Sell your car in Honolulu: running, damaged or leaving the island
Sell your car in Honolulu with an instant cash offer and pickup anywhere on Oahu. Leaving on PCS orders? Below, shipping the car from Pier 1 is laid out next to the two on-base options and our offer. If the car is past fixing, you will also find the city's free junk tow and the satellite city hall details you need.
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Booking the paperwork on Oahu
- A transfer needs an AlohaQ slot. Honolulu does not handle an ownership transfer at the express window, so book one at AlohaQ.org. If the week looks full, check again late in the day: canceled slots for the next day are released by 4:30 p.m. daily.
- Selling to a private buyer? Go in together. The city recommends that buyer and seller come in person together, and one appointment covers both sides of a single-car sale at any satellite city hall.
- Two things to check before you go. The Notice of Transfer form is on the express list, so it needs no appointment. And if the city's records show an expired safety check at transfer, the owner must show proof of a current one. Honolulu's transfer page has the details.
Where we pick up around Honolulu
We come to you anywhere on Oahu: a high-rise garage in town (96813), a driveway in East Honolulu out to Hawaii Kai (96825), base housing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam or Schofield Barracks, or a street in Kapolei (96707) on the Ewa side.
Booking Pearlridge for the paperwork? That satellite city hall takes appointments only from 9 to 10 a.m., and appointment holders enter through the monorail rooftop entrance. Express and standby service opens at 10.
Ship it, store it or sell it before you leave the island
Military OneSource says PCS orders may entitle you to ship or store one car at government expense. On Oahu, a car you ship is turned in at the Honolulu Vehicle Processing Center at Pier 1 on Forrest Avenue, downtown. A second car is yours to ship at your own cost, or to sell here.
There are two on-base options. Hickam's Vehicle Resale Lot lets you put the car up for sale on the lot for a weekly fee. At Schofield Barracks, the Auto Skills Center runs a turn-in service instead: you sign the car over to Family and MWR, which resells it by sealed bid. What each one asks for is listed below.
The third option is an instant cash offer from us. Selling means you walk away with cash and buy at the next duty station, and the offer gives you a real sell-side number to weigh against shipping. Pickup is typically within days of an accepted offer and can be scheduled around your report date, your housing checkout or your Pier 1 drop-off. Our guide to selling your car before a PCS move walks through the ship-or-sell choice for any duty station.
Cash for your car in Honolulu
An old, damaged or non-running car can still get an instant offer. Looking for cash for a junk car on Oahu? Rust, body damage or an engine that won't start doesn't rule out an offer, and the number reflects the car's condition. Here is how selling a junk car with us works.
The city has a free option too. Under Honolulu's Junk Vehicle Program, you fill out the city's junking form, take off the plates, and bring the form, plates and title to an AlohaQ appointment at a satellite city hall. The car must be free of debris, parked on your own property or legally on a public street, easy for a tow truck to reach, and have at least two inflated tires on the end the truck can reach. The city then tows it for disposal at no cost to you.
Before you hand a car over to the city's junk program, find out whether its problem is worth fixing: selling a car with a blown head gasket or seized engine and selling a car with body or accident damage each help you choose between a repair and selling it as it is. If your insurer has already declared it a total loss, selling a totaled car explains the settlement, buying the car back and the salvage title that follows.
What the base options and the base office ask for
- •Hickam Vehicle Resale Lot, 335 Kuntz Ave., Bldg. 1889, across from the Hickam Arts & Crafts Center: $12 a week per vehicle. You need a military or DoD ID card, a valid registration and proof of insurance, all in the ID card holder's name. Open Tuesday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (JBPHH MWR)
- •Schofield Barracks Auto Skills Center turn-in, Building 910, Duck Road: bring a completed Statement of Transfer, a clean, transferable title and the keys, Tuesday through Saturday. (Army MWR Hawaii)
- •Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Vehicle Registration Office, 1239 Vickers Ave., Bldg. 1249: city motor vehicle transactions only, by online appointment only, and base access is required. (City and County of Honolulu)
Asked by Honolulu sellers
What happens if I leave my car on Oahu when I PCS?
If it stays on a public street, it can be towed. The city says hundreds of vehicles a month are towed from public roads, including cars parked in one place for more than 24 hours and cars with an expired registration or safety check. Unclaimed towed cars are auctioned, but the city gives active-duty service members 60 days to claim a car before it seeks an order to auction it. If a towed car you no longer own is still registered in your name, the city asks you to email an SCRA waiver to mvc@honolulu.gov. Motor Vehicle Control takes questions at (808) 768-2530.
Which office handles the paperwork when I sell a car on Oahu?
On Oahu, the Hawaii DMV is the county DMV, run by the City and County of Honolulu through its satellite city halls. There are nine around the island, from Kapolei to Hawaii Kai and Windward City in Kaneohe, and any of them can process a transfer by appointment. Soldiers at Schofield Barracks can use the Wahiawa office at 330 N. Cane St. The office inside Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam is listed above.
What does the Honolulu vehicle processing center ask for when I ship a car?
U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii's 2021 shipping guidance says to book the turn-in online once you have orders. The car should be clean inside and out, carry a quarter tank of fuel or less, and have no unresolved recalls for electrical or fire-related items. The full document list is online where you book, so check it before you drive down.
Does a car that just sits in my driveway still cost me in Honolulu?
Yes. Honolulu charges every registered vehicle an annual registration fee set by its weight. Age and value don't enter into it. The city does offer a pause, its Stored Vehicle Program, meant for a long repair or restoration on private property. You ask at the start, while the registration is still current, and bring form CS-L(MVR) 46, both plates, the emblem and the registration to an AlohaQ appointment. Putting the car back on the road later may mean a tow to a safety check station, since driving it there is illegal until it is street legal again.
Our Hawaii selling guide covers signing the title and the papers you hand the buyer.