longer starts. Our junk car offer is for the kind of car the city calls inoperative, and pickup takes it off the property.
If the car can't move under its own power, our guides to a seized or blown engine and a transmission that slips or has no reverse set the repair bill against selling it as it is. If Helene's surge ended in a total-loss claim, selling a totaled car explains the insurer's payout and the salvage title that comes next.
How the Selmon Expressway bills a car
- •The Selmon runs 15 miles from Gandy Boulevard in South Tampa to I-4, I-75 and Brandon, all-electronic since September 2010 (THEA)
- •As of September 2026, a plate that isn't on a SunPass account is billed by Toll-by-Plate at the registration address: 25 cents more per tolling location, plus an administrative fee on each invoice (THEA)
- •Two unpaid collection notices bring a registration hold that blocks renewal until the balance is paid (THEA)
Asked by Tampa sellers
Is there a tax collector office on MacDill Air Force Base?
Yes. The Hillsborough County Tax Collector has a walk-in-only office in the Main Exchange at 3018 N. Boundary Blvd., with motor vehicle services. You need base access to reach it; hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, from 9 on Wednesdays.
Can I leave my car in MacDill's RV and boat storage lot when I PCS?
Not in the Outdoor Recreation lot on Marina Bay Drive. Its rental agreement is written for campers, RVs, boats and trailers, and renters agree to remove them before a PCS. Storing a car on PCS orders goes through PCSmyPOV, the same site that handles shipping.
I want to sell my junk car in Tampa, but it sits in a closed garage. Is it breaking the city's rule?
No. The city's rule on inoperative vehicles, Section 19-56, doesn't apply to one kept in an enclosed building, so a dead car behind a closed garage door isn't breaking it. You can still ask for an offer on it.
I live in St. Petersburg. Where does my notice of sale go?
To the Pinellas County Tax Collector. Mail the completed form to P.O. Box 6288 in Clearwater, drop it off at any of its offices, or sign it and email it to taxcollector@pinellastaxcollector.gov.
What you sign at the sale follows Florida law in every county, and our Florida guide has those steps.