Selling a junk car in Franklin, Indiana

Reading 10.44.070 closely

Either condition is enough. Expired plates on a car that runs fine count. So does a car with fresh plates and a seized engine. The only safe spot the section names is "inside a closed structure out of public view."

The zoning title has its own term for this. Section 17.08.020 defines "inoperable vehicle storage" as "the outdoor storage of motor driven vehicles and their parts, that can not be operated in their current state." It also lists inoperable vehicles among the things that make a place a "junk yard."

Clocks that apply once a car is on the street

• 20 minutes. Under Section 10.36.070, a police officer, the fire chief or the street commissioner may order a car removed if it is a safety hazard, or if the owner will not move it within twenty minutes of being asked. The owner pays for the removal.
• Snow emergency. Section 10.40.020 lets the street commissioner or the mayor declare one. After that, nobody may park "for any purpose or period of time" on a snow emergency route, and police "may tow or ticket vehicles."
• 30 days at the lot. Section 10.48.020 says city obligations and all tow and storage charges are paid before a towed car is released. Leave it more than thirty days and it "may be treated as abandoned property and disposed of according to law."

Jefferson Street branch and the title

The Johnson County branch we checked, Suite D at 1053 W. Jefferson St., sits roughly 2 miles southwest of Franklin's center, as the crow flies; call 888-692-6841. Because titles here are a state matter, a kiosk or a Partial Service Provider can also do the work.

The seller's part is short. Everyone listed as owner signs, prints their name, and completes the mileage, date, selling price and purchaser lines. Nothing in the BMV's seller list calls for a notary, and Indiana's bill of sale skips one too. From there the purchaser takes over, with 45 days to file.

If the title is gone and the car is scrap, the BMV's Certificate of Authority costs $4.00 on State Form 55018. Read junk car with no title before you apply.

Plates stay with you

Pull the plates off before the car goes. Nobody at the BMV expects them returned. Keep them for the next car registered to you.

Getting an offer

Phone (877) 421-6008 or use the form. Describe the car, say whether it runs, give a rough odometer figure and tell us about the paperwork. Loading can happen near the courthouse square, at your work, or out of the garage it is hiding in. Neighbors with their own pages: Greenwood, Shelbyville and Columbus. State rules are on the Indiana page.