Selling a junk or dead car in Urban Honolulu

How the city's junk program works

The program belongs to the city's Department of Customer Services. In three steps:

1. Print and complete the junk form.
2. Unbolt the license plates.
3. Reserve an AlohaQ slot at any satellite city hall, and show up with the form, the plates and your title documents.

The tow truck needs four things before it will take the car: no debris in it; a spot on the applicant's own land, or a legal space on a public street; room for a tow truck to reach it; and two inflated tires, at minimum, on whichever end the truck lifts.

The program has limits worth knowing. Loans, citations and criminal charges stay with you after the car is junked. Does a lender still have the title? Start with still owe on the loan.

Honolulu's abandoned-car ordinance

Urban Honolulu is a census-designated place, so the City and County's own code is the local law. Section 15-13.8 bans leaving any vehicle, trailers included, abandoned on a public street or highway. It also sets the line: a car nobody has tended for over 24 hours is abandoned under this section.

Two officials can act. Either the director of customer services or the chief of police "is authorized to remove or cause to be removed the abandoned vehicle from the street or highway."

The cost does not stay with the city. The person who abandoned the car "shall be liable for all reasonable expenses incurred by the city due to such removal."

So a dead car left on a Honolulu street can turn into a tow bill. The free junk program above, or a sale, avoids that.

Abandoned and towed cars

Hawaii's statute adds to the county rule. HRS 290-1 lets a county ordinance define an "abandoned" vehicle. Honolulu uses it after 24 hours. In Honolulu that reaches a car parked illegally on public land, a setback, an easement or the shoulder of a highway. Ten business days is the county's deadline to impound it.

Suspect a car has been dumped? Report it online or by phone at (808) 768-2530. Once Honolulu tows a car, the city mails a "Notification of Unclaimed Vehicle in Custody" letter. A Honolulu car still unclaimed past the date in that letter goes to auction. Active-duty service members get 60 days. If yours is already at a lot, see towed or impounded.

The title office about a mile away

On Oahu, titles and registration sit with the "Department of Customer Services, Division of Motor Vehicles", and counter visits happen at satellite city halls on AlohaQ appointments. The office we checked: Suite A, 1041 Nuuanu Ave.; call (808) 768-4325. Measured from the center of the city, it is roughly a mile to the southwest as the crow flies, on the same avenue as the chapel pictured above.

Selling on Oahu: what you sign and file

• Section A (front of the certificate): the mileage for 2011-and-newer models, the sale date, your printed name and your signature. Every co-owner signs. Section B: the lienholder, if there is one.
• Notary. Not required, though the city recommends it.
• Papers to hand over. Signed title, newest registration certificate, valid safety inspection certificate. Hawaii runs no emissions program, only a yearly safety check.
• Your notice. Tear the perforated top off your Honolulu title. In Honolulu, the "Notice of Transfer" strip (CS-L(MVR)53) must be turned in within 10 days. Missing it can cost a fine capped at $100. Hold on to a copy, since it shows the car, the buyer and the date it changed hands.
• The buyer's clock. From your transfer date the buyer has 30 days. The fee is $10, a $50 penalty is added after day 30, and the county then prints a fresh registration.

One catch: Oahu will not move a title for a car behind on registration or its safety inspection, and any back registration is for you and the buyer to sort out. A late renewal on a passenger car here carries a flat $16.00 penalty. Lost the title? An Oahu duplicate is $10.00; see junk car with no title.

Plates

Veteran specialty plates have to be surrendered and swapped for regular ones, at a $5.50 fee for the new plate and emblem, before the county records the transfer. Junking through the city starts with taking the plates off and turning them in.

Nearby towns

Kaneohe is about 7.0 miles away, East Honolulu 8.7, Kailua 8.8, Pearl City 8.9 and Waipahu 11.3. For statewide rules, see Hawaii.

Getting an offer

The form above, or (877) 421-6008, gets things started. Use the form for your car. Anywhere in Honolulu, we collect from a building garage, a legal street spot, a work lot or a shop.