Selling a car that is stuck at a repair shop

The estimate came back. Now what?

The shop calls. The transmission is gone, or the engine, or the rust under the car is worse than anyone thought. The number they give you is more than the car was worth last week. And the car is sitting on their lot, not in your driveway.

You don’t have to tow it home to sell it. You don’t have to pay for the repair either. You can sell it where it sits and let the shop get its bay back.

Sort things out with the shop first

This part is between you and the shop, and it comes before we do anything.

• Pay what you owe. If you agreed to a diagnosis or any work was done, there’s a bill, and some shops charge for storage. A shop may hold a car until its bill is paid, so settle up first.
• Say it’s being picked up. Tell the shop the car has been sold and a tow truck will collect it, and ask when the lot is open.
• Get your things out. Glovebox, trunk, garage opener, toll pass. Once the car leaves the lot, anything left inside goes with it.
• Take the plate off, or ask the shop to. Indiana’s BMV says the seller removes the plate at the time of the sale.

Then fill in the form

Fill in the form with the year, make and model and your title status. For the pickup address, give the shop’s name and street address. We call with an offer; if you accept, we book a time the shop is open. The tow is free and you’re paid at pickup. How selling works goes through it in order.

Paperwork when the car isn’t at home

The title is the same wherever the car sits: every owner on it signs it over to the buyer. If you can’t be at the shop when the truck comes, tell us on the call who will hand the car over and where the title will be, and we’ll plan the pickup around it. Want a written record of the deal? A simple Indiana bill of sale does that.

Shops across our area

We collect from repair shops, body shops and dealer service lots anywhere in North, Calumet, Ross and Hobart township. That takes in the dealer lots along US 30 in Merrillville and every shop between there and the state line. If the car was already in a crash, our page on wrecked cars covers that side of it. For everything else, see our Northwest Indiana junk car offers.