Selling a dead or junk car in Boulder

At the curb: a windshield notice and a one-week count

Boulder's definitions in Section 1-2-1 label a car an "inoperable motor vehicle" when it lacks "a current license plate and a validation sticker lawfully affixed thereto," or is "wrecked, dismantled or partially dismantled, or having essential parts missing." Parking past a posted limit, or for "more than seventy-two hours at any otherwise unregulated location," makes it abandoned.

Section 7-7-3 tells an officer who suspects either condition to tuck a warning under the wiper. That paper orders the car gone "within seven days of the notice." Once a week passes, Boulder police may order an impound and bill the owner. A hearing is available, but the request has to come inside that same week. The notice also says a towed car whose charges sit unpaid for a month after impound will be sold.

On a Boulder driveway: thirty days

Private property buys time. Section 7-7-4 makes an inoperable car a public nuisance once it has stayed on private land "for a period longer than thirty days."

Exempt: antiques, cars inside an enclosed building, cars on a repair business's premises, impounded cars, and "a vehicle deemed inoperable solely because it lacks a current license plate or validation sticker." Stale tags by themselves will not trigger the driveway rule. Missing essential parts or wreck damage will.

If the city manager has probable cause, the owner and occupant of the property get certified mail. They then have seven days to move the car or request a hearing. Ignore it, and a peace officer can seek an administrative search warrant from municipal court and have a towing carrier haul it. A car valued under $200 gets a notice saying the reclaim period before sale is fifteen days.

Boulder impound hearings

Fifteen days: that is how long Section 7-7-7 gives an owner, counted from the mailed impound notice, to request a hearing. Waiting for it is optional. Post a bond covering the towing and storage bill plus "$25 in administrative costs" and the car comes out first. Should the hearing officer find no probable cause, Boulder releases the car and absorbs the removal and impound costs itself.

Someone else's car parked on your land is a different story. Section 7-7-5 says such a car is "subject to immediate towing under state law" once it has sat there a day or more without consent. Our guide to a car abandoned on your property covers that side.

The 33rd Street office

Boulder County handles titles at 1750 33rd Street (Boulder, CO 80301), telephone 303-413-7710. As the crow flies, that counter sits less than one mile south of downtown Boulder. Colorado's county motor vehicle offices answer to the elected clerk and recorder, which is why hours and fees are set locally. For most services, people living in another county use their own county's office.

The Colorado title, step by step

Flip the title over to the Seller section. Sign and print the owner's name in that spot, spelled the same as on the front. Any co-owner shown on the front also signs. Add the price, the sale date and, on models from 2011 onward during their first 20 years, the mileage. Notarizing is absent from the Colorado DMV's seller instructions. It's wise to fill out a DR 2173 bill of sale. If the price is left blank on the title, you must.

No title in the glovebox? Colorado allows no way around it. Form DR 2539A orders a duplicate for $8.20. When that won't work, the county has Bonding for Title. Boulder owners post a surety bond worth double the appraised value, unless the car is over 25 years old. Junk car with no title explains each path.

Plates, the release report and emissions

Under Colorado law the plates belong to you. Unbolt them before the truck rolls. In Boulder, regular plates go back at the clerk's counter or to a metal recycler. Personalized plates can move to your next vehicle.

The release report is due five days after the sale. File Report Release of Liability in person at Boulder County, or on myDMV. You need the plate number and the VIN, or the verification code on the registration card. From then on, the new owner's use of the car is not your problem.

Colorado tests emissions in two regions, metro Denver and the North Front Range. A seller whose car is past 7 model years owes a buyer from a testing county a passing result. The DMV says some inoperable cars can still be sold if they meet certain criteria. Call 303-205-5603 to ask.

Towns around Boulder

Louisville lies 6.9 miles off, Lafayette 8.3 and Longmont 12.7, each measured in a straight line. Colorado-wide rules are on the Colorado page.

Getting an offer

Contact us online or call (877) 421-6008. Send a few details on the Boulder car. Our truck can reach a driveway by campus, a curb spot with a notice on the glass, or a repair lot.