Selling a disabled or junk car in Cliffside Park

The two-day rule, word for word

Section 18-7.10 speaks to both the car's owner and the property owner:

• "No vehicle owner shall store, park, leave, or abandon their unregistered or disabled vehicle on any residential property for more than two consecutive days."
• "No property owner shall cause or suffer any disabled or unregistered vehicle to be stored outdoors in viewable public spaces, including residential driveways or commercial parking lots for two consecutive days."

So a renter's car parked at a landlord's building puts both people on the hook. The rule also covers a car that runs but has lapsed registration, not only one that won't start.

The garage exception

The same section lets you store a disabled or unregistered car "in a garage with the vehicle being obstructed from public view." If you have a garage with room, that buys time. Without one, the clock is two days.

What happens next

Once the two days pass, the car counts as a violation subject to the penalties in section 18-7. If it is still there after a summons or reasonable notice, the borough "reserves the right" to have it towed "at the owner's expense." And "each car on the premises after notice of removal shall be deemed a daily separate offense."

When police call a car abandoned

Section 21-15 handles abandoned cars on the police side. An abandoned vehicle is whatever an authorized police representative designates as one. Removal runs "24 hours a day, seven days a week, anywhere within the municipality." The tow company the police call must remove it "within one-half hour after notification." The municipality keeps the right to tow abandoned cars to its own property and keep "the vehicle and/or monies realized from the sale" of it.

In other words, a car the police label abandoned may be sold, and the money from it kept, without you. Selling it yourself first keeps that decision in your hands.

The Oakland office and New Jersey title steps

For Cliffside Park we looked up one Bergen County MVC office. Cliffside Park drivers are served by the Oakland office at 350 Ramapo Valley Rd, Suite 24. In a straight line it's around 19 miles northwest of central Cliffside Park. Bergen could have other offices too. New Jersey title transfers happen only face to face at a motor vehicle agency.

In Cliffside Park as anywhere in the state, the seller signs the title's reverse side where it is marked for the seller. Along with the title, write the buyer a bill of sale: price, date, mileage, plus the buyer's name and street address. The plates stay off the sold car. Return them to an MVC agency, or use them on the next car you register. Past 10 working days without a transfer, a $25 penalty applies. A missing title costs $60 to replace, through form OS/SS-UTA, after you book a Vehicle Center appointment.

After you sell lists the last steps.

Next-door towns

Palisades Park is 1.8 miles away and Fort Lee 2.2. West New York is 2.7 and Union City 4.4. For the state rules, see New Jersey.

Getting an offer

With a two-day clock, start early. Call (877) 421-6008 or send the form. Let us know what the car is, how many miles it has, if it runs, and who has the title now. We can collect it from a driveway, a shared lot or the street out front.