Selling a dead or junk car in Livonia

The 48-hour rule on Livonia property

Section 9.14 lists the cars it covers: any vehicle that is "abandoned, unlicensed, wrecked, inoperative, in a state of major disassembly, disrepair, or in the process of being stripped or dismantled." The only place one may stay is inside a building. The section then sets the clock: such a car, or any unlicensed one, "shall be deemed abandoned when it has remained parked, stored, or left" on private property "for a period of forty-eight (48) continuous hours or more."

The officer who enforces the zoning ordinance may tow a car that is "flagrantly, continuously or persistently" in violation. It goes to the city pound or a private garage "at the risk of the owner." A conviction is a misdemeanor, and the plate on the car counts as evidence that its registered owner parked it there.

Section 7.09 adds a matching rule for single-family homes: "All inoperable or unlicensed vehicles" must "be housed in a residential accessory building when not in use." A detached garage is the kind of building the code means.

Left on a Livonia street

Section 2.32.020 calls a car abandoned once it is left "upon a public highway, street, alley or other public place for a period of forty-eight (48) continuous hours or more." Livonia police must make "a reasonable effort to locate the owner," and for cars the code hands the job to Section 252 of the Michigan Vehicle Code. Under that statute, the state gives Livonia police the owner's identity inside 7 days. The letter that follows gives a Livonia owner 20 days to take the car back or demand a hearing before a sale can happen, and fighting it in court takes a $40.00 bond on top of whatever the tow and storage have reached.

Getting a car out of the Livonia pound

Livonia's Section 10.21.010 sets the terms at the police pound: "evidence of his or her identity and ownership," a signed receipt, and the removal fee. Storage is capped at twenty dollars a day, or for any fraction of one, starting after noon the day after the tow, and taking off a plate can add as much as five dollars. A car nobody collects keeps that meter running, which is a good reason to settle a dead car's fate before Livonia's towing section comes into play. See towed or impounded for more.

Michigan title and plates for a Livonia seller

A Livonia seller deals with the state, not Wayne County, because Michigan issues titles from Secretary of State branch offices. The paperwork is short. The buyer needs the title itself, since a photocopy won't do, with your odometer reading and your half of the assignment filled in and signed by each person listed as an owner. Nothing in the SOS list of seller steps mentions a notary.

Unbolt your plate before the car rolls off your Livonia driveway. The Livonia plate stays yours for your next vehicle. Leave it on and the new owner's parking tickets can trace back to you. Michigan gives sellers no release form to file. Livonia sellers can stay covered by visiting a branch together with the buyer. The other way is a photocopy of the signed title, front and back, kept 18 months or longer. If the title went missing, the state reprints it for $15 through the mail, or for $20 the same day; see selling with no title.

Getting an offer

Got a Livonia car to sell? Ring (877) 421-6008 or send the online form. Pickup can happen right where it died, whether that's a Livonia driveway, a street near City Hall, or a mechanic's lot. Nearby pages cover Westland and Farmington Hills; for statewide rules, see Michigan.