Selling a dead or junk car in Lawrenceville

How wide the definition reaches

A definition in Section 1001 sweeps in any vehicle that is "wrecked, dismantled, partially dismantled, stripped, partially stripped, inoperative, abandoned, discarded," and also any vehicle kept on a premises or right-of-way "without a current license plate and/or decal displayed on the vehicle." A clean car with a lapsed decal fits the second half.

Section 10-31 allows two exceptions:

• a junk vehicle kept in a fully enclosed building in a residential district while the owner or occupant is "reconditioning the junk vehicle for personal use"
• a junk vehicle on property zoned for that kind of storage

A tarp in the side yard is neither.

Four vehicles per parcel

Section 501 caps the count: "No more than four vehicles or vessels total, including those that may or may not be parked in a carport or garage," on any parcel. A dead car you are holding onto takes one of those four places. Recreational and non-motor vehicles belong in a carport, an enclosed structure or the rear yard on an approved hard surface.

Downtown parking and impound

Clayton Street, from Church Street to Oak Street, is a two-hour parking district under Section 36-2. A car left there more than two hours is a parking violation. The fifth or later citation to the same car and owner brings a higher minimum fine "and the vehicle impounded immediately." Skipping the hearing leads to a certified letter and an added administrative fee.

To get any impounded car back, "All outstanding parking summons or citations issued to the impounded vehicle must be cleared" by court appearance or cash bond before police release it. Our towed or impounded guide covers the rest.

Gwinnett County tag office, under a mile away

Gwinnett's Tax Commissioner office on South Perry Street, number 750, is the one we checked for Lawrenceville; its phone is 770-822-8818. On a map it sits under a mile southeast of downtown Lawrenceville. Gwinnett may run other offices too.

Georgia's two steps

Selling a car in Georgia is two jobs. First, complete the seller's assignment on the title's reverse: printed name, signature under Seller, a whole-mile odometer reading, and no erasures, since alterations can void the title. Second, cancel the registration. DRIVES e-Services does it online; Form MV-18J does it at the Perry Street counter. Insurance comes off after that.

Keep the plates. A notice of pending suspension that turns up after the car has gone can be set aside, Georgia's revenue department says, if the car was sold. A replacement title, if you need one first, is $8.00 through Form MV-1. See selling with no title.

Getting an offer

For a Lawrenceville car, use the form or phone (877) 421-6008. Pickup can be from a Lawrenceville driveway, a back yard or a shop lot. Nearby: Snellville, Suwanee, Duluth and Georgia.