Selling a dead or junk car in Auburn Hills

Expired plates count as inoperable

The city's definition in Section 34-177 reaches past a car that won't start. An inoperable vehicle is one that "cannot be started or legally or physically operated on city streets or public highways and/or which does not bear valid and current license plates and registration." So a car that runs fine on lapsed tabs is on the same ten-day clock as one with a seized engine. Parts count too: "junked vehicles" include the parts or accessories without which a car "cannot be operated in a safe manner."

A cover does not fix it here

Section 34-178 bars parking or storing a passenger car "under a tarp, cloth screen, fitted cover, or similar" covering in the front and side yards. One covered car may sit on an improved surface in the rear yard, but only if it is "currently licensed and not a junk or inoperable vehicle." So a cover is for a car you still drive, not one that died.

The downtown city lots have a version of their own. Section 70-361 bans covered vehicles there outright and caps parking at one spot at "more than seven continuous days" unless the space is reserved for that owner.

Listing a dead car for sale in Auburn Hills

Parking a car to advertise it "as being for sale or for trade" is also on the blight list. The exception is narrow: the car must be legally parked on the owner's own residential property and be "currently registered and licensed." A car with expired plates and a sign in the window meets neither half of that.

If the car sits on property you don't own

A car that stays on private property for "48 continuous hours, or more" without the owner's or occupant's consent, or 48 hours after consent is withdrawn, is abandoned under Section 34-177. Michigan law uses the same 48-hour mark for cars on public property. Once an Auburn Hills car is towed, the Secretary of State releases the owner's details within 7 days. The notice warns the car can be sold if, within 20 days, nobody claims it or asks for a hearing.

Title and plate, Michigan style

Titles don't come from Oakland County. They come from the Michigan Department of State at its branch offices. The seller gives the buyer the original title, never a photocopy, completes the odometer statement and their part of the title, and signs. Every owner named signs. The Department of State's seller steps list no notary.

Pull the plate as the car goes. An Auburn Hills plate left on the car could tie you to the buyer's parking tickets and other violations. Take it, and it can go on another car you own or buy. Next, copy both sides of the signed title and save it 18 months or more. MCL 257.240 says that copy, or a branch office visit with the buyer, protects you from blame for the car down the road. Missing the title? Start with selling with no title. After you sell covers the last steps.

Getting an offer

In Auburn Hills, call (877) 421-6008 or use the form. Trucks reach back yards, driveways, or the shop lot where repairs failed. Owners in Pontiac and Rochester Hills sell the same way, and the statewide rules are on the Michigan page.