Selling an unregistered or dead car in Easton

Section 218-1, plainly

The rule reaches anyone "owning, or having the care, custody or control" of an unregistered car. That phrase matters if you are minding a relative's car or a tenant left one behind: it counts on your property even though the title is in someone else's name.

Past the first car, the bylaw says "All other unregistered motor vehicles" in your care "shall be kept in a fully enclosed building or structure." Tarps and open-sided shelters get no mention, so a structure with walls and a roof is what the words call for. Licensed Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 motor vehicle dealers under c. 140, s. 58 are exempt, and so are vehicles used for farm or dairy purposes. The text we found sets no deadline after a complaint.

Registration is the trigger

Section 218-1 speaks of unregistered cars, not broken ones. A healthy car on an expired registration counts toward the limit. A dead car that still holds a registration falls outside this section's wording, yet it keeps drawing the town's excise until the registration is cancelled, so that is no shortcut. Our page on a car sitting for years covers the usual pile of lapsed paperwork and flat tires.

Liability once it leaves

Massachusetts gives an Easton seller no release-of-liability form to file. Section 15(e) of Chapter 90D does the job instead: sign the title assignment, deliver the car, and later driving or violations stop being your problem, even before the buyer's title is issued. The one thing left for you is cancelling the registration, which ends the excise.

The title, or why there is none

With an Easton title in hand, write in the miles first. Then you and your buyer sign, print names and add the date. No room for the price? A bill of sale showing it goes along. Easton sellers can skip the notary, since the RMV steps don't ask for one.

Some Easton cars were never titled. A passenger car built in 1980 or before, and bought prior to Nov. 26, 1990, is exempt and transfers on its last registration with a bill of sale. Lost your Easton title? The replacement is $25. Plan on as many as 10 business days before it lands in your mailbox. The RMV's "Affidavit in Lieu of Certificate of Title" is open only to insurers and Class 2 or Class 3 dealers, not Easton private sellers. Private sellers can't.

Plates and the registration

The plates do not travel with the car you sell. Cancel online, keep that receipt, and then cut the plates into pieces or drop them at a recycler. They can move onto your next car within a week of letting this one go.

Getting an offer

Easton sellers can call (877) 421-6008 or use the form, with a title, an old registration or no paperwork yet. A driver can load it beside an Easton barn, from a driveway or behind a shop. Brockton is 5.3 miles away measured in a straight line and Stoughton 5.5; statewide rules live on the Massachusetts page.