Selling a junk or abandoned car in Topeka

What Topeka treats as abandoned

The section opens with a broad ban: "No person shall abandon any vehicle on any street or highway or on any other public property within the City," and no one may leave a car on such a place "for such times and under such circumstances as to cause such vehicles reasonably to appear to have been abandoned."

That last phrase is what matters for a car that stopped running at the curb. It does not have to be abandoned in fact. It only has to look that way.

The code also reaches some private lots. A car parked without paying on a lot posted for public parking for hire, or in a space reserved for people with special permission, can be impounded too.

The 48-hour sticker

Before most impounds, the Police Department will "affix a notice in a conspicuous and semipermanent manner to the vehicle," warning that it will be towed "upon the expiration of 48 hours from the time specified in the notice." Violations of STO 85 are handled without that wait.

If police tow a car from private land because someone filed a complaint, the person who signed the complaint agrees to cover the towing and storage costs if the complaint is withdrawn, turns out to be a mistake, or the car goes unclaimed and the city is not otherwise paid.

From impound to junk

The rest of Chapter 10.25 covers the steps after a tow, by section number: notice and claiming (10.25.040), towing and storage fees (10.25.050), disposing of cars as junk (10.25.060) and what happens to the sale money (10.25.070). The 10-day clock above is the one to watch. A car that misses it is gone.

A dead car in your own yard

The Topeka section we read deals with streets, public property and parking lots, not with a car sitting in a private driveway. For that, Kansas law sets the frame, though Topeka could add steps of its own. K.S.A. 12-1617e lets any city order a nuisance car off private property, with no more than 10 days to comply and a right to a hearing, then remove it and bill the owner if nothing is done.

If the car on your land belongs to someone else, K.S.A. 8-1102(b) calls leaving it there criminal trespass. At your request the local agency may remove and dispose of it, and the tow operator holds a lien for its costs. See car abandoned on your property.

Title and plates in Shawnee County

Paperwork for a Topeka car goes to the Shawnee County treasurer's motor vehicle office, because Kansas handles titles where the car is garaged. In Topeka the seller's section sits on the title's back. Enter the price, date and miles there, and you and the buyer each print and sign. The state's advice is plain: "Never hand over a title that is not completely assigned." No notary is needed, and a photocopy of both sides is your proof of the sale.

Plates belong to the seller in Kansas. When ownership passes, the registration and the right to use the plate both expire, so you take them off. If you put them on a replacement car for $1.50, the old car has to be disposed of before the new purchase or within 60 days after it. Turning the plate in also closes your record on the car you sold.

If the car sat unregistered

When a car has been parked for years, its registration has most likely run out. For every month the fee sat unpaid, even a partial one, Kansas tacks on $1. A Topeka owner whose car went unused for that entire stretch can file an affidavit of nonoperation and nonuse, then pay just this year's fees and skip the penalty.

Salvage and nonrepairable cars in Kansas

Kansas has five title brands a Topeka car might carry: nonrepairable, salvage, rebuilt salvage, nonhighway or formerly nonhighway. If a Topeka car's model year is the damage year or one of the six years before, it becomes salvage when repairs reach 75% or more of what it was fairly worth just before the damage. Cosmetic hail or windstorm damage is left out. For an older car the test is whether it can be registered at all after the wreck. Once a title says salvage, every later Kansas title says it too.

A nonrepairable car is worth only parts or scrap. It can change hands just once, it must be dismantled or recycled, and no state will ever title or register it again. Kept your car after the insurer settled it as salvage? You need affidavit TR-13 and a letter from the insurance company. Kansas has no safety or emissions inspection, so a failing car needs no test before you sell it. See salvage title for more.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or fill in the form for an offer on your Topeka car. Tell us too if a 48-hour sticker is already on the windshield, since that sets the pace. The truck can collect it from a Topeka street, a Shawnee County garage or a body shop. Topeka is 23.7 miles from Lawrence and 44.5 miles from Gardner; for statewide rules, see Kansas.