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Town guide · Massachusetts

Arlington: selling a car that no longer runs

A car that has sat still since last winter can still get an excise bill from Arlington's assessors. The yearly motor vehicle excise comes from local assessors, not the RMV. It is $25 for each $1,000 of value, and you keep getting billed while the car is registered. A lapsed registration doesn't end it. A cancelled one does. We buy whole non-running and junk cars, so you can sell the whole car as it sits, with free pickup anywhere in the US, and then shut the bill off.

Updated · 11 sources

Arlington High School's brick front with white columns and a white clock tower, half hidden behind a large leafy tree
Photo: Tim Pierce · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Arlington, the short version

Population
46,563 (Census estimate, July 1, 2025)
County
Middlesex
Land area
5.142 square miles
Local junk-car bylaw
Not found online; state law below
Excise
$25 per $1,000 of value, billed locally
Abatement deadline
Later of 3 years past the due date or 1 year past payment
Plates
Seller keeps them

Ending the excise, in order

  1. Let the car go first. Sign the title over before anything else.
  2. Cancel through MyMassGov. Print or save the receipt, and send a copy to your insurance company.
  3. Get rid of the plates. Cut them through or recycle them. The RMV doesn't take them back.

The order matters because once the registration is cancelled, a car "cannot be driven on any public way" in the state. If insurance lapses and the registration is revoked, excise still comes due until you cancel it. Getting it reinstated later means paying a fee.

When a car is registered partway through a year, excise is charged from that month to December. If you were billed past the date the car left, Arlington's board of assessors handles abatements. You can file until 3 years past the due date or 1 year past your payment, whichever comes later.

Arlington's bylaws and state law

We couldn't find Arlington's bylaws online, so this section rests on state law, and local bylaws could add requirements. State guidance confirms that towns set their own bylaws and enforcement.

Statewide, c. 90 s. 22C covers a vehicle "standing more than 72 hours" on a way or property without the owner's permission. A street officer who finds one worth less than the cost of removal and disposal can take it as refuse. Chapter 140B, the junkyard law, regulates junk businesses. It doesn't reach a resident's idle car.

Title and plates

No notary step appears in the RMV's instructions. Note the mileage. Next, both of you sign the title assignment, print your names below, and write the date. If the title has no place for a price, the buyer files a bill of sale showing it. Registration runs through the buyer's licensed insurance agent. Section 15 of chapter 90D frees a seller who has signed over and delivered the car from later liability.

Replacing the car? Your plates may go on the new one within a 7-calendar-day grace period, since the RMV issues no temporary plates. More in after you sell.

Getting an offer

Have a car in Arlington to sell? Ring (877) 421-6008 or use our short form. Pickup can come to an Arlington driveway, a detached garage or a shop. In a straight line, Belmont is 1.8 miles away and Winchester 2.6. Statewide rules: Massachusetts.

Questions people ask

My car hasn't run in a year. Why does Arlington still bill excise on it?
Excise follows the registration, not the engine. A lapsed registration keeps the bills coming; a cancelled one stops them.
I paid excise on a car I already got rid of. Can I get it back?
Ask the local board of assessors for an abatement. You have until 3 years past the excise due date or 1 year past your payment, and the later one counts.
Does Arlington have its own rule about junk cars in yards?
We couldn't find Arlington's bylaws online at the time, so this page goes by state law. Local bylaws may add more, so check locally.

Sources

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

  1. Mass.gov: Motor vehicle excise mass.gov
  2. Mass.gov: Cancel your vehicle registration and plates mass.gov
  3. Mass.gov: Registration and title for a vehicle bought from an individual mass.gov
  4. Mass.gov: Transfer your registration to a vehicle bought from an individual mass.gov
  5. Mass.gov: Massachusetts law about automobiles mass.gov
  6. M.G.L. c. 90 s. 22C (abandoned vehicles) malegislature.gov
  7. M.G.L. c. 140B (junkyards) malegislature.gov
  8. M.G.L. c. 90D s. 15 (assignment on sale) malegislature.gov
  9. Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles mass.gov
  10. U.S. Census Bureau: city population estimates, 2020-2025 www2.census.gov
  11. U.S. Census Bureau: 2025 Gazetteer, county subdivisions (land area) www2.census.gov