Sell your car in Memphis: running, wrecked or won't start
Ask for a verified offer online or by phone, and the pickup comes to your driveway, lot space or garage anywhere in Memphis, with verified payment, so there is no meeting a stranger in a parking lot. Selling it yourself instead? Start with the street rules below, because Memphis code limits where a car can sit on display.
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Three steps, from first call to pickup
- Describe the car straight. Call or text (877) 405-1808 or use the form below. Say where it's parked, what it hauled and what's worn. A straight description gets a straight number.
- Have the title ready. If it's lost, the Shelby County Clerk's Title Department replaces it for $16 and can have it ready to pick up or mailed in 3 business days. Not every Clerk branch offers every service, so call 901-222-3000 before you drive to one. More in our guide to selling a car without a title.
- Pick the day. Once you accept the offer and the title is ready, pickup is usually within a few days anywhere in Shelby County, with verified payment and paperwork you keep copies of.
Where we pick up around Memphis
Pickup is free anywhere in Memphis, from a Downtown garage in 38103 to a driveway in Whitehaven, Hickory Hill or Cordova (38016 and 38018). It covers the rest of Shelby County too, Bartlett and Germantown included, and crosses the state line into Southaven.
Dead car in an apartment lot? The city's towing rules let a complex hire a towing company to audit its lot for vehicles that may be inoperable or defective. The deal has to be disclosed in the property's filing with the city permits office, with the list of violations that get a car towed without the owner's consent. Ask the leasing office what is on it.
Selling it yourself? Mind the street rules
Memphis code bars parking a vehicle on any roadway mainly to display it for sale (Sec. 11-40-4). Under Sec. 11-40-11, no vehicle may stay on a residential street more than 24 hours in a row, and trucks, tractors and buses can't be left on a street in a residential zone at all, except while loading or doing work next door. Two-axle pickups, passenger vans and SUVs are exempt from that part.
Police can remove a car parked against that rule when it is a traffic hazard or blocks traffic. If you would rather not list the car at all, ask for an offer: the sale is documented, payment is verified, and pickup is from your driveway or lot space.
Cash for your car in Memphis
A car that has stopped running can draw a complaint to the city's Code Enforcement office, which handles inoperable and abandoned vehicles on public and private property (901-636-7464). After a violation order, the follow-up inspection comes 14 calendar days later. A car that hasn't been repaired, removed or put in lawful storage by then may be impounded to the city storage lot, or the city can take legal action.
Selling the car and having it picked up before that follow-up removes it. Describe the damage, and an old, wrecked or dead car still gets an offer, with free pickup at the yard, driveway or lot.
Looking for cash for a junk car in Memphis, one with no keys, no title or an engine that won't start? Our sell my junk car page covers each case.
Wrecks, dead engines and failed transmissions each have their own guide: selling an accident-damaged car, selling a car with a seized or blown engine and selling a car whose transmission slips or has no reverse. If the insurer has already called it a total loss, read selling a totaled car first.
What the city storage lot charges, and what it sells
- •Getting a car out of MPD's Vehicle Storage lot costs $135 for the impound plus $30 a day in storage, before any winching or other fees (Memphis Police Department)
- •In 2018 the lot impounded 10,572 vehicles, released 6,982 and sold 3,565 at auction (MPD, 2018 figures)
Asked by Memphis sellers
Where will a Memphis buyer title the car?
That depends on which side of the state line they live on. A buyer who lives in Shelby County goes to the Shelby County Clerk, which does title and tag work in Memphis; its main location is 150 Washington Avenue downtown, open weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. A buyer from Southaven or Olive Branch titles it in Mississippi with the DeSoto County Tax Collector, whose north office is at 6040 US-51 N in Horn Lake. If your own title is from Mississippi or Arkansas, see selling a car with an out-of-state title.
What will a Memphis buyer pay the Clerk to title my car?
For a regular plate at a City of Memphis address, the Shelby County Clerk's fee list comes to $180: a $60 city fee, $29 registration, a $16 title fee and the $75 wheel tax. In Bartlett, Germantown and Collierville the city fee is $35, so the same car costs $155 there. Memphis also adds a local sales tax of 2.75% on the first $1,600 of the price, capped at $44.
Who can pick up a car from MPD's Vehicle Storage lot?
The registered owner, with proof of ownership, a current registration or title, the plate number or VIN, and a photo ID. Anyone else needs the owner's notarized statement. A licensed driver has to drive the car out unless you arrange a tow, and a car held for an investigation has to be cleared by MPD first. The lot is at 465 Klinke Avenue (901-636-8200) and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Is it safe to sell a car to a stranger in Memphis?
It takes planning. If you meet a buyer yourself, do it in daylight somewhere public and busy. A police station is one such place: MPD has nine, including Appling Farms Station in Cordova (6850 Appling Farms Parkway) and Ridgeway Station in Hickory Hill (3840 Ridgeway Road). Or skip the meetup and sell to a documented buyer with traceable payment.
The title and plate steps are the same anywhere in Tennessee; our Tennessee selling page walks through them.