Selling a junk car in Hackensack

Hackensack's three street clocks

The city runs separate timers, depending on the car:

• No valid plates: no clock. Removal can happen right away.
• 48 hours if it doesn't run. An inoperable car parked continuously for 48 hours is presumed abandoned. The code calls a car inoperable if parts are removed or damaged so it is "incapable of being driven under its own motor power."
• 72 hours for any car. Continuous parking that long is "prima facie sufficient evidence of abandonment." The City Manager can relax this during severe weather.

Off the street: 24 hours on an empty lot, then 10 days

Section 168-1 treats a vehicle as abandoned when it stays "continuously upon unoccupied property for a period exceeding 24 hours," unless a business on the site is using it and checking on it. Police can enforce the penalty in Section 1-15 right away by summons.

On private property, the Health Officer serves a notice ordering removal "at the owner's expense within 10 days from the receipt of said notice." Ignore it and the Health Department hauls the car to the city garage or another storage spot.

When the city ends up holding it

Under Section 168-3, a car nobody claims "within 30 days from the date of such removal" may go to public auction. If the sale falls short of the removal and storage costs, the city can charge the balance against the land, where it becomes a lien and part of the next tax bill. Before any sale, the owner can reclaim the car by paying removal and storage costs plus any fine and court costs.

If a city rotation tower took it, Chapter 159 keeps it close. Storage must be inside city limits or within "two aerial miles from the intersection of Central Avenue and State Street." During business hours the tower has to be ready to release a car within an hour of the owner asking.

Title and plates from Hackensack

The courthouse in the photo was built for Bergen County, but the title work happens in person at an MVC office. The Oakland Vehicle Center at 350 Ramapo Valley Rd, Suite 24, serves Bergen. That office lies roughly 14 miles northwest of downtown Hackensack in a straight line. Other Bergen offices may exist.

On the back of the title, sign as the seller. Next, the Hackensack buyer gets it from the seller, with a bill of sale listing the mileage, the agreed price, the sale date, and the buyer's own name and address. The buyer completes their half and brings it to an agency, adding Form BA-49 where needed. Wait past 10 working days to transfer and a $25 penalty kicks in.

Hackensack plates stay with you, never the buyer. Hand them back at an MVC agency or bolt them onto another of your cars. Lost your Hackensack title? A new one is $60 on form OS/SS-UTA, turned in at a booked Vehicle Center appointment.

Getting an offer

Phone (877) 421-6008 or send the form. Share the model year and what the car is, the odometer number, if it can still start, and where the title stands now. Pickup comes to wherever it is parked: near the courthouse, at a garage, or on a side street close to Lodi or Garfield. If it was already towed, read towed or impounded first. Statewide rules are on the New Jersey page.