Clearing out a Lynn car that no longer runs

The state's 72-hour test

Chapter 90, section 22C of the General Laws is the state's version. It lets a Lynn street officer step in when three facts line up. One: the car looks abandoned. Two: it has sat past the 72-hour mark on a road, a private way or someone's land, and that landowner never agreed to it. Three: the car is worth less than it costs to tow and dispose of. Then the officer may haul it off and treat it as refuse.

Because no Lynn code turned up, do not treat 72 hours as a promise. Call City Hall before you plan around it.

When a tow truck shows up on private land

Private lots in Lynn follow chapter 266, section 120D. Before a tow, the driver must have been warned off that spot, face to face or by a sign put up by whoever runs the lot. Police get a call too. Skip that call, or tow without the car owner's say-so, and the fine can reach $100.

For a tow the police ordered, a Lynn storage yard may charge at most $35 a day for a passenger car if its lot is fenced, lit and secure. Lots lacking those get half. Until the bill is settled, the yard holds a lien.

Signing the title over

The Registry of Motor Vehicles, part of MassDOT, handles every Massachusetts title, Lynn's included. Its list of seller steps has no notary on it. Fill in the odometer number yourself. Then seller and buyer each sign the transfer block, print their names under the signatures and add the date. Price line on the title? Use it. No price line means a bill of sale with the figure on it.

Can't find the title? Boston's Title Division sells a replacement for $25, ordered online or by mail; delivery can stretch to 10 business days. If a lender from years back still shows on the record, the RMV insists on that lender's signed letter, on letterhead, never a fax or photocopy. Junk car with no title has more.

The Lynn excise bill and your plates

The excise bill comes from Lynn's assessors, not the state: $25 on each $1,000 the car is worth. A lapsed registration keeps it coming. A cancelled one ends it. Log into MyMassGov, cancel, and hand your insurance company a copy of the receipt.

Lynn sellers keep their plates. After you cancel in Lynn, the RMV won't take the plates. Slice them in two or drop them at a recycler. Got another car coming? A one-week window, 7 calendar days, lets the same plates go on it. After you sell walks through the rest.

Close to Lynn

In straight-line miles, as the crow flies: Saugus is 2.7, Salem 3.7, Revere 4.0 and Peabody 4.1. Statewide rules are on the Massachusetts page.

Getting an offer

Ask online or call (877) 421-6008. Year, make, model, odometer reading, does it start, do you hold the title: that is what we need to know. Our truck comes to wherever the Lynn car quit, be it a driveway, an apartment curb or a mechanic's lot.