Selling a junk or dead car in Perry

No city code online, so Georgia's clocks apply

We looked for Perry's ordinances on junk or inoperable vehicles and did not find them published online. The city may have its own rules, and they could be stricter than the state's, so treat what follows as the floor rather than the whole story.

Georgia's motor vehicle manual defines an "abandoned motor vehicle" in two ways that matter to a parked car:

• 30 days on private property. A car left unattended on private land for at least 30 days fits the definition.
• Five days on public property. Public land, a Perry street included, gets a far shorter window: five days, if nobody looks to be coming back for it.

A third clock covers cars stuck at a shop. One left with "a dealer, repair shop or wrecker service" and unclaimed for 30 days is "abandoned" under the same manual. If your car died at a garage and you have been putting off the call, that month is running.

If the car has already been towed

State rules put the towing yard on a 15-day clock after the hook-up. By then each owner must have a letter from it, certified or hand-delivered. That letter says the yard can go to court over its lien once ten more calendar days pass, and that a judge can have the car sold. If no owner turns up, the yard prints a newspaper notice within 60 days and repeats it the following week. Our towed or impounded guide covers the choices at that point.

Two tag offices we checked

Georgia titles and plates go through the Department of Revenue's Motor Vehicle Division, but the counter work happens at a County Tag Office. For Perry we checked one in each county. Each distance runs from central Perry to the office, as the crow flies:

• Houston County: 202 Carl Vinson Pkwy, Warner Robins, (478) 923-2112, about 9 miles northeast.
• Peach County: 902 Campus Drive, Fort Valley, 478-825-3161, about 12 miles northwest.

Neither county is on Georgia's list of 13 metro Atlanta counties that require emissions testing, so a failed test is not what is keeping a Perry car off the road.

Signing it over in Georgia

A Georgia sale has two parts: transfer the title, then cancel the registration.

1. On the reverse of the original title, complete the seller's section. Each owner named puts a printed name and a signature in the Seller spot.
2. Record the mileage, whole miles only.
3. Keep the title clean. Changes or rub-outs can void it; the DOR warns "altering the purchase date can bring a $10 penalty."
4. The buyer gets the title. Photocopy it first, plus the signed transfer and a bill of sale if you wrote one.
5. Your plate leaves with you.
6. End the registration first (DRIVES e-Services online, or Form MV-18J with the county), then drop the insurance.

A Notice of Pending Suspension mailed to you once the car is gone can be ignored, per the DOR. Lost the title? Form MV-1 and $8.00 get a replacement, provided any lien has been released. Perry's oldest cars, model year 1985 and back, do not require a title and change hands on a bill of sale. Once a car hits 12 model years, Georgia lets a recycler or scrap buyer "accept a vehicle owner's affidavit" in some cases, and the buyer files a report on it. More in selling with no title and after you sell.

Close to Perry

Warner Robins is 9.5 miles away, Macon 23.2 miles and Griffin 61.8 miles, straight-line distances. The Georgia page has the statewide picture.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or use the form. We need the model year, the make and model, roughly how many miles it shows, whether the engine turns over, and whether the title is in hand. Our truck meets the car where it stopped: a Perry driveway, a lot at work or a repair bay.