Selling a dead or junk car in Fishers

How the Fishers tag works

Section 90.07 starts with a notice tag and a 72-hour window. The tag warns "that the owner will be held responsible for all costs incidental to the removal, storage and disposal and if not paid, the owner's registration privileges will be suspended on that car."

If the car or its parts are still there after 72 hours, the officer writes an abandoned vehicle report on the condition and missing parts. Then the value test splits the path:

• Under $100. The car goes straight to a scrapyard, and the report and photos go to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
• $100 or more. Before tagging, the officer tries to find the owner. "After 72 hours, the officer shall require the vehicle or parts to be towed to a storage area."

Those dollar figures are the city's legal test for the officer, not a price for the car.

Once a car reaches storage, Section 90.08 has police send the BMV a report within 72 hours, with the make, model, identification number and plate, asking for the owner's name and address. Under Section 90.12, what an owner pays for towing and storage "may not exceed the limits established by ordinance adopted in IC 9-22-1."

A car on your own driveway

The Fishers sections we read deal with abandoned cars. Those sections give no day limit for a dead car on your own property, though other city rules might. State law sets one limit. If a car stays on land its owner does not control, with no permission, past 48 hours, Indiana calls it abandoned, and the landowner can tag it and have it towed 24 hours later. Whoever owns that car pays for removal, storage and disposal; the storage part cannot exceed $2,000.

Title and plates

In Carmel, Suite A-100 at 271 Merchants Square Drive is the nearest BMV branch to Fishers that we found. It's roughly 8 miles due west of central Fishers in a straight line. Its number is 888-692-6841. Titles are issued by the state, through branches, BMV Connect kiosks and Partial Service Providers.

Signing over a Fishers car means every owner's signature and printed name in the seller block, an odometer statement, the sale date, the price and the purchaser's details. Indiana asks for no notary. The plates leave with you, not the car, and can move to another vehicle you own. Your buyer then has 45 days to apply for a title.

No title for your Fishers car? Fishers owners have two routes: pay $15.00 for a duplicate title, or use State Form 55018, a $4.00 Certificate of Authority, to scrap the car. If the plates lapsed while the car sat, the BMV FAQ lists a flat $15 penalty for late renewal and states no back-year fees.

Nearby

Noblesville is 5.5 miles from Fishers, Lawrence 6.7, Carmel 9.5 and Westfield 11.0. For all of Indiana, see the Indiana page.

Getting an offer

For a Fishers car offer, send the form or ring (877) 421-6008. Wherever it stopped, the truck goes to it, whether that is your garage, a curb or a service bay's lot. If the title is the snag, read junk car with no title.