Selling a junk car in Yarmouth

The two tests in Section 107-3

Section 107-3 reads: "Any motor vehicle which is not registered by the State of Massachusetts for operation on the public highways and which has not been registered for the preceding 12 months or is not in a condition to meet the requirements for the Massachusetts vehicle inspection sticker shall be defined as a junk vehicle."

So a car that runs but has been off the road for a year qualifies, and so does a freshly registered one that could never pass inspection. Two things limit the reach:

• It counts only when the car is "visible from a public highway or a dwelling unit on a neighboring property."
• Storage means anything other than "a completely enclosed structure, such as a garage." A tarp or carport is not enough.

A registered farm vehicle is exempt. So is a car that runs and is used on the owner's own land for hauling wood, plowing snow or similar work.

Who enforces it, and the 30-day clock

The enforcement officer is the Building Inspector and/or the town's police, unless the Select Board names someone else. That officer may walk onto any parcel "during daylight hours" to look at vehicles, though not inside enclosed buildings.

Under Section 107-9, the officer serves written notice on the property owner, ordering the car removed "within 30 days of the date of such service." If it is still there after 30 days, the officer reports to the Select Board in writing. The board then holds a hearing so the car's owner can say why it was not moved. If the town hauls it away, its costs "shall constitute a lien and charge upon the real property" until paid.

Only one unregistered car outside

Chapter 138, adopted at the 1981 Annual Town Meeting, adds a separate limit. No one may let "more than one unregistered motor vehicle or trailer or major parts thereof" sit ungaraged on their premises. Exceptions are a Class 1 or Class 2 sales license, or written Select Board authorization, which comes only after a public hearing. If you are down to a second dead car, that is the one to sell first.

Selling it: title and plates

For a Yarmouth sale, the RMV's seller checklist has no notary on it. For a Yarmouth sale, the seller writes the odometer number. Both people in a Yarmouth sale sign the transfer part, print their names and write the date. Title has no price line? Put it on a bill of sale. Within 10 days the Yarmouth buyer titles the car, with a licensed insurance agent stamping the application.

Keep the plates out of the deal entirely. Log in to MyMassGov and cancel the Yarmouth registration. Keep the confirmation and send your insurer a copy. That step also ends the yearly Yarmouth excise, charged at $25 per $1,000 of value. Last, slice the Yarmouth plates in half or bring them to a recycler. Chapter 90D, section 15(e) says that once you sign the Yarmouth car over and it's driven off, later trouble with it isn't yours. See after you sell.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or use the form for your Yarmouth car. We offer free pickup anywhere in the US, so it can leave the side yard the neighbors stare at. Holding a Section 107-9 letter already? Read notice to remove a car. Barnstable Town sits 6.8 miles off, and the Massachusetts page lists the state rules.