Selling a dead car in Windsor

Connecticut law on a car that just sits

Windsor drivers who leave a car over a day on a highway or another owner's property commit a Connecticut infraction, fined $85 or more. State police, DMV inspectors and local officers may also seize any car that is "a menace to traffic or public health or safety," whether it sits on a road or off one.

Usually it begins with a sticker. Windsor officers stick one on a car that looks abandoned or is unregistered, which starts a 24-hour clock. When it closes, the car can be hauled to storage and the bill lands on you.

After a tow

Once a Windsor car is towed, police or the parking authority have 48 hours to send its owner and any lienholder a certified letter. Windsor owners get 10 days to object. Once those pass, a sale can go ahead. One valued at $1,500 or under waits 15 days, and one worth more waits 45 days, unless the town already has the title. The dollar amounts are thresholds in the statute.

Badly damaged cars take a shortcut. If Windsor officers come across an unusable, abandoned-looking car without valid plates that is worth $500 or less, the town takes title and a licensed recycler gets it. Money left from a sale after costs belongs to the former owner for one year if claimed; after that the town keeps it.

Your own driveway

Connecticut lets each town pass blight rules for homes and businesses, so long as the owner gets notice in writing and a fair shot at a fix. Cars go unmentioned in that statute, which leaves it to local ordinances to say whether a junk car is blight. Since we did not find Windsor's, treat any letter from the town as the rulebook and read its deadline closely.

Title and registration for a Windsor sale

The state, not Windsor, handles titles. Its DMV at 60 State Street in Wethersfield lies roughly 11 miles due south of central Windsor, measured straight. Most DMV offices book appointments.

Here is the seller's side of the deal:

1. Put your signature on the certificate's reverse and pass it to whoever is buying.
2. Write up a bill of sale; our bill of sale guide covers what Connecticut wants on it.
3. Make copies for yourself. The DMV's steps for sellers leave out any notary.
4. Remove both plates and end the registration. The DMV says the online version runs about 7 minutes, and its receipt is your record.

No title exists for a car over 20 model years old; Form Q-1 travels with the most recent registration instead. On a newer car, recyclers are barred from accepting it without the title.

Hold liability coverage until cancellation is done. If town taxes go unpaid, the DMV can refuse registrations in your name, so use that receipt and your sale paper to get a sold car off Windsor's list.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or use the form. For a Windsor car, the offer form asks what we need. We come to the car: near Palisado Green, in a parking lot, or wherever it gave out. Nearby pages: Bloomfield, South Windsor and Hartford. Statewide rules are on Connecticut.