Sell your car in Raleigh: running, broken down or unregistered
Want to sell your car in Raleigh? Ask for a cash offer, and if you take it, pickup is free and set around your schedule.
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Offer, plate, refund: the order in Wake County
- Get the offer and book the free pickup. Say where the car is and when you can be there.
- Surrender the plate to NCDMV. Its office locator shows where to take it. For a refund it has to go in before the month the plate expires. Keep the FS-20 form that proves you surrendered it.
- Claim the refund within one year. Send the FS-20 and your bill of sale to Wake County at taxhelp@wake.gov, through the form at wake.gov/vehiclehelp, or to P.O. Box 2331, Raleigh, NC 27602-2331, with the address for the refund check.
Where we pick up around Raleigh
We buy cars anywhere in Raleigh, downtown 27601 included, and pickup is free. Cary (27511) is covered the same way, and so are Apex, Morrisville, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Garner, Knightdale and Wake Forest. If the car is parked away from home, give us the lot's name and street address so the driver can find it.
Handing tax papers over in person? Wake County Tax Administration is on the third floor of the Wake County Justice Center, 301 S. McDowell St., Suite 3800, open weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
How long a car can sit before Raleigh calls it abandoned
Raleigh treats a vehicle as abandoned once it has been left on a public street for more than seven days, on City-owned property for more than 24 hours, or on private property for more than two hours without the owner's or tenant's consent. If your car quit in a shopping center or office lot, get the okay from whoever runs the lot to leave it there until pickup.
If you find a tow truck already hooking it up, city code says the driver must release the car if you get back before the truck has left. Parking on a City-maintained street to work on the car is barred too, except for emergency repairs (§11-2180).
Cash for your car in Raleigh
Keeping cars that no longer run at home has limits here. City ordinance bans open storage of two or more vehicles that are unlicensed, uninspected, wrecked, crushed, or partly or totally dismantled, with citations from $100 per vehicle that can climb to $500 a day. For an abandoned or nuisance car on private property, Code Enforcement puts a notice on it and sends a certified letter. If it isn't fixed by the date set, at least seven days out, it is towed at the owner's expense.
We make cash offers on cars like that as they are, with the same free pickup. The ban starts at two vehicles, so selling one of a pair brings the count under it. A car worth only scrap belongs on our cash for junk cars page.
Before you write a dead car off as scrap, find out what is actually wrong with it. Each of these compares the repair with selling the car as it is: selling a car with a slipping transmission, selling a car with a blown engine or head gasket and selling a car with collision damage.
Raleigh's car tax rates and tow rules
- •A car kept inside Raleigh is taxed at the county rate of .5371 plus Raleigh's .3720 for every $100 of value, on 2026 rates (Wake County)
- •After a tow from a private lot, a storage lot in the city must be within 15 miles of where the car was taken, able to release it within 45 minutes of your call, and take cash, debit or a major credit card (Raleigh City Code §12-7015)
Asked by Raleigh sellers
Do I get Raleigh's $30 vehicle fee back when I sell?
No. Raleigh charges each vehicle based in the city $30 a year, collected by the Wake County Tax Collector (City Code §2-2071). Wake County says municipal vehicle taxes under G.S. 20-97 are not prorated or refunded. The property tax on the car is different: it can come back for each full calendar month left in the registration period after you surrender the plate.
My car has sat in the driveway with no registration. Is a tax bill coming?
If it had no active North Carolina registration on January 1, Wake County counts it as personal property you list from January 1 to 31, and those bills normally go out in July. Renew instead of selling, and Wake bills the missed months as a gap bill, capped at 60 months from 2026.
I'm moving to another North Carolina county. Do I get any Wake car tax back?
No. Wake says no adjustment is due when you move to another North Carolina county after paying the combined notice. Selling the car, or moving it out of state, is what can qualify you for a Wake County refund, after the plate goes back to NCDMV.
Can my NC Quick Pass sticker move to my next car?
No. The NC Quick Pass sticker can't be moved to another vehicle. Deactivate it, request a new one, and update the vehicle and plate on your account before your next trip on N.C. 540 or N.C. 885. Its customer service centers are in Charlotte and Monroe, so from Raleigh use the online account or (877) 769-7277.
For the title itself (who signs, the notary and the forms), see our North Carolina guide.