Clearing out a Mansfield car that no longer runs

The 10-day count under Bylaw 207-8

The rule binds whoever controls the land, "whether as owner, occupant, lessee or otherwise." Someone renting a Mansfield house answers to it as much as the landlord does.

Nothing has to be pulled off the car for the rule to bite. "Nonoperative" or "unregistered" is enough on its own, which takes in a sound car whose registration has lapsed.

There are two ways around the count. The car can sit "in an enclosed building," such as a closed garage. Or it can sit "in an area unexposed to the view of the public or any abutters," meaning a corner of the lot that passersby and the people next door have no sight line to. The posted section continues past that point with more detail, so read the full text at the source link before relying on a fence or a tarp.

Streets, other people's lots and abandonment

Two neighboring bylaws deal with where a dead car is left. Section 207-7 bars leaving a "partially dismantled, wrecked, junked, nonoperative or discarded vehicle" on any street or public ground in Mansfield, or on private property, "without the permission of the Chief of Police or their designee or the owner or lessee of said property." Parking a broken car at a relative's house needs their agreement first.

Section 207-6 is broader still. Nobody may leave a vehicle anywhere in town "for such time and under such circumstances as to cause it to reasonably appear that such vehicle has been abandoned." Both sections step aside where state law has its own provisions. The state backstop is c. 90 s. 22C. If a car seems abandoned in Mansfield, sits 72 hours on land the owner never okayed, and is worth less than the tow, a street officer can take it as refuse.

If a tow lot already has it

Storage on a police-ordered tow is capped by statute. A Mansfield yard can charge up to $35 per 24 hours to keep a passenger car if it is fenced, lit and secure, and half that if not. The lot also gets a lien on the car.

A garage that is holding a car must write to its registered owner by registered letter, return receipt requested, listing what it charges for storage. At 60 days unclaimed the garage may send notice. The Mansfield garage waits another 21 days, runs newspaper ads three weeks in a row, and gives the police chief 5 days' notice before selling. Money above the garage's bill goes to the registered owner. The towed or impounded guide has more.

Signing over a Mansfield car

No notary appears in the RMV's list of seller steps. Write the odometer figure on the title. Then the two parties sign, print names and date the Mansfield title's transfer area. If the title has a box for the price, fill it in; if it does not, a bill of sale carries the price. Under state law, the seller's assignment must also give the real mileage and promise the title is good.

Massachusetts has no form that releases you from liability. Under c. 90D s. 15, once a Mansfield seller signs the assignment and the buyer drives or tows it away, later events are not the seller's responsibility. You hold onto the plates. In Mansfield, you cancel the plates through MyMassGov, save the receipt, and mail your insurer a copy. Then the plates get sliced in two or go to recycling. Mansfield keeps sending excise bills until that cancellation goes through, and the after you sell page covers the rest.

Nearby towns

Mansfield sits in Bristol County and belongs to the Providence-Warwick metro. As the crow flies, Easton is 5.7 miles off, North Attleborough 6.9, Attleboro 7.1, Stoughton and Walpole 9.1 apiece, and Taunton 10.0. Statewide rules are on the Massachusetts page.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or reach out online. Tell us about the Mansfield car on the form and we'll get back to you. Our truck can load it from a closed garage bay, from behind a fence, or from a tow lot that is holding it.