How to File Form LT-260: NC DMV Unclaimed Motor Vehicle Report

To file Form LT-260, the North Carolina DMV’s Report of Unclaimed Vehicle, complete the form with the vehicle’s details, storage location, and authorization information, have your signature notarized, and submit it electronically through the NCDMV Notice & Storage portal at public-nss.verifi-nc.com. The old mail-in process to the License & Theft Bureau in Raleigh has been retired.¹ The form is due within a tight window after the vehicle becomes reportable, and missing that window costs you storage fees you’d otherwise be entitled to collect.

When the Form Is Due

N.C. Gen. Stat. 20-77(d) splits the filing deadline into two tracks depending on how the vehicle ended up on your property.²

If you run a garage, repair shop, parking lot, or storage yard and a customer’s vehicle sits unclaimed for 10 days, you have five days after that 10-day period ends to file the LT-260. Day 15 is your last day.

If you’re a landowner and a vehicle has been abandoned on your property for more than 30 days with no service agreement behind it, you have five days after the 30-day period ends. Day 35 is your last day.

The clock runs from the day the vehicle was left or first discovered abandoned, not from when you decide to act on it.

What You Need Before You Start

The form warns that incomplete submissions get returned before processing, and each return restarts your clock. Gather everything below before you open the portal.

Vehicle Information

Record the make, year, and serial number. For vehicles from 1981 or newer, that means the 17-digit VIN, which appears on a plate visible through the lower-left corner of the windshield and on a sticker inside the driver-side door jamb. Copy every character exactly. A single wrong digit gets the form rejected.

You’ll also need the license plate number, the plate’s year and state of registration, and the county if it appears on the plate. Select the body style from the choices on the form: trailer, 2-door, 4-door, station wagon, motorcycle, truck, or other. Enter the approximate dollar value, the date the vehicle was left, and the reason it was left (parking, repairs, storage, or other). Note whether the vehicle is in running condition and whether it’s been wrecked. If anything inside the vehicle could help identify the owner, such as registration papers or personal documents, record that too.

Storage and Authorization Details

Give the full name, street address, city, state, zip code, and phone number for the location where the vehicle is currently stored.

In a separate section, list the name and address of whoever authorized your firm to tow, store, or repair the vehicle. If no one authorized it, you can’t leave the section blank. Write out how the vehicle came to be on your property.

Signature and Notarization

An authorized agent of the business signs the form, prints their name, and lists their title along with the firm’s name and address. A notary public must acknowledge the signature and stamp or seal the form with their commission expiration date.³ Missing notarization is one of the most common reasons forms come back for correction.

Submitting Through the Notice and Storage Portal

All LT-260 filings now go through the NCDMV Notice & Storage portal at public-nss.verifi-nc.com. The same portal also handles the LT-262, the follow-up form used later to request authorization to sell the vehicle. North Carolina law expressly allows electronic signatures on these forms, so the entire filing can happen online.²

Type or print entries clearly, and verify every VIN digit and plate character before you submit. Save the portal’s confirmation or receipt. If a dispute later arises over whether you filed on time, that receipt is your proof.

Mistakes That Send the Form Back

Small errors create outsized delays because a returned form restarts processing.

A transposed or missing VIN digit. The Division can’t match the vehicle to an owner record without it. For older vehicles without a 17-digit VIN, use whatever serial number is stamped on the chassis.
Missing notarization. The form requires it, and submission without a notary’s acknowledgment is an automatic rejection.
A blank authorization section. If nobody authorized the tow or storage, you must write out the circumstances instead of leaving the field empty.
Filing past the deadline. The Division may still accept it, but you’ll have already forfeited storage charges for the gap between when the report was due and when it arrived.

What Happens After the Filing

Once the Division receives your LT-260, processing takes roughly 30 days.¹ During that window the Bureau checks the vehicle against stolen-vehicle databases and identifies the registered owner and any lienholders.

After the LT-260 clears, you can file the LT-262 through the same portal to declare intent to sell. The fee is $16.75. The Division then sends a certified letter with return receipt to the registered owner, any secured lenders, and the person who contracted with you if that person isn’t the owner. The letter identifies the lienholder, the services performed, the amount claimed, the intent to sell, and each recipient’s right to request a judicial hearing.⁴ Recipients have 10 days from delivery to request a hearing by certified mail. If nobody responds, the right to a pre-sale hearing is waived and the Division authorizes the sale.

Penalties for Filing Late or Not at All

Under N.C. Gen. Stat. 20-77(d), failure to report is a Class 3 misdemeanor.⁵ Someone with three or fewer prior convictions faces a fine only, up to $200. Someone with four or more prior convictions faces up to 10 days in jail.⁶

The financial consequences usually sting more. File late and you can still recover repair charges and towing fees, but you forfeit storage charges for the entire period between the deadline and the actual filing date.⁵ Never file and your lien collapses to towing costs, reasonable repair charges, and a maximum of 15 days of storage. On a vehicle that’s been sitting for months, that difference can wipe out thousands of dollars.

The 180-Day Sale Deadline

Filing the LT-260 is one clock. Storage runs on another. If you don’t begin formal lien foreclosure proceedings within 180 days of when storage started, you waive the right to collect storage charges that accrue after day 180.⁴ Charges from the first 180 days remain collectible, but every day past that deadline is unrecoverable. The LT-260 doesn’t pause this clock, so file it early and move promptly to the LT-262.

1
North Carolina Department of Transportation. Report Unclaimed Motor Vehicles to NCDMV
2
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 20 Motor Vehicles – 20-77
3
Cloudfront.net. NCDMV Form LT-260 Report of Unclaimed Vehicle
4
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 44A-4 – Enforcement of Lien by Sale
5
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 20-77 – Transfer by Operation of Law; Sale Under Mechanic’s or Storage Lien; Unclaimed Vehicles
6
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 15A-1340.23 – Punishment Limits for Each Class of Offense and Prior Conviction Level