Selling a junk car in St. Louis Park

Minnesota's test for a junk vehicle

Statute 168B.011 is a checklist, and a car is legally junk only when every item is true:

• three model years old or more
• badly damaged, which the statute illustrates with "broken or missing wheels, motor, drive train or transmission"
• apparently inoperable
• carrying no valid current registration plate
• worth no more than scrap

An abandoned vehicle is a separate category. In St. Louis Park that covers a car that does not run or lacks vital parts and sat unlawfully on government land 48 hours or longer (4 hours where posted), or was left on private land without the owner's okay. Two kinds of car are not abandoned under the statute: one stored inside an enclosed garage or storage building, and a classic or pioneer car.

How the impound clock runs

Section 168B.04 lets local police and government units take custody of any junk or abandoned vehicle. Within five days of the tow, a written notice goes to the registered owner and any lienholders. Weekends and holidays don't count toward those days. It is mailed, or printed in a newspaper when no owner can be identified.

A St. Louis Park tow can be sold or scrapped when fifteen days have gone by since that notice. For a junk vehicle, a valid plate does not stop the sale. An owner or lienholder gets it back by paying for the towing and storage. Depending on the vehicle type, the window is 15 or 45 days from the notice.

Selling it: the title steps

You record the transfer on the title itself. St. Louis Park, this can be handled at Hennepin County's center in Minneapolis (Suite A-025 at 300 South 6th Street, 612-348-8240) or at any other Minnesota deputy registrar. A St. Louis Park seller:

• enters the St. Louis Park sale price in the title's sales tax declaration box
• fills in the sale date
• completes the damage disclosure, and the odometer one too if the St. Louis Park car is a 2011 or newer
• handprints and signs the assignment

There is no notary on the DVS list for the seller's own signature. A loan is the exception. When the title still shows a lender, you'll need its release card or a notarized release to transfer it. See lien still on the title.

After the car leaves

Report the sale to DVS within ten days. Either mail back the Notice of Sale on the title or report the same facts online. A St. Louis Park seller writes down when the sale happened, plus who bought it: name, address and driver's license number. After a St. Louis Park seller does that, Statute 168A.10 keeps them from being treated as the owner for the buyer's driving. DVS adds that the report is not a transfer. The registration gets suspended when the buyer doesn't file the papers and fees inside 30 days. The plates leave with the car.

Nearby

Golden Valley is 2.9 miles away, Edina 4.0, Minnetonka 4.6 and Minneapolis 4.8. The Minnesota page covers the whole state, and selling a junk car covers the basics.

Getting an offer

Reach us online or at (877) 421-6008. Send the form for your St. Louis Park car. Pickup works near the old Milwaukee Road depot, in an apartment lot, or right where it died.