Selling a junk or dead car in Paducah

Seven days, thirty days, sixty days

Section 42-48 builds its schedule around the date you receive a notice of violation:

That last notice goes by certified mail "no less than fourteen (14) days prior to the date the junk motor vehicle is to be towed." It must list the car's make, model, license number and VIN, and where it will be towed from.

The section also states that it is "not the exclusive regulation" of abandoned, wrecked or inoperative vehicles in the city, so other city rules can apply too.

Taking off the plate can trip the licensing test

The definition of apparently inoperable includes cars that do not meet "vehicle licensing requirements." Kentucky sellers keep their plate when they sell. If you pull it off while the car still sits in your driveway, that licensing part of the rule could then come into play. The definition goes on past the point where our copy of the text cuts off, so read the full section before counting on any grace period.

Challenging an impound

Section 110-204 gives the owner, or anyone else entitled to the car, the right to a hearing before the Hearing Board, requested in writing. Until then the car stays put unless a bond is posted, set at the lesser of the fines and fees owed so far or $75. Someone who cannot afford the bond gets a hearing "within seventy-two (72) hours of the date the request for hearing is received," unless they ask for or accept a later date.

If the board finds the impound was not justified, everything you paid or posted comes back, and the city pays the tow and storage company. If the board finds it was justified, release depends on paying all fines and fees, and any amount owed beyond the bond is ordered paid to the city or the tow company. If you would rather sell than pay to get it out, towed or impounded explains how that works.

Parking on someone else's lot

Section 110-171 bars parking or abandoning a car on another person's property, or in an off-street lot, without the owner's consent. On a written complaint from the owner, lessee or person in charge, the police department removes the car. That covers a broken-down car parked at a neighbor's house or in a shopping center lot.

State law on streets and tow sales

Kentucky law adds two backstops. On a county road or city street, a vehicle left in a way that looks abandoned can bring a fine from $25 to $100 or 10 to 30 days, and three days without moving raises a presumption of abandonment. Tow companies may sell a car for their charges once they mail certified notice to the owner and lienholder ten days before the sale; surplus money goes back to the owner.

Title paperwork at the McCracken County Clerk

Paducah sellers deal with the McCracken County Clerk for titles. You fill out the assignment on the title, add the TC 96-182 and the odometer figure, and sign before a notary. Leave white-out out of it; mistakes need a notarized affidavit. A Paducah owner who lost the title pays $6.00 for a new one, plus the notary's fee.

Buyers get 15 days to retitle. Should the buyer let 15 calendar days slip by without filing, mail the clerk in your home county a notarized TC 96-3. The clerk then blocks the car from being registered until the new owner completes the transfer.

Plates and property tax

The plate is yours after the sale, registration time and all, and the one-time cost to move it to another vehicle is $11. A registration that expires during the month the clerk processes the transfer has to be renewed, or the plate turned in, before you can reuse it. Each year the car's property tax has to be paid by the end of the month its registration renews. With some exceptions, if it changes hands before that tax is paid, the person who owned it on January 1 owes it.

Salvage and water-damage brands

Kentucky counts a car as salvage once rebuilding it, parts plus labor, would cost more than 75% of retail value, excluding airbag reinstallation. Water damage takes its own route: the owner applies for a salvage certificate of title, and the words water damaged appear on the title itself. Water-damage brands from other states carry over. Flood damage covers selling a car that took on water.

Paducah's neighbors

Paducah anchors a metro that reaches into Illinois. Hopkinsville is 66.6 miles away as the crow flies, Henderson 78.8 and Owensboro 96.3. Statewide rules are on the Kentucky page.

Getting an offer

Use the form or call (877) 421-6008. Tell us about your Paducah car on the form. In Paducah we drive to the car, be it in a driveway, a repair shop or a side street off Broadway.