Selling a junk car in Clinton

The seven-day test

Section 90.02 defines a junk vehicle as one that "is not able to be moved under its own power or has not been moved or used as an operating vehicle for a period of seven days" and has one of the listed traits. The first of those traits is a car that "lacks an engine or two or more wheels or other structural parts, rendering said motor vehicle totally inoperable."

The same section goes further. "No inoperative or unlicensed vehicle shall be parked, kept or stored on any premises." No vehicle may be "in a state of major disrepair, disassembly, or in the process of being stripped or dismantled." Dismantled cars and their parts are also listed in the code's definition of junk.

So a car with fresh stickers that has sat a week with a dead engine can still draw a nuisance finding.

Streets, lots and downtown

Clinton's towing rule in Section 70.25 sets two clocks. A peace officer may remove a car "left parked for a continuous period of 24 hours or more on any street or 48 hours or more in any municipal parking lot." Cars parked against a snow-removal ban can be towed too. The owner pays "the reasonable cost of towing and storage."

Downtown, a car may stay in one on-street stall for "no more than two consecutive hours during any one day," apart from a few listed areas. The public lots allow 48 hours, except the first row's easterly side, which is "three-hour parking." A car with a dead battery outside a downtown shop runs into both limits.

Abandoned cars and the demolisher route

Under Section 99.01, a car impounded by police and "not reclaimed for a period of ten days" is abandoned. Police may declare it sooner by starting the notice process. So is a car parked on someone else's private lot, uninvited, past 24 hours.

Section 99.08 gives a way out when paperwork is the problem. A Clinton owner holding a title that is "faulty, lost or destroyed" may let a demolisher take the car as junk "without a title and without notification procedures," when it is missing an engine or wheels as the section describes. Section 99.10 then bars the demolisher from crushing it "until the demolisher has obtained the junking certificate."

Iowa title and plates

Clinton County's treasurer issues titles, plates and junking certificates. On the reverse of the title goes your seller's signature, then the buyer's name, where the buyer lives and the date. Tell the buyer which county issued the last registration and when it expires. Remove the plates and keep them.

Iowa charges a registration that has fallen 24 months or more behind a single flat penalty and fee, equal to 150 percent of a year's registration fee. The current year's fee is still due on top. That is one more cost of keeping a dead car registered, and you avoid it by selling a car you are not driving.

Close by

Bettendorf is 22.5 miles from Clinton in a straight line, Davenport is 27.1, Dubuque is 51.2 and Muscatine is 51.7. Statewide rules are on the Iowa page.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or send the form. The offer form asks about your Clinton car. Our truck can reach a garage up the bluff, a yard by the rail line, or a downtown curb.