Selling a junk, flooded or totaled car in Hingham

When a car counts as a total loss

State law, M.G.L. c. 90D, s. 1, two kinds of Hingham car are a total loss salvage vehicle. One was stolen and never recovered. The other took collision, fire, water or other damage so bad its owner or insurer won't pay to fix it, and it sits unrepaired. Massachusetts uses no percentage cutoff. It comes down to what the owner or the insurer decides. See insurer totaled it.

How the salvage title reads

The Registry of Motor Vehicles prints two layers of brand:

• Primary: REPR (repairable) or PART (parts only). Once a car is marked PART, Massachusetts will not let it be registered ever again.
• Secondary: the cause of the Hingham brand, one of Theft, Vandalism, Fire, Collision, Flood, Flood/Salt or Other.

Hingham deadline: 10 days. The owner or insurer applies for the salvage title by then, counting from the settlement, or from the loss itself when no insurance paid. No REPR car gets registered before it clears the RMV salvage inspection, and a clear title is never possible for a salvage car. In Hingham, a passenger car is left out of this if the loss happened when it was already 10 years old or older. See flood damage.

Kept the insurance check?

Some owners take the payout and keep the car unrepaired. That car still sells as it sits, branded or not. See keep the check, sell unrepaired.

Hingham's own rules

Since Hingham's bylaws were not online for us, this section relies only on state law, and the town could have extra rules. Under c. 90, s. 22C, a Hingham street officer can haul off a car as refuse if it looks abandoned, has stood over 72 hours on a street, private way or land where nobody gave permission, and getting rid of it costs more than it's worth.

Signing over the title

Nothing in the RMV's steps for sellers calls for a notary. Fill in the odometer number on the Hingham title, then seller and buyer sign, print names and date. When the title lacks a price line, the buyer includes a bill of sale listing the price with the application. Statute also asks your assignment to carry the true odometer number and a pledge that the title is good. Massachusetts has no release-of-liability form; c. 90D, s. 15(e), a Hingham seller who has signed the assignment and handed over the car isn't responsible for how it gets used after.

Plates

Take the plates off and keep them. Go online to cancel the registration, keep the receipt, pass a copy to your insurer, and then recycle the plates or destroy them. Cancelling is also what stops the town's excise. In Hingham, the plates can go on a replacement car as long as it's within 7 calendar days.

Getting an offer

Get in touch online or at (877) 421-6008. Selling a Hingham car with a clean or branded title? Reach out through the form. Pickup can be near the harbor, in a driveway inland, or at a body shop in Weymouth, 3.4 miles away as the crow flies. Braintree is 6.3 miles and Quincy 7.0. Hingham covers 22.201 square miles of Plymouth County; see Massachusetts for statewide rules.