Selling a dead or junk car in Leawood

What a Kansas city can do about a dead car

K.S.A. 12-1617e gives cities the power to remove "a motor vehicle determined to be a nuisance" from private property. The process has set steps:

• The order goes to the owner by certified mail or in person.
• It must allow "a time not exceeding 10 days" to deal with the car. Owners who show due diligence can get more time.
• The owner has a right to a hearing.
• If the owner does nothing, the city removes the car and sends a bill payable within 30 days. Unpaid, the cost can be assessed against the property.

A car the city hauls away is then handled through the impound, notice and auction steps in K.S.A. 8-1102.

Leawood's own rules

Kansas leaves the detail of junk-car rules on private property to each city's nuisance ordinance, within the statute above. Leawood's was not online when we checked. Before you plan around a deadline, ask the city whether its code is stricter than state law.

When there is still a loan on it

Plenty of dead cars still carry a loan. In Kansas the buyer's title application needs a lien release. Kansas will take the lender's sign-off on the title itself, form TR-150 with a notary's stamp, or a letter on the lender's letterhead. With an electronic title, you owe the buyer a lien release or a clear paper title. When a Leawood car still carries a lien, the release and the lender's part of form TR-42 also need a notary watching. It is the one place the Division of Vehicles asks for a notary. More in still owe on the loan.

When the title is missing

There are two routes:

1. Duplicate. Form TR-720B, $10, replaces a lost title. Any county treasurer accepts it, or it can be mailed to the Titles and Registrations Bureau. You list the year, make, VIN, every owner's name and today's odometer reading.
2. Nonrepairable certificate. When a car is good only for parts or scrap and is at least 10 model years old, this certificate can carry the sale with no title. After that single transfer, the car has to be taken apart or recycled.

If a seller hands over a title that is not properly signed and then cannot be found, the buyer has to go to court to quiet title. That is why Kansas tells sellers never to give up a title that is not fully assigned. See selling with no title.

Signing and plates

Leawood cars are titled with the treasurer for Johnson County. As seller, you complete the reverse of the title: sale amount, sale date, mileage, and printed names plus signatures for you and the buyer. Make a copy. Kansas sellers keep the plates, so pull them off before the car leaves your Leawood driveway. Putting them on your next vehicle costs $1.50.

Close by

Counting straight-line distance, Overland Park sits 3.7 miles from Leawood, Prairie Village 5.5 and Lenexa 10.4. The Kansas page has statewide detail.

Getting an offer

For a Leawood offer, call (877) 421-6008 or use the form, and mention any loan. Pickup works from a home garage, a parking pad or a shop that has the car.