Selling a junk car in Dartmouth, Massachusetts

Dartmouth's definition of junk

In Section 344-1, a junk vehicle means one that is "abandoned, wrecked, or partially dismantled, discarded", and the term "shall also include an unregistered vehicle". One group escapes: vehicles registered on a seasonal basis.

The bylaw reads "vehicle" broadly too. Its list covers automobiles, buses, mobile homes, motor homes, trucks, trailers, motorcycles, tractors, and recreational and snow vehicles. An unregistered trailer plus a dead pickup already makes two, and anything more on wheels crosses the line.

Under a roof, out of the count

A junk vehicle stops being "in the open" once it is stored inside a "garage, barn, shed or other fully enclosed roofed building" that stands lawfully on the property. Every other spot on the parcel counts as outdoors. Dartmouth covers 60.927 square miles of land, but acreage alone does not help; only an enclosed, roofed building takes a vehicle out of the count.

Moving it onto someone else's land

Shifting a dead car to another property does not solve the problem. Under Section 352-1, the littering bylaw, nobody may leave junk on a public sidewalk or street, on public property, or on private land "without the permission of the owner of the same". The one responsible has to remove it, and "each day in which such removal does not occur shall be considered a separate and additional violation". State law sets its own time limit. Under c. 90 s. 22C, a Dartmouth street officer can remove a car that seems abandoned after it stays over 72 hours on a way, or on someone's land without permission.

The buyer's side of the paperwork

As the seller, you give a mileage statement. Then the Dartmouth buyer and seller each sign the transfer part of the title, print their names and date it. The RMV asks for nothing more, and no notary. Some Dartmouth titles have no spot for the price, so write it on a bill of sale and send that along.

The rest belongs to the buyer. Once the sale is done, the Dartmouth buyer must title the car within 10 days. A licensed Massachusetts insurance agent fills in and stamps that paperwork. In Dartmouth, the buyer next covers the $75 title fee and the 6.25% sales tax. A buyer who registers the car then has 7 days from registration to get it inspected, and most inspections cost $35. A Dartmouth car that would fail inspection for sure can still be sold as is. See failed inspection or rust.

Plates and registration

You keep the plates. Cancel it online and save the receipt. Then render the plates useless by cutting them, or recycle them. If a new car is on the way, the plates can follow it within a week of this sale.

Getting an offer

Fill in the form or ring (877) 421-6008 with the odometer reading, the make, model and year, whether the motor runs, and whether a title is on hand. Our driver can load it beside a Dartmouth barn, at the end of a driveway or in a field near the house. New Bedford is 6.6 miles off by straight-line distance and Fall River 13.0; statewide rules are on Massachusetts.