Selling a dead or junk car in Sierra Vista

When a car at home becomes a code problem

Section 150.02 says a car built for public streets is deemed inoperative if a current Arizona registration tag "is not affixed thereto," or if "one (1) or more parts which are required for the operation of the vehicle are missing." So a lapsed plate alone can put a running car in that category.

The same section lets such a car stay on residential property, within limits:

• a car "not in working condition or incapable of being operated lawfully" may be kept there "for not more than thirty (30) days, unless kept in a garage or under a carport"
• it may also stay if it is under "a cover designed and manufactured to cover said vehicle," and that cover is "maintained in a clean and reasonable manner"

Past 30 days in the open with no proper cover, the allowance is gone.

Three cars in the yard, or two

Section 150.23(8) lists as a nuisance any land used for the "storage or accumulation of three (3) or more vehicles," or of their parts. The city's development code defines a junkyard to include land holding "two or more unregistered, inoperable motor vehicles." A household with a second dead car beside the first is nearer those lines than it may seem. Clearing several at once is covered in several junk cars.

Street parking: 3 days, then 6

Section 71.05 lets police or another authorized agent remove a car parked in violation from any public street. Two clocks run from the date and time recorded on the notice. Miss "within three (3) days" and the car is in violation; miss "within six (6) days" and it "will be removed from its location and impounded."

The code presumes the last registered owner of record is responsible. The owner owes "any and all charges incurred in the removal and subsequent storage of the vehicle," unless they prove someone else was the legal owner then. Arizona's abandoned-vehicle statutes, ARS 28-4801 and following, govern the towing, storage, title transfer and sale. If you have sold the car, the Sold Notice below is your record of the sale.

Cochise County and emissions

Emissions testing in Arizona stops at the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas: parts of Maricopa, Pinal and Yavapai make up Area A, and a part of Pima makes up Area B. Cochise appears in neither, so a Sierra Vista registration never waits on a tailpipe test.

Title, plates and the Sold Notice

Cochise County does not process titles. MVD's own offices and ADOT-authorized Third Party offices do, with a good share online at AZ MVD Now. Arizona stores titles electronically, so plenty of Sierra Vista sellers have no paper copy at all, which is just what eTitle Transfer handles. Paper titles get signed on the back and go to the buyer as the car leaves. ADOT's list of seller steps does not include a notary. Cars from 2011 onward mostly need an odometer disclosure.

Arizona plates stay with the seller, so unbolt yours first. The plate from a Sierra Vista sale gets 30 days: switch it to another car, hand it in, or swear in an affidavit that it was destroyed. Fees you did not use come back as credit, less $12.

Send in the Sold Notice inside 10 days, free, at AZMVDNow.gov or using form 46-8502. Under ARS 28-4835, once that transfer report is filed, it rebuts the abandonment presumption against you as owner on record.

Lost title on an aging car? Lost the title on your Sierra Vista car? A Sierra Vista car can still go for scrap at 12 model years if its value is $1,200 or less. The buyer must be a registered dealer or a licensed auto recycler. They pay by check. See junk car with no title.

Getting an offer

Selling a car in Sierra Vista? Selling in Sierra Vista? Call (877) 421-6008 or use the offer form. We also pick up in Sahuarita, 45.9 miles off, and Tucson, 52.1. Statewide rules are on the Arizona page.