My car has sat at an Agawam garage for months. Can they sell it?

Eventually. Chapter 255, section 39A first requires a registered letter to the owner with the storage rates. When nobody claims the car for 60 days, the garage can send notice. It can sell 21 days after that, once it has run newspaper ads for three weeks and told the police chief 5 days ahead. Its charges come out first, and the rest goes to the owner.

I lost the title. How do I get another one?

You can order it online, or post the form to the Title Division in Boston with a check or money order payable to MassDOT. It costs $25 and may take up to 10 business days to arrive. A paid-off loan still on record needs the lender's signed release letter on letterhead.

My insurer totaled my 12-year-old car. Does it need a salvage title?

No. Massachusetts leaves a passenger car out of the salvage-title process when the car had reached age 10 before the loss.

Town guide · Massachusetts

Selling a junk car in Agawam

An Agawam garage can eventually sell a car its owner never picks up. Massachusetts sets the steps: 60 days unclaimed, then a notice, 21 more days, and newspaper ads for three weeks running. When the repair bill outruns the car's worth, selling it yourself is the cleaner exit. We buy whole non-running and junk cars. You sell the whole car as it sits, and free pickup anywhere in the US includes every Agawam street.

Updated October 11, 2026 · 8 sources

Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Agawam, the short version

Population: 28,783 (Census estimate, July 1, 2025)
County: Hampden
Unclaimed car at a garage: 60 days unclaimed, then 21 more before a sale
Salvage exemption: Cars aged 10 or more when the loss happened
Replacement title: $25, up to 10 business days
Junkyard law: M.G.L. c. 140B covers businesses, not your car
Plates: Stay with the seller

Local rules

Agawam's bylaws were not posted online when we searched, so we only cover state law here. Ask at town hall whether Agawam adds junk-car rules. One state point is settled: chapter 140B governs junkyards as businesses and does not reach a resident's unused car.

The garage track, step by step

Under chapter 255, section 39A:

First the garage sends a letter with its storage rates to the registered owner, by registered mail with a return receipt.
If the car sits unclaimed 60 days after it came in, the garage may give notice.
Another 21 days pass.
An ad for the sale runs in a local paper three weeks in a row, and the police chief is told 5 days ahead.
The car is sold publicly or privately. Out of the sale the garage takes what it is owed. Any surplus goes to the registered owner, and when that is not possible, to the district court clerk.

See stuck at a repair shop for settling up before it gets that far.

Total loss in Massachusetts

There is no percent-of-value rule here. If the owner or the insurer judges the repairs to be not worth doing, the car counts as a total loss. Once a Massachusetts title is branded salvage, the brand stays. It reads REPR if the car can be fixed or PART if it is only good for parts, and a PART car can never be registered in Massachusetts. Cars that had already turned 10 when the loss happened skip the salvage process. More at insurer totaled it.

Replacing a lost title

The Registry of Motor Vehicles charges $25 for a duplicate. You can do it online. By mail, the form goes to the Title Division in Boston along with a check or money order made out to MassDOT. Allow up to 10 business days for it to show up. If an old loan is paid but still listed, the lender has to send a signed release on its letterhead. No matter how old the loan is, a copy or a fax will not be accepted.

With the Agawam title ready, fill in the mileage. Then you and the buyer each sign, print your names and add the date. In Agawam, the price goes on the title or a bill of sale. The RMV's steps for sellers never mention a notary. Then end the registration, keep the receipt and get rid of the plates.

Close by

Straight-line miles from Agawam: West Springfield 4.3, Springfield 6.8, Westfield 7.4, Chicopee 9.0. State rules are on the Massachusetts page.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or reach us online. Even with a lost title, an Agawam seller can start on our short offer form. The truck can pick it up at your Agawam home or at the shop where it is parked.

Questions people ask

My car has sat at an Agawam garage for months. Can they sell it?: Eventually. Chapter 255, section 39A first requires a registered letter to the owner with the storage rates. When nobody claims the car for 60 days, the garage can send notice. It can sell 21 days after that, once it has run newspaper ads for three weeks and told the police chief 5 days ahead. Its charges come out first, and the rest goes to the owner.
I lost the title. How do I get another one?: You can order it online, or post the form to the Title Division in Boston with a check or money order payable to MassDOT. It costs $25 and may take up to 10 business days to arrive. A paid-off loan still on record needs the lender's signed release letter on letterhead.
My insurer totaled my 12-year-old car. Does it need a salvage title?: No. Massachusetts leaves a passenger car out of the salvage-title process when the car had reached age 10 before the loss.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from one of these. Checked October 11, 2026.

M.G.L. c. 255 s. 39A (garage notice and sale of unclaimed cars) malegislature.gov
M.G.L. c. 140B (junkyards) malegislature.gov
Mass.gov: Total loss and salvage vehicles mass.gov
Mass.gov: Replace your vehicle's certificate of title mass.gov
Mass.gov: Registration and title for a vehicle bought from an individual mass.gov
Mass.gov: Cancel your vehicle registration and plates mass.gov
Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles mass.gov
U.S. Census Bureau: City and town population estimates, 2020-2025 www2.census.gov