Selling a dead or junk car in Coeur d'Alene

The ash rule, read closely

The section directs the mayor to "immediately promulgate rules and regulations to facilitate the safe collection, removal and disposal of volcanic ash from all public and private property in the city of Coeur d'Alene." Those rules can designate streets and alleys where parking is off limits during the cleanup. Impounds under it follow the city's general impound sections. A dead car at the curb is the one vehicle on the block that cannot be moved out of the way.

What the city's own junk rules say

We did not find a junk-vehicle or inoperable-car section in the Coeur d'Alene code we read. That does not prove there is none, and Coeur d'Alene could still regulate a dead car at home in a section we missed. Until you have checked, plan around Idaho law, which applies in every city in the state.

Idaho's rules on abandoned and stored cars

• Abandonment. Leaving a vehicle on a highway is not allowed, and neither is leaving one on public or private property unless the owner or the person in possession agrees (Idaho Code 49-1801).
• Roadside notice. A car abandoned along a Coeur d'Alene road is tagged with a 48-hour tow warning. If the plates are current, the officer tries to contact the owner, but the car is towed regardless (49-1805).
• Private land. A person in control of non-commercial land who finds an abandoned car on unposted property can have a tow company take it by signing the company's release form (49-1806). If that is your situation, see car abandoned on your property.
• Old tags alone don't count. An expired or improper registration by itself doesn't make a car unauthorized or removable (49-1806).
• Court-declared nuisance. ITD cancels the title of a partly dismantled, junked, abandoned or non-operating car after a court rules it a public nuisance (49-516).

If a tow company has it

Idaho gives tow companies a set path. A Coeur d'Alene tow company enters each tow in ITD's portal inside 1 business day. If the car sits unclaimed for 5 business days (or 10, by track), a second notice goes by first-class mail. A third follows after 15 business days. Once those notices go out, a Coeur d'Alene tow company may seek a title or a junk certificate thirty days after first notification. Acting before then keeps the car, and the choice of what happens to it, with you. See towed or impounded.

Title work in Kootenai County

A Coeur d'Alene private sale is titled at the county assessor's motor vehicle office. For Coeur d'Alene, that's Kootenai County. A title costs $14, plus the county's admin fee. The buyer must file within 30 days of the transfer or pay a $20.00 late-filing penalty.

You release your interest by signing the current title. In Coeur d'Alene, an odometer disclosure goes with any car past model year 2010 that weighs under 16,000 lb. Sold for junk, it gets "for junk only" written on the title's face by the owner. A dismantled or destroyed car cannot simply disappear on paper either: its title must be surrendered to ITD, and failing to surrender it is unlawful.

No title in hand? Nothing in Idaho Code lets a Coeur d'Alene owner junk a car with no title. The usual answer is the Duplicate Idaho Title Application, ITD 3367, notarized, which only the titled owner, the lienholder on file, or someone authorized by either may submit. For odometer-exempt vehicles only, ITD has a Duplicate with Transfer ($14), which lets an owner get the copy and sell in one step. When a properly released title can't be had, a bill of sale might work, plus extra steps on a Conditional Title Statement of Facts. Selling with no title goes further.

Plates and the release of liability

Idaho sellers keep their plates and registration card. You may move a plate to another vehicle only after registering it, with a $5 transfer fee.

In Coeur d'Alene, the $3.50 release of liability is due at ITD within 5 days of handing the car over. From then on, tickets, tow fees, storage, repair work or service bills the car gets are not the Coeur d'Alene seller's to pay. Filing false information on purpose is against the law. You don't need an emissions test, since Idaho stopped testing statewide effective July 1, 2023.

Nearby

Post Falls is 7.1 miles away as the crow flies. Moscow is 67.9 miles off and Lewiston 91.0. The state hub is Idaho.

Getting an offer

Ask online or call (877) 421-6008. Fill in the offer form for your Coeur d'Alene car. Pickup reaches Coeur d'Alene driveways, side streets and tow lots once a car is released.