Selling a junk car in Elmwood Park

Section 3-12, line by line

The borough's rule on residential property has four parts, and a dead car can trip several at once:

1. The driveway. No car "while parked in any unenclosed, off-street parking area or driveway in any residential zone shall be stripped, dismantled or undergo any type of major overhaul including body work, on jacks, blocks, with or without tires, or is inoperable in its existing condition."
2. Paperwork. "Motor vehicles must be currently licensed and inspected except when parked at an approved automobile repair station, shop or garage."
3. Someone else's land. It is unlawful to "park, leave standing or abandon on the land of another" a car "in need of repair so as not to be readily operated under their own power."
4. Storage. No vehicle, registered or not, may be kept on Elmwood Park land "used for storage of any materials of any kind whatsoever."

The section sets no grace period. A car with a lapsed inspection in an Elmwood Park driveway is outside the rule the day the sticker runs out. A car parked at an approved repair shop is the stated exception.

Where the borough draws the junk line

Chapter 4-25 licenses junk dealers, and its definition of junk includes "unregistered motor vehicles which are unfit for reconditioning for sale for highway transportation" and "used parts of motor vehicles". Under Section 4-25.8, a licensed collector gets one vehicle for hauling and must apply to the Borough Clerk for more. So pulling parts off a dead car and storing them around the house drifts toward what the borough treats as junk. Part it out or sell it whole weighs that choice.

Title and plates for a Bergen County sale

New Jersey does title transfers at the MVC in person only; nothing goes by mail. For your part, sign where the seller signs on the title's reverse, and write the buyer a bill of sale. An Elmwood Park bill of sale names the buyer and their home address and notes the sale date, mileage and price.

Before the car leaves Elmwood Park, take the plates. New Jersey never lets them pass to a buyer, so return them to the MVC or use them on another car you own.

Missing the title? A duplicate costs $60. Book a Vehicle Center appointment and file form OS/SS-UTA. Oakland's center, 350 Ramapo Valley Rd, Suite 24, is one Bergen County location we checked, roughly 10 miles northwest of Elmwood Park as the crow flies.

Around Elmwood Park

The borough covers 2.643 square miles. Garfield is 1.8 miles off, Fair Lawn 2.2, Paterson 2.4 and Clifton 3.6. The New Jersey page has the state rules.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or send the form about your Elmwood Park car. We collect from an Elmwood Park driveway, the repair shop holding it, or the spot where it quit.