Selling a dead or junk car in Carson City

How the city's nuisance chapter reads a parked car

That same section also defines an "unregistered vehicle" as one on which "evidence of current registration" is "not displayed." Current registration from another state counts. An expired Nevada sticker does not.

The section also defines collector classes tied to DMV registration, including an "old timer" built "more than 40 years before the date of application for registration," along with classic rods and street rods. If your car is that old, read the full chapter before you decide what the city will make of it.

State law adds a hard cap. NRS Chapter 487 caps it at two. Unless you work as a wrecker or salvage pool, a home may keep no more than two unregistered cars that can no longer legally be driven. Going over can cost up to $100 a day in civil penalties. The statute also lets a local government pass its own ban on the same conduct.

Street rules that catch a car that quit

On any street signed against all-night parking, Section 10.24.080 limits you to thirty minutes between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. Section 10.24.150 says vehicles "shall be parked only in parking spaces," and never within fifteen feet of a fire hydrant. A car that rolled to a stop across a painted stall line breaks that section too.

If the city tows it, the car goes to what Section 18.01.297 calls an impound yard: a place where vehicles are "stored temporarily until reclaimed." That is storage, not disposal. The car stays yours, and so does the bill. See towed or impounded for getting a car back out.

Titles run through the state

Nevada titles are issued by the DMV, not by the county, and the DMV's Titles and Records section is here in Carson City. Your signature must match the printed owner name letter for letter. Two names linked by "AND" need two signatures; linked by "OR," one will do.

On anything from model year 2011 on, a paper title has to change hands. The DMV won't take a sales receipt paired with a duplicate-title request in its place. For a lost title, you file form VP 012. It costs $20.00 if mailed inside Nevada. Junk car with no title covers the rest.

Plates stay with you

When the car changes hands, the registration expires. Take the plates off. Within 60 days, put them on another vehicle you own or hand them back for cancellation. Your proof that the car is gone is the Registration Cancellation and Vehicle Resale Notification, submitted through MyDMV; hold on to a VP-104 bill of sale as well. To stay clear of fines, the DMV says the registration gets canceled first and the insurance dropped after. After you sell goes through each step.

Nearby towns

Reno is about 28 miles away and Sparks about 29, both measured in a straight line. Fernley is about 41 miles. For statewide rules, see Nevada.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or start online. Let us know what you have, roughly what the odometer says, if the engine cranks, and who is on the title. We pick it up where it died: next to the garage, at a shop lot, or in a rented storage unit.