Sell your car in Missoula: running, worn out or hit by a deer
Ask for a cash offer online today. Accept it, and pickup is free, whether the car is parked in the U-District or down the Bitterroot. A Washington or Idaho title won't slow the sale.
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Where title work happens in Missoula
- The courthouse, not Palmer Street. Missoula County registers and titles cars on behalf of the state. The Montana MVD office at 2681 Palmer St., Suite A, is where you go for a driver's license, which the county doesn't issue. The title and plate work people often call a trip to the Montana DMV happens at the county treasurer (Missoula County).
- Find the door. The Clerk and Treasurer's Office is in the Missoula County Courthouse at 200 W. Broadway, with its main entrance off West Pine Street, across from the Mountain Line Transfer Station. It's open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, closed on major holidays. Taxes and vehicles: 406-258-4747 (Motor Vehicles).
- Join the queue from home. The county runs an online queue, and some jobs, like registering a car for the first time, can't be done online. In Seeley Lake the office works from the Foundation Building, 3150 Hwy 83, Tuesdays 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. and Thursdays 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Come See Us).
Where we pick up around Missoula
Pickup is free in the city and the towns around it. Lolo, East Missoula, Bonner, Clinton and Frenchtown are covered, and so is the Bitterroot down to Hamilton. Pickup usually happens within a few days of an accepted offer.
Going without a car after the sale? Mountain Line runs fare-free buses in and around Missoula (Mountain Line), and ASUM Transportation's UDASH buses run routes around campus (UM Parking FAQ).
A for-sale sign at the curb breaks city code
Missoula's traffic code bars parking a car on a street or other public place mainly to show it for sale, or to store it while it isn't in use (section 10.22.120). If you're selling it yourself, keep the car with the sign in your driveway.
Near campus there's less curb to use. Under the University Area Residential Permit Parking Program, adopted in 1986, permit streets in the U-District are enforced on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and students may not park on the signed blocks (UM Parking). An online offer means the car never has to sit anywhere to be seen. It stays in your driveway, garage or lot until pickup.
Cash for your car in Missoula
Ask the Missoula Police Department what to do with a vehicle you no longer want, and its FAQ sends you to the Missoula City-County Health Department's Junk Vehicle Program. You sign ownership over, and the program takes the car away at no cost, in any condition (MPD FAQ).
That removal is free, but it isn't a sale. Before you sign a car away, you can get cash for junk cars in Missoula through our junk car offer. A car that won't start, a worn-out one, or one with a front end folded by a deer gets an offer as it sits. If insurance wrote yours off and you kept it, we'll quote it as-is, salvage brand and all.
If a deer folded the front end, selling an accident-damaged car covers fixing it versus selling it as it is, and selling a totaled car explains the buyback and the salvage title if insurance wrote it off. If a worn-out car has finally quit, start with selling a car with a seized or knocking engine or a transmission that has lost reverse.
What the city and county report
- •93 vehicles were towed for recycling and disposal by Missoula Public Health's junk vehicle program in 2025 (Missoula Public Health)
- •Missoula County's option tax is one half percent of a vehicle's taxable value, which starts from the manufacturer's suggested retail price and drops on a set schedule as the car ages (Missoula County Motor Vehicle FAQs)
Asked by Missoula sellers
I sold my car, then renewed the registration by mistake. Will Missoula County refund it?
Only if you ask within 30 days of the renewal date, and only if the sale happened on or before the old registration expired. The county's refund form asks you to upload proof of the sale. A card or electronic-check processing fee isn't refunded (Missoula County refunds).
A deer strike totaled my car after I registered it. Does Missoula County give anything back?
Only part of one tax. Missoula County can refund the Missoula County Local Option Tax, prorated, and nothing else. Any month you drove the car counts as used, and you upload the insurance paperwork for the totaled vehicle with the request. Our totaled car guide covers selling the car itself.
My car died on a Missoula street. How long can it stay there?
Five days at most. City code limits any vehicle to 120 hours in a row on a street or alley. In winter it can be less. A snow-plowing parking ban declared by the mayor can take effect as soon as eight hours after it's first announced, on the streets it names, and cars parked in violation may be impounded (city code, Title 10).
What happens to a car left in a University of Montana lot?
Some campus lots ban parking from 2 to 5 a.m., weekends and holidays included. UM Police tag a car reported as abandoned or junk with a notice to vacate, and the owner has 2 to 5 days to respond before it's removed. UM can also boot a car over 3 or more unpaid citations, fines over $100, or a balance older than 90 days (UM Parking FAQ).
Our Montana guide covers the paperwork that doesn't change from county to county.