Junk Title (Certificate of Destruction)
An irreversible title brand for vehicles deemed beyond repair; the vehicle can never be returned to the road.
A junk title (in some states issued as a Certificate of Destruction, Non-Repairable Vehicle Certificate or Junk Certificate) is the most severe title brand a vehicle can receive. Once a junk title is issued, the vehicle is legally barred from ever returning to the road in any form — it cannot be repaired, retitled, or registered, and in most states cannot even be sold for parts under its original VIN.
Junk titles are issued in the most catastrophic cases: extreme fire damage, severe structural compromise, vehicles totalled in fatal-accident liability cases, or vehicles that have been rebuilt unsuccessfully more than once. Insurance carriers request the junk brand when they want to ensure a vehicle never re-enters the consumer market.
Junk-titled vehicles do still appear at Copart and IAA auctions, but exclusively in the Parts Only sale category — bidders are buying the right to dismantle the vehicle and resell its components. Cross-state movement of junk-titled vehicles is heavily regulated and reported to NMVTIS.