Selling a dead car in Fall River

The garage-sale timeline, step by step

The statute runs in a fixed order. To begin, the shop writes to the registered owner, using registered mail with a return receipt, saying it holds the car and listing its storage rates. Sixty days after the car arrived, if no one has claimed it, the shop can give notice that a sale is coming. The Fall River shop can sell once 21 more days pass. By then a local paper must have carried the notice for three weeks, and the Fall River police chief must have known 5 days early.

The Fall River garage takes its charges from what the car sold for, then sends any leftover to the registered owner or, failing that, the district court clerk. Storage keeps adding up the whole time and comes off the top. Our page on a car stuck at a repair shop walks through the options before it gets that far.

After a police tow

Tows the police order fall under a separate law. M.G.L. c. 159B s. 6B sets $35 a day as the most a Fall River yard can bill to keep a passenger car, when the lot is secure, fenced and lit. Other lots get half. The storage company has a lien on the car until it is paid.

Lost title, old lien

A replacement Massachusetts title is $25. A Fall River owner can request the copy on the web. Paper works too: the application plus a MassDOT check or money order, mailed to the Title Division in Boston. Expect it to take as long as 10 business days.

A loan that is long paid but still on the record needs a release letter signed by the lender on its own letterhead. The RMV refuses faxes and photocopies whatever the age of the loan, so ask the lender early; that letter is often the slow part. More help is on selling with no title.

Signing the car away

At the sale, Massachusetts law says the owner signs the assignment on the title, enters the real mileage and a warranty of title, and then hands or mails the certificate to the buyer. The RMV's seller list adds printed names and a date from both sides, and leaves out any notary. With the assignment signed and the car delivered, c. 90D s. 15(e) frees the seller from blame for any later driving or violations, even while the buyer waits on a new title.

You keep the plates

End the registration online and save the receipt for your files. Next, a Fall River owner can cut the plates in half or hand them to a recycler. The RMV doesn't take them back. A replacement car can carry them for up to a week after you part with this one.

Getting an offer

Fall River sellers can call (877) 421-6008 or send our short form for an offer. With free pickup anywhere in the US, a driver can load it at a Fall River repair shop, in a driveway or at the curb. New Bedford is 9.2 miles away measured straight and Taunton 12.3; the Massachusetts page has the statewide rules.