Mississippi towing, repair, repossession, and abandoned-vehicle sales

Mississippi towing repair and secured-creditor sales: Identify the authority to sell before sending notices

A Mississippi vehicle left unpaid at a repair shop or towing yard does not become the business's unrestricted property merely because storage charges accumulate. The DOR abandoned-vehicle page describes qualifying circumstances and the statutory sale process. A secured lender's repossession follows a different documentary route. Begin by identifying whether the claim arises from towing, authorized repairs, storage, or an existing recorded security interest.

Keep the tow authorization, repair order, arrival date, agreed pickup date, invoices, and VIN together. Those facts establish which procedure applies and when its deadlines begin. A private landowner who finds an unwanted vehicle should not assume that a checklist for an authorized towing business permits an immediate personal sale. Obtain the correct direction from Motor Vehicle Services or the responsible law-enforcement authority for that situation.

Back to the topics

Mississippi towing repair and secured-creditor sales: Use the process that changed on July 1, 2026

The current DOR abandoned-vehicle FAQ explains changes under Senate Bill 2848 for vehicles towed on or after July 1, 2026. These include approved third-party vendors for certified notices, shorter initial-notice timing, online notifications, and a separate process for certain vehicles destined for scrap or dismantling. Older ten-day letter instructions should not be used as the current towing procedure.

DOR's 2026 legislation summary also identifies the amendment. Use the current abandoned-vehicle page to choose an approved vendor rather than assuming any mailing company qualifies. The page links the approved provider and its vehicle-location notification site, making those outside-domain services verifiable through the state's own listing. Vendor services and newspaper publication remain distinct parts of the file.

Back to the topics

Mississippi towing repair and secured-creditor sales: Follow the known-owner towing notice sequence

The known-owner and lienholder checklist describes the two-letter process. The first certified notice must be sent through the required approved-vendor procedure with the applicable postmark no later than the seventh day after the initial tow. It identifies the towing and storage charges and gives the owner and lienholder the required opportunity to reclaim the vehicle.

If the vehicle remains unclaimed, DOR directs a second certified notice thirty days after the initial tow. That letter includes the amount due and the public sale's time, date, and location, with ten additional days from the letter date for reclamation before the auction. Track the actual tow and mailing dates rather than treating the second letter as optional because a sale date appeared in the first.

Maintain proof of delivery with a signature using an accepted method. If certified mail returns unopened, include the returned item in the abandonment package. The checklist also requires a newspaper advertisement once a week for two consecutive weeks, with the correct VIN and auction details. An online vendor listing does not replace the newspaper notice described by DOR.

Back to the topics

Mississippi towing repair and secured-creditor sales: Handle an unknown owner or repair-shop case correctly

When the last registered owner or lienholders cannot be determined, the unknown-owner checklist provides a publication route. It calls for notice once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county of abandonment, plus the notarized abandonment affidavit and towing bill. Document the actual inability to identify the parties; choosing publication because a mailing address is inconvenient is not the same circumstance.

The separate mechanic abandonment checklist calls for certified letters identifying repair, storage, and towing charges and the public sale details, with thirty days for the owner to pay and collect the vehicle. It addresses proof of delivery and publication when letters return unopened. DOR's current main page also says repair shops must use the approved third-party notification procedure beginning July 1, 2026. Match the mechanic's checklist to that current requirement rather than copying the tower's two-letter schedule indiscriminately.

If a person disputes the bill or claims the vehicle, preserve the correspondence and obtain the appropriate resolution before treating the dispute as silence. Notice compliance and the amount legitimately owed are related questions, but mailing a certified letter does not by itself decide every contested repair charge.

Back to the topics

Mississippi towing repair and secured-creditor sales: Use the special scrap route only for the specified disposition

The current scrap and no-market-value checklist concerns vehicles intended for scrapping, dismantling, or parts. It requests supporting written statements from two licensed automobile dealers concerning worthlessness, together with the applicable notice evidence, towing bill, and affidavit. Keep those statements specific to the vehicle; a general estimate for a similar model does not document this vehicle's condition.

DOR's FAQ says that, after the required notice and reclamation period for this route, the tower submits evidence of compliance and an intention to sell or destroy the vehicle to DOR. The department reviews the evidence, addresses the lien, and notifies the tower when the disposition may proceed. Do not interpret the special procedure as immediate permission to crush a vehicle while a recorded lien remains unresolved.

The FAQ identifies a direct department contact for submitting proof while its electronic process develops. Check the current page for submission instructions at the time of the request. If the owner cannot be identified, the current scrap checklist also addresses newspaper publication; retain that evidence rather than assuming every scrap transaction has identical notice facts.

Back to the topics

Mississippi towing repair and secured-creditor sales: Build a complete sale and title packet

The Affidavit of Abandonment and Motor Vehicle Sold records the VIN, itemized storage, wrecker, labor and parts charges, buyer, sale price, and required mileage statement. It also records proceeds paid to the chancery clerk under the applicable surplus-proceeds rule. Complete the financial entries from the actual invoices and sale results, not from a rounded figure chosen after the auction.

The affidavit requires the relevant signatures and notarization. A buyer should receive a packet establishing how the sale occurred, including notices and publication evidence required for the particular route. The ordinary title information and county application process remain relevant because the auction itself does not print the buyer's Mississippi title.

Use the odometer disclosure document when separately required and disclose known mileage discrepancies. If the sale paperwork has an error, seek the authorized correction process rather than changing proof of publication or a mailing date. Keep a duplicate set of the completed records so a later title question can be answered without reconstructing the entire timeline.

Back to the topics

Mississippi towing repair and secured-creditor sales: Distinguish lender repossession from abandonment

A creditor repossessing its collateral uses the Affidavit for Repossessed Motor Vehicle, which identifies the prior owner, lien, repossession date, and vehicle. The form directs a lienholder applying for title to include an odometer disclosure. A repair shop's unpaid invoice does not automatically make it the recorded creditor entitled to use that form.

The electronic lien program explains lender title actions and releases. Confirm the record before describing the auction vehicle as free of liens. For a vehicle carrying a damage designation, the salvage rules still determine whether it can be rebuilt, registered, or only dismantled; a lien sale does not erase that history.

Finally, the successful purchaser completes the appropriate registration transaction before ordinary road operation. The selling business should retain its notices, vendor records, advertisements, invoices, affidavit, and payment accounting as one connected file. A clear documented sequence protects the integrity of the title application and gives the buyer a practical way to answer any state request for additional evidence.

Back to the topics

Mississippi towing repair and secured-creditor sales: Common questions

Which Mississippi tows use the new 2026 abandoned-vehicle process?
DOR states that the revised process applies to vehicles towed on or after July 1, 2026.

Does Mississippi allow any mailing service to send the required towing notices?
The revised procedure requires an approved third-party vendor. DOR’s abandoned-vehicle page identifies the approved provider information.

What is the initial notice deadline in Mississippi’s current towing process?
The first required certified notice uses the applicable postmark no later than the seventh day after the initial tow, followed by the additional steps for the particular disposition.

Do Mississippi online towing notices eliminate newspaper advertising?
DOR says online notification was added to the process; applicable newspaper publication requirements remain, including the specified known-owner and unknown-owner procedures.

May a Mississippi tower destroy scrap collateral immediately after mailing notice?
The special scrap route requires the applicable waiting period, proof of compliance submitted to DOR, and the department’s authorization for the disposition and lien treatment.

Is Mississippi’s repossession affidavit interchangeable with an abandonment affidavit?
Repossession Form 78-012 documents a secured creditor’s repossession, while Form 78-009 documents an authorized abandoned-vehicle sale; their legal bases and supporting records differ.

Back to the topics

More Mississippi DMV guides

The other Mississippi DMV guides, 52 of them:

The public records that sit beside this page, on SearchSystems: liens and deeds recorded in Mississippi and deeds and property in Mississippi.

Property records in the largest Mississippi counties, each with the local court and office that holds the file: Harrison, Hinds, DeSoto, Rankin, Jackson and Madison.