Selling a junk or dead car in Sahuarita

Sahuarita's code: not located online

Sahuarita's town code did not show up in our search, so Arizona statutes fill this page. Town rules on stored or inoperable cars may exist and would still apply.

Under ARS 28-4801, a car left alone for 72 hours on private or public property is prima facie evidence of abandonment. On a road right-of-way, 48 hours is enough. ARS 28-4831 bans abandoning one anywhere, and ARS 28-4833 lets towns like Sahuarita write removal ordinances.

The abandoned-car sequence

• Notice: If the Sahuarita car is on Arizona's records, MVD mails the owner and lienholder within 5 days. For any other car it is 30 days.
• Claim window: 30 days.
• Transfer: an unclaimed car that is not stolen can be signed over by MVD, liens wiped, to whoever is holding it, a tow yard for example (ARS 28-4842).
• Fee: whoever was owner of record at abandonment pays MVD, billed with the next registration or driver license renewal (ARS 28-4802).

That last line is the cost of waiting too long.

Selling with no title in Sahuarita

Arizona records titles electronically, and plenty of owners never held paper. ARS 28-2098 covers cars that were never titled, whose title was lost, or whose title went back to MVD. Even without a title, a Sahuarita owner may sell the car to an auto recycler holding a license, or to a scrap metal dealer on the register. A Sahuarita car qualifies when it is 12 model years old. Its value also has to be $1,200 or less.

• The dealer photographs the owner, the car and its VIN.
• Payment comes as a check; cash is not allowed.
• You sign that the car is going to be scrapped or dismantled and carries no lien.
• The dealer must wait 3 business days after reporting before crushing it.

Lying on that statement, or selling while a lien is unpaid, is a class 1 misdemeanor carrying a $2,500 fine. Replacing a lost one costs $4 through AZ MVD Now, or you can mail form 96-0236 and wait up to six weeks. See junk car with no title.

Signing over, and the plate

Titles are not a Pima County job. A Sahuarita seller can handle this at an authorized Third Party office or at an MVD office. Sahuarita sellers can use eTitle Transfer online. A paper title gets your signature on the back, then goes to the Sahuarita buyer along with the car. The selling steps ADOT publishes mention no notary. Most cars from 2011 on need the odometer reading disclosed.

Keep the plate. Remove it before pickup. In Sahuarita, the plate must go on another car, be turned in, or be listed as destroyed on an affidavit within 30 days. Last, Sahuarita sellers have 10 days to file the Sold Notice, using form 46-8502 or the AZMVDNow.gov site. It costs nothing. More in after you sell.

Getting an offer

Selling in Sahuarita? Ring (877) 421-6008 or send the offer form. We collect near Sahuarita Town Hall or in Tucson, 16.2 miles away. Sierra Vista is 45.9 miles away; see Arizona for statewide rules.