Garfield: selling a car that's dead or junk

No city code online, so start with state law

Garfield's city code was not online when we searched. Local limits on a dead car in a yard or on the street could still exist, so check with the city first. New Jersey law applies here regardless, and it treats an abandoned car by location:

• On a street or other public property: offered at public auction or junked, under N.J.S.A. 39:10A-1 and following.
• On private property: put up for public sale under N.J.S.A. 39:4-56.6. With no buyer, the owner of that land may seek the title.
• At a repair shop: 60 days is the line. Past that point without the owner's okay, a Garfield garage may call the car abandoned. It can also do so 60 days after the owner was told the job was done. The shop can then store it, sell it or get a junk title.

Crashed, totaled or flooded

If an insurer wrote the car off, the title rules change. In New Jersey, a salvage vehicle is one wrecked, destroyed or hurt so badly an insurer finds it "uneconomical to repair." No damage percentage is set. And "all salvage vehicles must be titled in New Jersey, even if not restored."

Water damage carries its own label. A Garfield car hurt by flooding carries "FLOOD VEHICLE" on its ownership papers and every certificate after. See salvage title and wrecked or totaled for what that means when you sell.

Signing it over from Garfield

Every New Jersey transfer runs through an MVC agency in person. For Bergen County we checked Oakland, where the Vehicle Center occupies Suite 24 at 350 Ramapo Valley Rd, roughly 12 miles northwest of central Garfield as the crow flies. Bergen may have other offices too.

Your part comes down to three steps:

1. Find the spot set aside for the seller on the title's reverse, and sign there.
2. Garfield buyers walk away with the title and a bill of sale carrying their name, street address, sale day, miles and price.
3. Take off the plates. They are yours to return to an MVC agency or to put on a car you keep; a buyer never gets them.

Next the buyer signs on their side and visits an agency, bringing Form BA-49 if needed. Leave the title untransferred beyond 10 working days and the state adds a $25 penalty.

A lost Garfield title can be replaced for $60 at a Vehicle Center appointment with form OS/SS-UTA.

Getting an offer

Phone (877) 421-6008 or fill in the form. Send our form and we'll come back with a Garfield offer. A tow truck can reach a Garfield side street, in a narrow driveway, or at a shop toward Lodi or Passaic. Statewide rules are on the New Jersey page.