I stopped driving the car months ago. Why is Malden still billing excise?

Malden bills excise on registered cars. A lapse does nothing to stop it, and even an insurance-related revocation keeps the bill alive until you cancel. Cancelling is the step that ends it.

Can I get part of an excise bill back?

Malden's board of assessors rules on abatements. Malden counts 3 years on from the due date, or 1 year on from payment, and uses whichever ends later.

What is the rule for a dead car on a Malden street?

Malden's code was not available online. The state default: a car that appears abandoned, has stood past 72 hours without the landowner's consent and is worth under its removal cost may be taken by a street officer. Malden itself may be stricter.

Town guide · Massachusetts

Selling a junk car in Malden

In Malden, a dead car keeps costing money as long as it stays registered. The city's assessors bill the motor vehicle excise on every registered car, running or not, and the bill does not stop just because the car sits. We buy whole non-running and junk cars. You sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US, Malden too.

Updated October 11, 2026 · 9 sources

Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Malden, the short version

Population: 66,370 (Census estimate, July 1, 2025)
County: Middlesex
Land area: 5.045 square miles
City junk-car code: Not found online; state law applies
Excise rate: $25 per $1,000 of value
Abatement deadline: 3 years from due date or 1 year after payment
Plates: Seller keeps them; 7 days to reuse

The excise, from Malden's side

Cities and towns, not the RMV, assess the excise and handle abatements. It works out to $25 per $1,000 the car is worth. Part-year registrations pay from the registration month through year's end.

Three points catch Malden owners out:

Lapsing is not cancelling. Only a cancelled registration stops the excise.
A revoked registration still owes. If the registration was revoked over an insurance lapse, excise keeps building until you cancel, and that car needs a reinstatement fee before it can be registered again.
Abatements have a deadline. Get it to Malden's assessors in time. You have 3 years from the due date or 1 year from payment, whichever runs longer.

Cancel, keep the receipt, keep the plates

Cancel online with a MyMassGov account. Save the cancellation receipt and give your insurer a photocopy. After that, it is illegal to drive it on Massachusetts roads.

The plates come off with you. You can recycle them or cut them in half, and the RMV does not need them returned. A Malden seller 18 or older who buys another car may move the plates to it inside 7 calendar days. The RMV gives no temporary plates.

Street and lot rules

Malden's junk-car ordinance did not surface online, so state law is below. Expect that Malden may layer on its own rules. State law, c. 90 s. 22C, a Malden street officer can take a car away as refuse if it seems abandoned, has sat more than 72 hours where the landowner never said yes, and is worth less than the removal.

Private lots work differently. Chapter 266 s. 120D covers them. A Malden tow is lawful only when the lot's controller warned the driver off, by sign or in person, and the police were told. A Malden tow done without the owner's okay or a call to police can carry a fine up to $100.

Signing the title

For Malden sellers, the RMV's steps do not call for a notary. You record the odometer; then both names get signed, printed and dated on the title's assignment. Room for a price there? Write it. Otherwise a bill of sale must show it.

Close to Malden

As the crow flies: Everett is 1.6 miles, Melrose 1.8, Medford 2.6 and Chelsea 2.6. The Massachusetts page has statewide rules.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or write to us online with year, make, model, odometer reading, starting or not, and title status. Pickup is wherever the Malden car is parked, a side street, a driveway or a back lot.

Questions people ask

I stopped driving the car months ago. Why is Malden still billing excise?: Malden bills excise on registered cars. A lapse does nothing to stop it, and even an insurance-related revocation keeps the bill alive until you cancel. Cancelling is the step that ends it.
Can I get part of an excise bill back?: Malden's board of assessors rules on abatements. Malden counts 3 years on from the due date, or 1 year on from payment, and uses whichever ends later.
What is the rule for a dead car on a Malden street?: Malden's code was not available online. The state default: a car that appears abandoned, has stood past 72 hours without the landowner's consent and is worth under its removal cost may be taken by a street officer. Malden itself may be stricter.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from one of these. Checked October 11, 2026.

U.S. Census Bureau: city population estimates, 2020-2025 www2.census.gov
U.S. Census Bureau: 2025 Gazetteer (land area) www2.census.gov
Mass.gov: motor vehicle excise guide mass.gov
Mass.gov: cancel your vehicle registration and plates mass.gov
M.G.L. c. 90 s. 22C (abandoned vehicles) malegislature.gov
M.G.L. c. 266 s. 120D (removal from private property) malegislature.gov
Mass.gov: registration and title for a car bought from an individual mass.gov
Mass.gov: transfer your registration to a car bought from an individual mass.gov
Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles mass.gov