Everything people ask us

A damaged car is worth what it is, not what it weighs. Year, make, model, trim, mileage and where the damage sits set the number. A late-model vehicle with collision damage usually carries value that scrap-weight pricing misses completely, and on newer cars the two numbers are not close. Tell us the vehicle and what happened to it and we will put a figure in writing.

Yes. Show us a written quote from a junkyard or scrap yard on the same vehicle and we will beat it, not match it. A yard prices your car by weight and by which parts it can pull. We price it as a vehicle. The one honest exception is a very old, high-mileage shell, where scrap weight may genuinely be close to what the car is worth. If that is your car we will say so on the phone rather than waste your afternoon.

No. Your offer is issued in writing before a truck is dispatched, and that is what you are paid. We do not renegotiate in your driveway. The only thing that can move the number is finding the vehicle is materially different from how you described it, so describe the damage, the missing parts and whether it runs honestly and the number holds.

Ask them one question: will this price change when the driver gets here? Ask us too, then ask everyone else you call and listen closely to the answer. A buyer who will not commit to the number on the phone has told you what happens next. The most common complaint we hear is not that an offer was low. It is that the offer was lowered in the driveway, after the car was already on the truck and saying no had become difficult.

It depends on whether the car was insured. When an insurance company pays you to replace the vehicle, Florida treats it as a total loss and the insurer has to obtain a salvage certificate of title or a certificate of destruction. For a vehicle with no insurance, Florida Statute 319.30 sets the line at repairs costing 80 percent or more of what it would cost to replace the car with one of like kind and quality. Percentages you see quoted online often mix those two situations up.

A salvage certificate of title means the vehicle can be rebuilt and retitled after inspection. A certificate of destruction means it cannot ever go back on the road and can only be dismantled. Under Florida Statute 319.30 a certificate of destruction applies to a late model vehicle, seven model years old or newer with a retail value of $7,500 or more, when estimated repairs reach 90 percent or more of its retail value, and to older or lower-value vehicles when the only remaining value is parts or scrap. We buy both.

Yes, and this is one of the most common purchases we make. When you keep a totaled car your settlement is reduced by its salvage value, and the vehicle ends up on a salvage certificate of title. Florida also requires the title to be forwarded to the department within 72 hours of the vehicle becoming salvage, so do not sit on the paperwork. Tell us where you are in that process and we will work around it.

No. If you keep the vehicle, what your insurer deducted as salvage value is their number, not the market. It costs nothing to get our written offer and compare it against that deduction before you decide whether keeping the car was worth it.

The Florida certificate of title and a photo ID matching the name on it. If there is still a loan, bring the lender payoff information or the lien release. If your insurer totaled the car, bring the salvage certificate of title. That is the whole packet for most sales.

No, but it is the step that catches most Florida sellers out. Most Florida titles are held electronically, and there is no paper document to sign. You either request a paper title, which can be ordered through the MyDMV Portal and arrives in the mail, or printed the same day for a fee at a tax collector office, or both parties complete the transfer in person at a tax collector office. All liens have to be satisfied before an electronic title can be printed. Tell us when you call and we will tell you which route is quickest for your situation.

Complete the Transfer of Title by Seller section on the front of the title in full: your signature, your printed name, the odometer reading and the date. Do not guess at the mileage and do not leave the buyer section blank for someone else to fill in later. If you are unsure which line is which, call us before you write anything. Correcting a title that was signed in the wrong place is slow and sometimes impossible.

The Notice of Sale is form HSMV 82050, and it is what tells the state you no longer own the vehicle. Florida has required sellers to file one since 2009, within 30 days of the sale. It is what ends your liability for the car. Skipping it is how people end up with a toll bill, a parking citation or a towing invoice for a vehicle they sold months earlier.

No. In Florida the plate belongs to you, not the vehicle. Take it off before pickup, then either transfer it to another vehicle or surrender it at your county tax collector office. One thing to get in the right order: do not cancel the insurance until the plate is transferred or surrendered, because Florida can suspend your driver license if a plate is still active when the coverage lapses.

Usually yes. Florida issues a duplicate title on form HSMV 82101 through a tax collector office or the MyDMV Portal, and it is a routine application when the car is in your name and free of liens. Call us before you start, because depending on your situation we can often get the sale moving in parallel rather than waiting.

We buy vehicles with lien payoffs regularly. Bring the lender payoff figure and we structure the purchase so the lien is satisfied and you receive the balance. If an insurance settlement already paid the loan off, you need the lien release along with the title. Remember that a Florida electronic title cannot be printed until the lien is satisfied, so start with the lender.

We are not attorneys and title requirements change, so we will not give you a blanket answer that might be wrong for your situation. What we will do is tell you exactly which sections to complete before we dispatch a truck, and point you to your county tax collector for anything unusual. What matters most is that you do not sign in the wrong place before you have spoken to someone.

Pickup is free everywhere we buy, which is the whole state: Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Port St. Lucie, Orlando, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Daytona Beach, Ocala, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Naples, Sarasota, Jacksonville, Gainesville, Tallahassee and Pensacola, plus everything around them. Driveways, apartment and condo lots, storage facilities, body shops and tow yards are all routine.

Most sellers are done within 24 to 48 hours of accepting the offer. If the car is at a tow yard running up storage fees, say so when you call, because that usually changes how fast we should move.

Not at all. No keys, will not start, flat tires, sitting in the same spot since last year. Most of the vehicles we buy do not drive, our trucks are equipped for it, and the tow is on us either way.

At pickup, in full, for the amount you accepted, before the vehicle is loaded and gone. No waiting period, no mailed payment weeks later and no fees deducted at the curb.

Florida Wrecked Cars is our site for the Florida market. The company behind it is Blue Ribbon Auto Sales LLC, trading as TrackWala, based in Mesa, Arizona, and built on more than thirty years in the vehicle business. TrackWala is who makes the offer, collects the vehicle and pays you. Your details go to TrackWala and nobody else. We are not a listing site, we do not auction your vehicle to a pool of anonymous bidders, and we are not a lead broker selling your phone number on.