Selling a junk or totaled car in Haverhill

The one-car rule and its single exception

The section, filed under Vehicles, Unregistered or Abandoned, carves out only one case: a car that is on the premises "for display by a person licensed to engage in the business of selling used cars at the location." A licensed used-car lot can show more. A homeowner cannot.

Note the word "used." The rule is aimed at the old car that has lost its registration and stayed put, which is how most junk cars start out.

If an insurer totaled it

Under Massachusetts law, a Haverhill car becomes a total loss salvage vehicle if it was stolen and never found, or if the damage was bad enough that the owner or insurer judged repair not worth it and left it unrepaired. There is no percentage test; the judgment is the test.

The salvage title that follows is permanent. It carries one of two main brands:

• Repairable (REPR): can return to the road only after it passes the RMV salvage inspection.
• Parts-only (PART): the insurer applies it, and Massachusetts will never register the car again.

Seven secondary brands record what happened, from Collision and Fire through Flood, Flood/Salt, Theft and Vandalism to Other. Ten days is the deadline to apply: from the settlement for an insured Haverhill car, from the event if uninsured. A big exception: a passenger car that had reached age 10 before the loss stays out of the salvage process. Our salvage title and insurer totaled it guides go further.

A "Junked" title status is different again. That brand says the car can't run and was scrapped, so it can't get a title or registration ever again.

Signing it over

On a clean Haverhill title, fill in the odometer figure, then both parties sign, print and date. A price box on the title gets the price. No box? Attach a bill of sale stating it. The RMV's list of seller steps contains no notary.

Plates and registration

Cancel the registration online once the car is sold. Until you do, the city keeps billing excise, and afterward the car may not be driven on a public way. Massachusetts ties plates to the owner, so they come off when the Haverhill car leaves. Destroy or recycle them, or use them on your next car within the 7-day grace period.

Towns around Haverhill

Straight-line miles: Methuen 5.4, Lawrence 6.8, North Andover 7.5 and Andover 10.1. The Massachusetts page has the statewide picture.

Getting an offer

For a Haverhill car, branded or clean title, call (877) 421-6008 or use the online form. We pick it up on your property, at a body shop, or at whatever lot the insurer moved it to.