Selling a dead or junk car in Jeffersonville

When Indiana calls a car abandoned

State law sets two main tests:

• On private property: past 48 hours, if whoever owns the land never agreed to it.
• On public property: once a street or lot holds one whose engine, transmission or differential is gone, or one that is partly dismantled or won't run.

The private-property test turns on consent, so it is aimed at a car left on someone else's land. A car with no VIN or other identification left on it can be disposed of without notice.

The landowner's 24 hours

Whoever owns the private land where a suspected abandoned car sits may call an officer to take it, or put a tag on it and have it towed after 24 hours. A dead car left at a friend's house in Jeffersonville, in a shop lot or outside an old apartment can be tagged by the landowner and towed once the tag's 24 hours run out.

The bill follows the car's owner: removal, storage and disposal, though Indiana stops storage charges at $2,000. If a mechanic with a lien mails a notice and hears nothing from the owner or lienholder for 20 days, the car can be sold at public sale or auction. And once a tower or storer sells an abandoned car, its former owner is off the hook for storage. Towed or impounded covers getting a car back.

Title office in Clarksville

For Clark County, we checked the branch in Suite 104 at 1150 East Lewis & Clark Parkway, Clarksville. As the crow flies, it lies about 3 miles southwest of central Jeffersonville; call 888-692-6841.

A Jeffersonville seller may never need the counter. Every owner signs and prints in the seller block of the Indiana title. Then fill in the mileage, sale date, price, and the buyer's name and address. Notarizing is absent from the BMV's list for sellers, and a bill of sale can go un-notarized. Jeffersonville buyers who apply for a new title after more than 45 days owe an administrative penalty.

No title? A replacement on State Form 205 is $15.00. For a speed title, add $25. For a car going to scrap, State Form 55018 gets you the $4.00 Certificate of Authority. You show ownership with current registration or an insurance settlement, and a lien release if there was a lien. See junk car with no title. If your title came from Kentucky or another state, read out-of-state title.

Plates and emissions

Plates come off before the buyer's truck pulls away. Indiana's BMV doesn't collect them, so keep them for another vehicle in your name. Clark County has no emissions testing; IDEM limits it to Lake and Porter.

Nearby

Clarksville is 3.8 miles away and New Albany 6.9; Seymour is 43.3 miles off. Statewide rules are on the Indiana page.

Getting an offer

Have a Jeffersonville car to sell? Phone (877) 421-6008 or use the offer form. We can collect it on a street by the riverfront, a driveway across town, or a repair shop that is done with it.