Selling a dead or junk car in Peabody

Peabody's lots and two-hour streets

Section 19-108.1 lets a car showing a valid resident pass, or its electronic version, from the police department parking clerk use spaces marked for residents without falling under sections 19-103, 19-106, 19-107 and 19-108. The spaces are capped by lot: 13 at Foster Street, 12 at Nichols Lane, 27 at Mill Street, nine at Central Street and 19 on Railroad Avenue. The code adds that it "shall be unlawful for any person to park a vehicle within a parking space designated for residential parking unless such vehicle displays a valid parking pass."

On the street, section 19-102 says "no person shall park a vehicle for longer than two hours at any time" on the streets it lists, such as the west side of Central Street running north toward Stevens Street. Two hours means a car that won't start cannot stay put there.

When a car counts as abandoned

The Peabody sections we read deal with parking, not junk cars, and the city may have other rules of its own. State law fills the gap. A Peabody vehicle that is "apparently abandoned" and has stood "more than 72 hours" on a road, a private way, or land without the owner's consent falls under M.G.L. chapter 90, section 22C. If removal and scrapping cost more than the car's value, a street officer may take it off as refuse. If a notice has already landed, read notice to remove a car.

If a garage or tow lot has it

Chapter 159B, section 6B covers Peabody police tows. A secure, fenced, lit lot may charge $35 per 24 hours at most for a passenger car. Others, half. The lot also has a lien on the car. A Peabody garage owes the registered owner a letter with its rates. Chapter 255, section 39A wants it sent registered mail, return receipt requested. A car left unclaimed for 60 days lets the garage mail a notice. A Peabody garage may sell after 21 days. Peabody's police chief gets word 5 days ahead, and a local paper prints the notice for three weeks straight. It takes what it's owed and the registered owner gets the rest.

Plates first, then the title

Take the plates off a Peabody car before it leaves; in Massachusetts they belong to the seller. Peabody owners end the registration on MyMassGov. Keep the Peabody receipt and send your insurer a copy. Then, in Peabody, recycle the plates or slice them in two. Moving them to your next car is allowed for 7 calendar days, and the RMV does not issue temporary plates. The excise only ends when you cancel. As long as the registration is live, Peabody bills $25 per $1,000 of value.

For the title, the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles lists no notary in its seller steps. Fill in the odometer reading first. Next, both Peabody parties sign the transfer section, print their names and date it. Peabody sellers fill in the price on the title. If there's no line for it, a bill of sale holds it. Per chapter 90D, section 15, the assignment you fill out lists the odometer reading and warrants the title. After a Peabody seller signs the title and the car leaves, what the buyer does with it is not the seller's problem, even before the new title arrives. The buyer has 10 days to title it.

If an insurer declares a Peabody car a total loss, its title may carry a permanent salvage brand. REPR means repairable and PART means parts only. A Peabody car with a PART brand can't ever be registered in Massachusetts and driven again. See salvage title.

Nearby towns

Measured as the crow flies, Danvers is 2.9 miles from Peabody, Lynn 4.1, Salem 4.4 and Saugus 5.1. For the statewide picture, see Massachusetts.

Getting an offer

For a car in Peabody, call (877) 421-6008 or send our form. Tell us where the car sits now, in your driveway, a garage or at the curb, and our truck comes to it. After you sell lists the last steps.