What to do with the Indiana plate when your junk car is sold

The moment it matters

The tow truck is at the curb. You’ve signed the title, the driver’s hooking the car up, and your plate is still bolted to the back. This is the minute to deal with it, because once the car is gone, so is the plate.

Bring a screwdriver. Most plates come off with two screws; older cars sometimes have rusted ones, so try them the day before.

What the rules say

There are two sources, and they agree.

Indiana Code 9-18.1-4-6(a). When ownership of a registered vehicle is transferred, “the registration of the vehicle expires” and the person transferring ownership “shall remove the license plate and certificate of registration from the vehicle.”

The Indiana BMV. Its “Buying & Selling a Vehicle” page says the seller should remove the license plate at the time of the transaction, that the BMV does not require plates of sold vehicles to be returned, and that those plates may be transferred to a different vehicle owned by the same person. The buyer gets their own title, registration and plate.

Your three options for the plate

1. Put it on another car you own. The BMV lets you transfer a plate from a vehicle you’ve sold or disposed of to another vehicle you own or have just bought, while you do a new, renewed or amended registration. Passenger, truck (11,000 pounds or less), motorcycle and In God We Trust plates can be transferred online at myBMV.com; some cases still need a branch visit.
2. Keep it. Nothing says you have to do anything with it today. You can hang on to it until the next car.
3. Get rid of it. The BMV’s advice for a plate you’re done with: make it permanently unreadable and unusable before you throw it away. Bend it, cut it, or both.

The registration, and one optional step

The paper registration comes out of the car with the plate. Then there’s a step most sellers don’t know about. Within 30 days of the sale, the seller may deliver the certificate of registration and proof of the transfer to the BMV, and the BMV then marks in its records that you’ve transferred ownership (IC 9-18.1-4-6(b)). It’s optional, but if a ticket or toll notice ever turns up for a car you sold, a record of the transfer helps. Keep a copy of the signed title and a bill of sale either way.

Is taking the plate off all you have to do?

No, it’s one step of three. The title is the main one: every owner signs the seller section and fills in the buyer, date, price and odometer (our guide to signing over an Indiana title goes line by line). The plate and registration come off the car. And anything of yours inside comes out. The whole sequence is in how to junk a car in Indiana.

Call your insurer too, once the car is gone. That’s between you and them, but there’s no reason to keep paying to insure a car you no longer own.

When you sell to us

Cash for Junk Cars NWI offers free junk car pickup in Northwest Indiana, across North, Calumet, Ross and Hobart townships in Lake County. When our driver arrives, have the title ready and the plate off (or take it off while we load). You’re paid at pickup. Questions before then? The FAQ covers the common ones, and free junk car pickup in Northwest Indiana starts with the form.

Sources: Indiana Code 9-18.1-4-6 (current as of January 1, 2026); Indiana BMV, "Buying & Selling a Vehicle", "Vehicle Registrations" (Transfer a License Plate) and FAQ "What should I do with a license plate I am no longer using?". Read September 30, 2026. General information, not legal advice.