Selling a dead or junk car in Bloomfield

No town junk-car rule turned up

The Bloomfield code sections we read deal with parking, towing and the vehicle pound. None covers a dead car sitting on private land. Connecticut law allows each town to pass blight rules, as long as owners get written notice and a fair shot at fixing things. Whether a junk car counts is up to each town's ordinance, so Bloomfield may have rules we did not find. Check with the town if you have a notice.

State law applies everywhere. A car abandoned over 24 hours on a highway or on land you don't own is an infraction, fined $85 or more. Police may tag a car that looks abandoned or has no registration. A day after the tag, 24 hours, it can be towed and stored and the owner pays. If police find an abandoned car with no plates or invalid ones that is worth $500 or less and unusable, title passes to the town and the car goes to a licensed recycler.

The Bloomfield vehicle pound

Under Section 19-18, a car parked so it blocks traffic, or in breach of 19-17, "may be removed and conveyed by, or under the direction of, a member of the police department" to a vehicle pound. The owner "shall be duly informed as to the nature and circumstances of the violation". The pound is a storage garage or another place the chief of police names.

Getting the car back, per 19-19:

• show the chief, or an officer the chief names, "evidence of his identity and ownership"
• "sign a receipt for such vehicle"
• pay the removal cost, capped at fifteen dollars, plus storage

When storage fees grow bigger than the car's value, read towed or impounded.

Dead trucks in home zones

Section 19-17 matters most for anyone with a broken-down work truck at home. No commercial vehicle or commercial trailer may be parked in the R-10 through R-80 zones, the PLR zone or the Gateway District for "longer than one (1) hour" unless it is making a delivery. That includes "Any vehicle requiring a Class 1 or Class 2 motor vehicle operator's license". For repeat violations the code imposes "an eighty-five-dollar" fine "for each day, or part thereof", and the vehicle "may be towed and impounded". Our junk truck guide covers selling one.

Parks have a rule too. Section 13-35 bars leaving any vehicle in a town park after closing time.

Signing it over

Titles come from the state DMV, not Bloomfield Town Hall. The DMV we checked for Bloomfield is at number 60 State Street in Wethersfield, about 10 miles southeast in a straight line. A Bloomfield seller signs the back of the title and adds a bill of sale. Bloomfield sellers don't need a notary under the DMV's steps. Cars over 20 model years have no title. A DMV letter shows that exemption, and the sale uses Form Q-1 with the registration.

Plates stay with you. Cancel the registration online and keep the receipt. The town keeps taxing the car until that's done. Keep insurance on until it is cancelled. More in after you sell.

Getting an offer

Ask online or call (877) 421-6008. Selling a car in Bloomfield? Our offer form covers the details. If it's in the pound, let us know which lot. Windsor and Simsbury are close by; see Connecticut for state rules.