Sell your car in Hilo: running, rusted through or won't start
NOAA's 1991-2020 normals put Hilo's airport at 120.39 inches of rain a year, just over ten feet. This page covers the Hilo side of selling a car that has sat out in that: the Pauahi Street counter that takes title and junk paperwork, what the county's free junk-car tow will and won't take, and the rule for a car left by the road. You get an offer on the car as it is, and pickup comes to you anywhere on the east side.
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How the county’s free junk-car tow works from Hilo
- Junk the car first, at Suite 5. For a car you own, the program needs a title the county has stamped “PERMANENTLY JUNKED.” Every registered owner signs the Application for JUNK Status and the title, and both plates go back to the county. Junking costs nothing, and the county says a junked vehicle can never be registered again.
- Apply at Kekuanaoa Street. The registered and legal owner sends the Derelict/Abandoned Vehicle Section a copy of the stamped title and a copy of a government photo ID, by mail, in person or by email to VDAP@hawaiicounty.gov. The program covers up to two vehicles each fiscal year, free, while its funding lasts (county application, PDF).
- Make sure the tow truck can take it. The county takes passenger cars, pickups and vans up to 6,000 pounds, with no more than five tires and no household trash inside. The car also has to sit within 20 feet of the nearest road; one parked farther back won’t be towed.
Where we pick up around Hilo
Pickup covers the whole east side, rain or shine. From Hilo (96720) it runs south through Keaau (96749) and Hawaiian Paradise Park to Mountain View and Pahoa (96778), and north up the Hamakua coast past Papaikou to Honokaa. If the car sits at the end of a long gravel driveway or down a rough private subdivision road, say so in the form so the right truck makes the trip.
Waiting on pickup? Keep the car off the road. In Hawaii County, once police put a notice on a car left on a public road, it has 24 hours to be moved onto private property or more than a mile away. After that it can be towed as abandoned, and the owner pays the charges. Until the truck comes, a driveway, carport or yard is the place for it.
Cash for your car in Hilo
A car that won’t start still gets an offer, and it beats what a scrap yard pays by weight. Pickup comes with a flatbed and a winch, so the car doesn’t have to move on its own; just say up front that it doesn’t run so the crew loads it right. A truck whose body has rotted through in the rain but whose engine still runs well gets an offer too, with the healthy engine counted in it.
Hawaii County also offers a free tow. Its Vehicle Disposal Assistance Program, run by the Derelict/Abandoned Vehicle Section on Kekuanaoa Street in Hilo, hauls away a junked car at no charge. It pays you nothing, though, and for a car you own it first wants the title junked for good at a county registration office. So work in this order: get the offer to sell your junk car in Hilo first, and take the title to the Pauahi Street office for junking only if you settle on the free tow. The county’s steps for that are further down this page.
If it's the engine or the transmission that gave out rather than the body, selling a car with a blown engine or head gasket walks through fixing versus selling, and selling a car with a bad transmission covers slipping, limp mode and no reverse.
Three Hilo addresses, three different jobs
- •On the Big Island, the county DMV is Hawaii County’s Vehicle Registration and Licensing Division. Its Hilo Motor Vehicle Registration office, at 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 5, handles title transfers, duplicate titles and junk status. It’s open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. by appointment, with walk-ins served on a stand-by basis; salvage vehicles and out-of-state registrations are handled only until 3:30 p.m. (County office list)
- •Driver licensing is in a different building. The county’s Hilo driver license and motor vehicle control office moved to 120 Pauahi Street, so title and registration paperwork still goes to Suite 5 at 101 Pauahi. (County office list)
- •The free junk-car program has a third address: the Department of Environmental Management’s Derelict/Abandoned Vehicle Section, 345 Kekuanaoa Street, Suite 41, open 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, (808) 961-8552. (County disposal program)
Asked by Hilo sellers
What does the Hilo registration office check when my car's title changes hands?
Every seller's signature. The county's transfer page says it verifies the signatures of all sellers and can't complete a transfer if they don't match. To avoid that, it recommends signing the seller's section of the title in front of a notary, or going to the office with your buyer.
My title is lost or too rain-damaged to read. How do I replace it from Hilo?
With the county's Application for Duplicate Title, form VRL-MVR503. If no lender is on record, every registered owner signs it, either in front of a notary or by all coming in person with government photo ID to a county office. If a lienholder is still listed, the lienholder has to complete and notarize the application. A mailed application must be notarized and goes to the Vehicle Registration Office, 101 Pauahi St., Suite 5, Hilo, HI 96720.
Can I put a car I'm not using into Hawaii County storage while I decide whether to sell?
Yes, if its registration is current. You fill out a Statement of Fact for a Stored Vehicle, turn in both plates and the emblem, and hand in your current registration, which gets stamped to show the car is in storage. That exempts you from future registration fees and taxes; without it, you keep owing them even while the car sits unused. The county may also ask for a storage inspection, which in Hilo goes through the motor vehicle control office at (808) 961-8879.
I live in Puna or up the Hamakua coast. Do I have to come into Hilo for the paperwork?
No. In Puna, the county's Pahoa office, inside the Pahoa Police Station at 15-2615 Keaau-Pahoa Road, handles title transfers and duplicate titles, by appointment only. From Honokaa, the county's Waimea office at 65-1158 Mamalahoa Highway is another option; it does the same two jobs and serves walk-ins on a stand-by basis. Both keep weekday hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For the statewide part of selling, see our Hawaii selling guide.