How to Sell an Inherited Car in Indiana

Somebody has died, the car is sitting in the driveway, and you’re the one who has to deal with it. We’re sorry. This guide from Cash for Junk Cars Gary Indiana covers the part that trips people up: the title is still in the late owner’s name, and you can’t sign a car away that isn’t yours yet.

Here’s the order that works, using what the Indiana BMV and its own forms say.

1. Find the title. Check the glovebox, the file drawer, the safe. Look at the front for a transfer-on-death (TOD) beneficiary.
2. If you’re the TOD beneficiary, take the title and a copy of the death certificate to a BMV branch and apply for a new title in your name.
3. If there’s no TOD beneficiary and no estate is being opened, the heirs can use State Form 18733 to move the title without administration.
4. If an estate is open in court, the personal representative deals with the car.
5. Once the title is in the right name, sell it: fill in the seller section completely and take the plate off at the sale.

The rest of this page explains each route, and where it can go wrong.

Route 1: the title has a transfer-on-death beneficiary

This is the fast one. An Indiana owner can add a TOD beneficiary when they buy the car or later by applying for a new title with the designation, and then signing and dating the TOD line on the front of the title.

When the owner dies, the BMV’s instructions are short: take the Indiana title with the TOD designation and a copy of the death certificate to a license branch and apply for a new Indiana title.

One catch matters. The BMV says a TOD designation printed on an Indiana title isn’t valid unless the owner signed the TOD statement before they died. A name typed in the beneficiary box isn’t enough if the signature line is blank. Check it before you go.

And if the person who died lived in another state, the BMV says ownership transfers under the laws and policies of the state they lived in, not Indiana’s.

Route 2: no beneficiary, small estate, no court case

Most older cars don’t have a TOD beneficiary. For those, Indiana has State Form 18733, the Affidavit for Transfer of Certificate of Title for a Vehicle/Watercraft Without Administration. Its legal authority is IC 29-1-8-1(c).

We read the current version of the form (R10, revised 11-24). The person claiming the car swears to these conditions:

• The gross probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, doesn’t exceed $100,000.
• Five days have passed since the death.
• No petition for a personal representative is pending or has been granted anywhere.
• The claimant is entitled to the vehicle, and it isn’t subject to liens that are the claimant’s responsibility.

A copy of the death certificate goes with the affidavit, and the form says the BMV transfers ownership when it receives the affidavit. The affidavit has to be signed by the distributees of the estate, meaning the people entitled to the property.

Forms get revised. Download the current State Form 18733 from the BMV’s title forms page before you rely on the $100,000 figure.

Route 3: an estate is open

If someone has been appointed as personal representative (executor), the car is part of the estate and that person handles it. That can mean selling it on the estate’s behalf. We won’t guess at the court side; if you’re the personal representative, ask the estate’s attorney what paperwork they want from you, then tell us when you ask for an offer.

Selling the car once the title is sorted

Now it’s an ordinary sale. The BMV’s Buying and Selling page says the seller and purchaser sections of the title should be completed in full, and the seller should remove the license plate at the time of the sale.

What happens to that plate? According to the BMV’s FAQ, you don’t have to surrender it. It can move to another vehicle owned by the same person, or you can destroy it: cut it up or deface it so it’s permanently unreadable, then throw it away.

Estate cars often have their own problems. They’ve usually been sitting: the battery is flat, the tires are soft, and the registration may have run out. That last one doesn’t block a sale, and our guide on selling a car with expired plates in Indiana explains why. Towing is free, so the car doesn’t need to run. If the estate left more than one vehicle, one visit can take them all, and our offer has no expiry date, so the paperwork can take the time it takes.

If the paperwork is still in the late owner’s name

In Indiana a junk car sale runs on one of two papers: the title (lost it? the BMV issues a duplicate for $15) or a BMV certificate of authority, which costs $4 and is applied for with something showing the car is yours, like your current registration. If the car is under 15 model years old, state law requires one of the two. Let us know what you do have, such as a bill of sale, a registration or an insurance card, and on the call we’ll work out which route fits your car. With an inherited car, those papers are usually in the late owner’s name, which is exactly why the title steps above come first. Tell us where the paperwork stands when you ask for an offer, and we’ll tell you honestly whether we can buy it yet.

Sources we checked

• Indiana BMV: Transfer on Death beneficiary
• Indiana BMV: Title forms (State Form 18733, Affidavit for Transfer of Certificate of Title Without Administration)
• Indiana BMV: Buying and selling a vehicle
• Indiana BMV FAQ: What should I do with a license plate I am no longer using?

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