East Lansing, Michigan: a dead or unregistered car on the driveway

Inoperable means more than "won't start"

Section 14-36 bars keeping "an abandoned or inoperable motor vehicle, part, or parts of a motor vehicle" on private premises anywhere in the city unless it is "kept in a wholly enclosed garage or other structure." The property maintenance rules in Section 6-175 repeat it: "No abandoned or inoperable motor vehicle ... shall be permitted on any premises."

The definition in Section 14-31 reaches further than most owners expect. A car counts as inoperable when "dismantling, disrepair, lack of current registration and/or a valid registration tag" or another cause means it can't be "propelled under their own power or legally operated by the owner." Lapsed registration alone is enough. The sections quoted here give no grace period before a car on your driveway qualifies, and a carport is not a wholly enclosed structure.

A car parked at someone else's house falls under the abandoned half of that definition: one kept on private premises without permission, or "for a period of 48 hours or more after the consent has been revoked." Think of a rental, or a friend who agreed to hold it for a while.

City lots and unpaid tickets

• 24 hours in a city lot. Section 44-546 says a vehicle "parked for more than 24 consecutive hours in any parking lot or structure of the system shall be deemed abandoned." The city may tow it, and it stays impounded until parking, storage and towing charges are paid.
• Six unpaid tickets. Section 44-304 lets police or parking officers impound or immobilize a vehicle whose owner has ignored "six or more parking violation notices or citations." Getting it back means paying the impound costs and posting a bond for the unpaid fines, and the code puts a ceiling on that bond while the case is pending.

Title and plates

East Lansing straddles two counties, yet neither one prints titles. For East Lansing, the state runs titles, and Department of State branches, still called the Secretary of State or SOS by most people, staff the counters. The branch list is at michigan.gov/sos.

Your part as seller fits in a few lines. The real title goes to the buyer, since a photocopy will not do. You complete the mileage disclosure and the seller block, then sign; a co-owner signs too. Nowhere in those SOS steps does a notary appear.

Unscrew the plate before the car leaves. State law lets you hold onto it for a later vehicle, and SOS puts the risk plainly: "If you leave your plate on the vehicle you could be responsible for violations, like parking tickets, the buyer gets."

Michigan offers no form that releases you. What protects an East Lansing seller is MCL 257.240: a branch visit with the buyer, or a sale record saved for 18 months or more. East Lansing sellers can keep a copy of the title they reassigned, or a page the buyer signs showing the price, the date, and the buyer's driver's license number, home address and name. With neither, you face a $15 civil infraction and a presumption that towing and storage bills on an abandoned car are yours.

East Lansing owners can replace a lost title for $15 by mail, or $20 to get it on the spot. Junk car with no title explains more.

Getting an offer

Use the form or ring (877) 421-6008. Let us know the model, its rough mileage, if it can still be started, and the owner listed on its title. Our truck can reach an East Lansing house on the Clinton or Ingham side, an apartment's back lot, or a mechanic's bay. Lansing lies 4.6 miles away, and the Michigan page gathers the statewide rules.