Selling an inoperable or junk car in Southington

What Chapter 203 covers

The town states its aim plainly: to "define, prohibit and abate blights and nuisances, including unsightly materials and unregistered and inoperable motor vehicles." So a car can be a problem in either of two ways:

• Unregistered. No current registration, whatever shape the car is in.
• Inoperable. Not legal on public roads without major work, under the definition above.

The chapter also aims "to preserve and protect property values," which is why the property owner is part of the picture, not only the car's owner.

After the notice arrives

Southington gives you a set path once a notice is served:

1. Appeal within 15 days. You can appeal "to the Town Manager or his designee, in writing, within 15 days of the date of said notice."
2. Seven more days after a decision. If you appeal, "the first day of violation shall be seven days after the decision," or a later date the Town Manager sets.
3. Daily fines for willful violation. Someone who ignores the notice and the correction date and "willfully violates § 203-4" can be fined for each day under the state statute the chapter cites.

The chapter also defines a "new owner" or "new occupant" as someone who took title or moved in "within 30 days of the notice."

If the town hauls it away

The town can recover its costs. Chapter 203 lets Southington collect "from any owner of an unregistered or inoperable motor vehicle or from the person in possession or control, or owner of the property where such violation of this section exists, the costs incurred in removing and/or disposing of such motor vehicle." In plain terms, the landlord can be billed for a tenant's car.

Connecticut layers on its own limits too. Abandon a car beyond one day along a road or on another person's land, and an infraction follows, fined at $85 minimum. Police tags on cars that appear abandoned or unregistered give owners a single day before towing.

Title and DMV from Southington

Southington residents get titles from Connecticut's DMV, never from Town Hall. Southington drivers use the Wethersfield office at 60 State Street. We measured it at roughly 14 miles northeast of downtown on a map.

Selling in Southington is short work. Southington sellers sign the title's back side and add a bill of sale, using Form H-31 or one they write. No notary shows up in DMV's seller list. Southington cars past 20 model years old no longer get a Connecticut title. In its place you hand over Form Q-1 with your last registration certificate. Licensed recyclers, though, must collect the title on any car that requires one. See junk car with no title.

Plates off, registration cancelled

Keep your Southington plates. Cancel the registration online and hang on to the receipt. With no release form in Connecticut, that receipt is your only proof. Hold your insurance until the cancellation is done. If an extra property-tax bill arrives, bring the receipt and the bill of sale to the Southington assessor.

Getting an offer

Got a car to sell in Southington? Call (877) 421-6008 or fill in the offer form. We come to a Southington driveway, a backyard or a rented storage spot. Southington sits between Bristol and Meriden; statewide rules are on the Connecticut page.