Arvada junk and non-running car sales

Arvada's abandonment list

Section 62-4-512 treats a motor vehicle as abandoned in any of these cases:

• it "has been left for more than seven days unattended and unmoved other than in a public parking garage"
• its plates or other identifying marks are gone
• police notified the owner to move it, "and it has not been removed within three days after notification"
• it sat in a public parking garage "in excess of thirty days"

The same section flatly bans one thing: "It shall be unlawful for any person to leave or park an inoperable motor vehicle upon a street, highway, right-of-way, or any other public property." Inoperable is defined widely. It covers a car with no current plate or tag, one that is wrecked or in major disassembly or disrepair, and one "incapable of being moved under its own power." The owner is presumed responsible unless they can show someone else had the car at the time.

At home and on the curb

Off the street, Section 18-473 says "no inoperable motor vehicle shall be parked, kept, or stored on any premises," with room for other regulations to allow it, and that no vehicle may be in "major disassembly, disrepair, or in the process of being stripped or dismantled." Overhauls and body work go inside a structure made for them.

Selling from the curb has its own rule. Under Section 54-40, a parked car showing a sign that it is for sale is "prima facie evidence" that it is parked to be displayed for sale, which the section restricts on streets, sidewalks, parks and public lots.

If the city tows it

Section 54-213 lets police and designated city staff tow cars from streets and public places, including no-parking zones and streets posted at least 24 hours ahead for maintenance or a special event. A towed car is not released "until all unpaid civil penalties, administrative costs and fees" are settled, along with Arvada's tow-lot charges for hauling and storage. See towed or impounded if that bill is bigger than the car.

Two counties, two offices

Arvada spans Jefferson and Adams counties. Colorado has residents take most title and registration jobs to their own county's motor vehicle office; an Arvada family on the Jefferson side gets nowhere at an Adams counter, and the reverse. For Adams County, we checked one office: Suite E2001, 4430 S. Adams County Pkwy., Brighton, phone 720.523.6010. Measured from central Arvada as the crow flies, it lies about 19 miles east. Jefferson-side households use Jefferson County.

What Colorado does with a junk car

A car the state classifies as junk is never titled in Colorado again, even if another state would let it be rebuilt. Sell one on nothing but a bill of sale marked "parts only" and Colorado will not title it either. So sign the actual title over. In Arvada, you sign and print your name in the Seller block on the back, spelled just like the front. Any co-owner listed there signs as well. Enter the price, the date and the mileage. Worth knowing in Arvada: the DMV's seller steps list no notary.

Title gone missing? Colorado offers no way around it. A replacement copy costs $8.20. When the original is missing or defective and a copy cannot be had, the county runs Bonding for Title, which takes a surety bond worth twice the car's appraised value; any car past 25 years old is excused from the bond. Details in junk car with no title.

Afterward, Arvada sellers can drop ordinary plates at the county motor vehicle office or hand them to a metal recycler, and report the sale on myDMV inside 5 days.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or send the form. Share the car's year and make, the model, a rough odometer reading, whether it fires up, and any title snags. The truck can come to a garage, a backyard near Olde Town or a repair bay. Wheat Ridge is about 5 miles from Arvada and Westminster about 6; for statewide rules, see Colorado.