Selling a dead or junk car in Trumbull

The blight clock in Trumbull

Everything starts with a written notice. It must spell out the violations and the conditions behind them, and it gives you 30 days to fix them.

• Want a hearing? Ask within 10 calendar days of the first notice or of a citation.
• If you ignore it. Once you have had notice and a fair window to clean up, willfully breaking the town's blight rules can cost up to $250.00 per day the town can document by inspection.
• If you do not pay. Unpaid penalties and the town's enforcement costs turn into a lien on the property, under Section 7-148aa of the state statutes.
• New owners and tenants. Anyone who took title or moved in within 30 days of the notice counts as a "new owner" or "new occupant" and gets separate terms.

The fixes the code itself points to are simple: garage the car, or get it off the property. Our notice to remove a car guide walks through the choices.

If the car was impounded

The Police Commission chooses impound lots, and Section 12-48 says it "will give first preference to garages or towing facilities located within the town." Sections 12-30 and 12-48 release a car only after you pay a towing charge and a storage charge. The current schedule of those charges sits on file in the Town Clerk's office. Storage keeps adding up, so a dead car on an impound lot is often worth selling where it sits.

Titles come from the state, by way of Bridgeport

Trumbull has no title counter; Connecticut's DMV runs that. Its Bridgeport branch at 95 Sylvan Avenue, the one we looked up, is about 5 miles south of central Trumbull as the crow flies. Other branches may also serve the area.

• Ordinary sale. Seller signs on the back of the certificate; buyer receives that and a bill of sale (H-31 is the DMV's version). Sellers don't need a notary, per the DMV's list.
• Older than 20 model years. C.G.S. 14-166 exempts these from titling, and the DMV prints an exemption letter as proof. Q-1 and your latest registration complete the sale.
• Title lost. Connecticut recyclers have to obtain a title whenever the car needs one. H-6B gets a replacement for $25.00.

Plates, insurance and the tax list

Remove the plates and cancel the registration. There is no notice-of-sale form in Connecticut; your record is the cancellation receipt. Skip the cancellation and the car stays on Trumbull's property-tax rolls. That can snowball: towns may flag an owner as tax delinquent, and once flagged, the DMV refuses registrations in that name. Keep coverage on until the DMV finishes the cancellation.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or fill in the form with the car, its mileage and the title situation. Pickup can happen at a Trumbull driveway, a garage or an impound lot. Nearby: Shelton, Bridgeport, Stratford and Newtown. State rules are on the Connecticut page.