Selling a dead or junk car in Canton

When a car is stuck at a garage

Section 39A sets out the steps a garage holding a car has to follow:

1. Storage prices must go from a Canton garage holding the car to the registered owner by registered mail, return receipt requested.
2. Once 60 days pass with nobody claiming the car, the garage can announce a sale.
3. Another 21 days on, a public or private sale is allowed. First the Canton garage must print a notice in a local paper three weeks running, and alert the police chief 5 days before.
4. The garage keeps its charges out of the sale price. When a Canton sale brings in extra money, the registered owner gets it; if not, the district court clerk does.

That clock starts when the car arrives at the shop, not when a letter comes. Call the shop and settle where things stand before it runs out. See stuck at a repair shop.

Canton's own rules

Canton has no bylaws online that we could locate, so this page follows state law only. Canton might still set local rules about wrecked or unregistered cars. The state rule is c. 90, s. 22C. Canton's street officer can treat a car as trash and remove it if it looks abandoned, has been on a street, private way or land over 72 hours without consent, and would cost more to tow and dispose of than its value.

Old cars around Canton Corner

Not every old car has a title to sign. Canton passenger cars from 1980 or earlier never needed a title if bought before Nov. 26, 1990. It changes hands on the previous registration plus a bill of sale, and the buyer turns in those two papers instead of a title. See old project car.

For anything newer, the Registry of Motor Vehicles seller steps list no notary. The mileage comes from you; signatures, printed names and the date come from both sides. With no price box on the title, a bill of sale showing the price goes in. By statute, your assignment must show the real odometer number and promise the title is sound.

A Canton seller has no release-of-liability form to file, since Massachusetts has none. Under c. 90D, s. 15(e), a Canton seller isn't liable for how the car gets used after signing the assignment and giving it up. Replacing a lost title costs $25. See junk car with no title.

Plates

Plates in Massachusetts follow the seller. A Canton seller ends the registration online, keeps the receipt and forwards a copy to the insurance company. Then a Canton seller recycles the plates or slices each one in half. The RMV gives out no temporary plates, so a Canton seller can put the old plates on a new car within 7 calendar days. Canton keeps sending excise bills until you cancel.

Getting an offer

For a Canton offer, call (877) 421-6008 or fill in the short form online. We pick up at your home or near Norwood and Randolph, each 3.7 miles in a straight line, or Stoughton at 4.1. Canton spans 18.746 square miles of Norfolk County; see Massachusetts for statewide rules.