Saginaw, Michigan: the five-day notice on a junk car

What the notice says counts as junk

The notice form in Section 98.08 spells out what the city means: "partially dismantled vehicle(s), missing vehicle parts, wrecked or inoperative vehicle(s), flat tire(s), used for storage or absence of a current license plate." Any one of those "shall be prima facie evidence that a vehicle is a junk motor vehicle." A car used as a shed for boxes is on the list, and so is a car with nothing wrong but expired plates.

Two people hear about it. The official mails a copy to the owner of the land, as shown in the City Assessor's records, and to the car's owner "if ownership can be reasonably ascertained."

Once five days pass and the car is still there with no hearing requested, it "shall be removed by the City of Saginaw or its authorized agents," removal costs are assessed, and a municipal civil infraction may follow. Section 98.99 sends that bill to the land: costs are "assessed and levied against the premises from which the junk motor vehicle was removed" under Section 33.21. For a landlord, a tenant's dead car can turn into a charge on the property.

If the case goes to court and the owner loses, the court's order warns that putting the car back in the same spot brings a show-cause hearing on an injunction.

When a dead car may stay a few days

Section 98.06 bans leaving a junk motor vehicle "upon any public or private property or a street right-of-way within the city," whether anyone is with it or not. Section 98.07 allows storage only "within a completely enclosed building" or at a properly zoned and licensed junk dealer, used-parts dealer, repair garage or similar business. It does carve out short stays:

• Minor breakdown. A car "temporarily inoperable, because of minor mechanical failure," not dismantled and with its main parts on, may stay on private property for up to five days.
• Repair or plates on the way. An inoperable, wrecked or partly dismantled car may stay up to five days "if the owner is obtaining a license, repairing the vehicle or is about to have it repaired."

Section 98.05 adds standing exemptions: cars in an enclosed building, a dealer's stock, cars at a licensed repair garage, and "an operative unlicensed vehicle" stored while its owner is away at school, in the military, or in a hospital or nursing home. Note the word operative; a student's car that has given out is not covered.

Impound clocks

When police impound a vehicle, Section 70.31 sets the paperwork. The car is entered into the law enforcement information network within 24 hours. Within seven days, leaving out weekends and legal holidays, the owner and any lender get a certified-mail notice. It warns that failing "to redeem the vehicle or to contest the impoundment of the vehicle within 15 days after the date of this notice may result in the sale of the vehicle."

Section 70.32 gives two ways out. Uncontested, you pay the accrued charges plus a device removal fee set by Council. Contested, the dispute goes to a hearing in the Seventieth District Court, and meanwhile you can recover the car by posting a bond or cash deposit the court sets. See towed or impounded if your car is already at a lot.

Title, plates and the scrap rule

Saginaw County doesn't issue titles. The state does, through Department of State (SOS) branch offices in Saginaw. Hand over the original title, put down the mileage, fill out the seller block and sign. Every person printed as an owner adds a signature. The SOS instructions for sellers show no notary step.

The SOS tells a Saginaw seller to make a front-and-back copy of the completed title and hold it for 18 months or more. With that copy, or a branch visit alongside the buyer, MCL 257.240 covers you after the sale. Remove the plate as well: it stays yours, for another vehicle.

For an older car headed to scrap, MCL 257.217c says the dealer taking it must receive an assigned title, and a scrap metal processor surrenders that title to SOS within 30 days after destroying the vehicle. So the title matters even for a car that will never drive again. A lost one can be replaced for $15 by mail or $20 if issued right away.

Getting an offer

Use the form or call (877) 421-6008. Our offer form gathers everything we need on your Saginaw car. In Saginaw our truck can load it from a home driveway, behind a rental, or at the garage where the repair stalled. Bay City is 12.4 miles away and Midland 19.9; statewide rules are on the Michigan page.