Selling a junk or dead car in Kansas City

What the yard must do after it buys your car

Three sections of Chapter 54 set the same 72-hour pause for different buyers:

• Section 54-114, for every salvage yard permit holder.
• Section 54-113, for a Kansas City car bought with a bill of sale "pursuant to RSMo § 301.227.9". That is how Missouri lets a car with no title be scrapped. Such a car may not be sold, melted, crushed or altered until the 72 hours pass.
• Section 54-215, for secondary metal recyclers, who may not "sell, trade, shred, melt or crush" a vehicle or vehicle parts before then.

During the hold, the vehicles must be open to inspection by law enforcement and city regulators. On police notice of suspected theft, the yard holds the car 30 days, again leaving out weekends and federal holidays.

So in Kansas City, a scrap metal operator may buy your dead car with no title once it reaches ten model years. It takes a bill of sale, a lien check and a copy of your state ID. Kansas City then holds that car where police can look at it. Expect any buyer to ask for your ID. Junkyard or scrap yard explains the difference between the two.

Two cars, then a violation

On nonresidential property, Section 56-435 sets a hard cap: "not more than two wrecked or unlicensed motor vehicles shall be stored in the open." None of them may be in major disassembly, or being repaired, stripped or dismantled, outside an automobile establishment. A licensed car may get emergency repairs so it can be moved off the premises.

The sections in our brief do not cover cars at a house. Homes in Kansas City may fall under their own rules. Ask Kansas City first if a broken car will sit in your driveway a while.

Tows from private lots

Section 76-422 limits how a car leaves a private lot:

• Apart from police tows, a towing company needs written authorization from the owner, lessee or property or security manager, who must be there at the time.
• General authorization to tow at the company's discretion can't be handed over, except for cars within 15 feet of a fire hydrant or in a fire lane.
• If you show up and can move the car before it is towed, it stays. You may owe "a reasonable fee, not to exceed one-half of the regular towing fee," but only if the car is already hooked up and lifted with at least two tires off the ground.
• Tow staff may not hold your title, keys or personal property as a condition of letting you inspect the car or take your things out.

Already had the car hauled to a lot? See towed or impounded before you pay to get it out.

Snow routes

When snow removal looks likely, the city manager may declare a parking emergency under Section 70-269. "All vehicles parked on such streets must be removed within two hours after declaration of an emergency." A car that won't start does not get extra time.

Four counties, one state title system

Kansas City stretches into Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass counties, but Missouri titles are state-issued. Kansas City owners can use the Motor Vehicle Bureau in Jefferson City or any Missouri license office. We checked one at 2009 Plaza Drive, Harrisonville (816-884-4133). In a straight line it sits roughly 34 miles south of central Kansas City. The other three counties may have offices of their own.

The seller's side of a Missouri sale:

• Sign the title. No notary is required.
• Write the odometer reading and date of sale, with no erasures.
• Take off the plates before the buyer takes possession.
• Report the sale within 30 days on DOR-5049 or DOR-1957.
• Kansas City buyers get a safety inspection certificate from the seller, dated within 60 days. Cars below 150,000 miles and inside ten years of their model year don't need one.

Getting an offer

We pick up all over Kansas City, from Northland and Midtown to the south side. Call (877) 421-6008 or fill out the offer form. Gladstone, Raytown and Independence have their own pages, and Missouri covers the state rules.