Selling a dead or junk car in Tewksbury

Inspection rules that matter when you sell

Emissions testing covers cars with onboard diagnostics that are younger than 15 years, and older ones still get the safety check. After a sale, the buyer has 7 days from registration to get the car through, and most vehicles cost $35. For the usual reasons a Tewksbury car fails, see failed emissions and failed inspection or rust.

What Tewksbury's code says

We found no online copy of Tewksbury's bylaws, so Massachusetts law fills this section. Tewksbury may set its own limits on unregistered or junk cars kept outdoors, and Town Hall can tell you. The junkyard statute, c. 140B, governs businesses rather than a resident's idle car. What can reach a private car is c. 90 s. 22C lets a Tewksbury street officer handle a car as refuse. It must seem abandoned, stay over 72 hours on land without the owner's okay, and be worth less than removing it.

Very old cars and scrapped ones

Two title rules catch people off guard. No Massachusetts title is required for a Tewksbury passenger car built in 1980 or before, so long as it was purchased before Nov. 26, 1990. To buy an untitled Tewksbury car, you need a bill of sale plus the prior owner's registration. And a title showing "Junked" means the car can't operate and was scrapped, so Massachusetts won't title or register it again.

When a Tewksbury car has a regular title, fill in the odometer reading, and then both of you sign, print and date the transfer section. A notary is not part of what the RMV tells sellers. Without a price line, a bill of sale shows the price, and a licensed insurance agent stamps the buyer's application.

Plates stay in Tewksbury with you

Cancel on MyMassGov and keep the confirmation for your insurer. Tewksbury owners get 7 calendar days to move the plates to another car, or they can recycle or cut them up. Cancel promptly, because Tewksbury keeps sending excise bills until you do. Chapter 90D, section 15 relieves a seller who signed and delivered from later violations.

Towns around Tewksbury

In straight-line miles, Billerica is 4.0 away, Andover 4.2, Wilmington 4.6 and Lowell 5.1. Statewide rules are on the Massachusetts page.

How to get an offer

Use the form or call (877) 421-6008. Our form takes your Tewksbury car's inspection failure too, if known. We collect at a home, an inspection station's lot, or your workplace.