Selling a Junk Car in Eustis: FAQ

For most cars around Eustis it lands in the low to middle hundreds, and a heavy pickup or full-size SUV with everything still on it can go considerably higher. Weight, whether the engine and transmission are in it, whether the catalytic converter is still there, and what scrap steel is bringing that month decide the number. Give us the year, make, model and condition on the phone and you get a firm figure for your car instead of a range off a website.

Yes. Most of what we pick up in Lake County does not start. Seized engines, dead batteries, no keys, flat tires and water in the cabin from a lake or a storm are all normal. The driver brings a winch and loads it onto a flatbed.

Often, yes. If the car is titled in Florida in your name and the paper is lost, you apply for a duplicate on HSMV form 82101 at a Lake County Tax Collector office. If your title was only ever electronic, you just ask for it to be printed. If the car is at least ten model years old and worth under $1,000, Florida has a derelict certificate route on form 82137 that lets us take it with no title at all. Call and we'll tell you which one fits before anyone books a truck.

You keep your license plate and the state expects you to deal with the registration rather than let it ride. The clean way is to file a notice of sale with FLHSMV so the car is no longer tied to you, then cancel the insurance. If the car goes on a derelict certificate, that form itself cancels the title. We walk you through it at pickup.

Scrap steel in Central Florida has been moving between roughly $150 and $200 a ton over the past year, and a typical car carries one and a half to two tons of it. That's the floor. Usable parts, a catalytic converter, aluminum wheels and a good battery push the price above scrap weight, which is why two cars of the same size can bring different numbers. We quote the car, not the ton.

Yes. The truck is free anywhere we buy, and distance never comes off your price. Astor and Paisley are far enough from Bay Street that we schedule those pickups rather than promise same day, but the tow still costs you nothing.

Call before noon and a car in Eustis, Tavares, Mount Dora or Umatilla is usually gone the same day or the next morning, and you get an arrival window you can plan around. Gated communities take a little longer to line up, and so do repair shops holding a car for a bill and the far ends of the range.

A photo ID, the title or the title details if it is electronic, any keys you still have, and a lien release if a bank was ever on the title. Pull anything personal out of the car first, and take the plate off, since it stays with you.

No. Florida sales tax is paid by someone buying a vehicle to drive, and it is collected at the Tax Collector when the new owner registers it. Selling a junk car to us for parts and scrap does not put a tax bill on you.

A salvage-titled car can be sold, and we buy them. Driving one again requires a Florida rebuilt inspection first, and insurers that will cover a rebuilt car usually limit it to liability. If yours is a salvage title sitting in the driveway, skip the rebuild question and call us for a number.