My car has been at a Newton garage for weeks. Can they sell it?

Chapter 255 s. 39A makes the garage write to the registered owner first, by registered mail with a return receipt, stating storage rates. A Newton garage can post a sale notice sixty days after the car comes in. A Newton sale can come 21 days on. For a Newton sale, the chief of police must get 5 days' notice and the newspaper ad must run for three weeks.

Does Newton have its own junk-car rule?

No posted Newton rule turned up in our search, which is why state law fills this page. Newton may have rules of its own; check before relying on 72 hours.

I paid off my loan years ago but the bank is still on the record. What now?

Get a signed release on the lender's letterhead for your Newton car. The RMV won't take a fax or photocopy, no matter how old the loan.

Town guide · Massachusetts

Selling a dead car in Newton

A lot of dead cars in Newton are not in a driveway at all. They are sitting at a repair garage after an estimate nobody wants to pay. Massachusetts gives that garage a legal path to sell the car if you never come back, so the clock is running even when the car is out of sight. If you would rather decide its fate yourself, we buy whole non-running and junk cars. You sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US, from a Newton garage bay as easily as a curb.

Updated October 11, 2026 · 9 sources

Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Newton, the short version

Population: 90,741 (Census estimate, July 1, 2025)
County: Middlesex
Land area: 17.828 square miles
City junk-car code: Not found online; state law applies
Garage may give sale notice: 60 days after the car arrives
Replacement title: $25, up to 10 business days
Plates: Seller cancels and keeps or destroys them

How a garage can end up selling your car

Chapter 255, section 39A lays out the order. Step one: the Newton garage mails the registered owner a letter, registered with a return receipt, quoting its storage rates. Step two: 60 days after drop-off, an unclaimed car can get a notice of sale. Step three: 21 more days pass, three straight weeks of ads run in a local paper, the police chief hears 5 days ahead, and the garage may sell, publicly or privately.

The garage pays itself first out of whatever the car fetches. In Newton any balance is paid to the registered owner, and the district court clerk gets it otherwise. On a tired car with a big storage tab, that leftover can be small. Selling before the garage does means the decision stays with you. See stuck at a repair shop.

Newton's own rules

No Newton ordinance on junk or dead cars turned up online. So read the state rule as a minimum; Newton may set tougher ones. Under c. 90 s. 22C, an apparently abandoned car in Newton that stays beyond 72 hours on a road or lot without the owner's consent, and is worth less than the tow, can be removed and scrapped by an officer. For private-property towing questions, the RMV's automobile-law page points Newton residents to local police.

When the title is missing or has a lien on it

Old cars lose their paperwork. Newton owners can replace a title for $25: online, or by mailing the form plus a MassDOT-payable check or money order to Boston's Title Division. Expect as long as 10 business days.

Even a loan cleared decades ago can block a Newton sale. The lender must sign a release letter on its own letterhead; faxes and photocopies are refused regardless of age. Lien still on the title covers how to get one.

Totaled by an insurer? A passenger car already a decade old or more when the loss happened skips the salvage-title process.

Cancel, then deal with the plates

After the sale, cancel the registration online. That ends Newton's excise bill and also bars the car from public roads. Your insurer gets a copy of the receipt. Plates stay in your hands; cut or recycle them, since the RMV takes none back.

Around Newton

In straight-line miles: Watertown 3.0, Brookline 3.4, Needham 3.9 and Waltham 4.3. See Massachusetts for statewide rules.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or send details online. Fill in the form about your Newton car, including any lien. Car stuck at a shop? Name the shop, and the truck can collect it there or from any Newton driveway, Newtonville included.

Questions people ask

My car has been at a Newton garage for weeks. Can they sell it?: Chapter 255 s. 39A makes the garage write to the registered owner first, by registered mail with a return receipt, stating storage rates. A Newton garage can post a sale notice sixty days after the car comes in. A Newton sale can come 21 days on. For a Newton sale, the chief of police must get 5 days' notice and the newspaper ad must run for three weeks.
Does Newton have its own junk-car rule?: No posted Newton rule turned up in our search, which is why state law fills this page. Newton may have rules of its own; check before relying on 72 hours.
I paid off my loan years ago but the bank is still on the record. What now?: Get a signed release on the lender's letterhead for your Newton car. The RMV won't take a fax or photocopy, no matter how old the loan.

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
M.G.L. c. 255 s. 39A (garage keepers' notice and sale) malegislature.gov
M.G.L. c. 90 s. 22C (abandoned vehicles) malegislature.gov
Massachusetts law about automobiles mass.gov
Mass.gov: replace your vehicle's certificate of title mass.gov
Mass.gov: total loss and salvage vehicles mass.gov
Mass.gov: cancel your vehicle registration and plates mass.gov
Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles mass.gov