Selling a junk car in Secaucus

What the Secaucus code says about towed cars

Section 115A-13 covers cars the Secaucus Police Department sends to a tow lot. Three points matter to an owner:

• A car impounded on police direction stays put until "authorization for release of a vehicle from the Secaucus Police Department or a court of competent jurisdiction". Then "the tow operator shall deem the vehicle released and available for removal by the owner."
• Cars held "for possible seizure or forfeiture" follow the same release rule.
• For "vehicles unclaimed over 30 days", the operator reports the year, make and color, the VIN, the state and number of the registration, the owner's name and address if available, and the police case number.

For a car already sitting in a tow yard, read towed or impounded.

Secaucus also keeps unregistered cars out of its parks. Section 97-8 says "no unlicensed vehicle shall be permitted in any park". Schmidt's Woods Park allows no parking at all except for a permitted event.

No local junk-car rule found

We did not find a Secaucus section on keeping an inoperable or unregistered car on private property. For Secaucus, state law covers the gaps, though the town can add rules of its own:

• Public property. On Secaucus streets, state law sends abandoned cars to public auction or to be junked (N.J.S.A. 39:10A-1 and following). New Jersey grants a junk title only for an inoperable car, or one whose safety repairs would outrun its value.
• Private property. A car dumped on someone else's land has to be offered at public sale. When nobody buys, the landowner can apply to title it (N.J.S.A. 39:4-56.6).
• Repair shops. In Secaucus, a car left at a garage 60 days without the owner's okay counts as abandoned. So does one left 60 days past the owner being told the work was done.

Title and plates in Hudson County

The MVC accepts no mailed title transfers; the buyer goes in person. A Secaucus seller signs the back of the title on the seller line. Your bill of sale lists four things: buyer name, buyer address, sale date, mileage and price.

Your plates stay behind with you, not the car. Hand them in at the MVC or reuse them on your next vehicle. After you sell covers the rest.

A missing title means a $60 duplicate first, by appointment, on form OS/SS-UTA. Hudson County's Summit Ave center in Jersey City (number 438) is one we checked, roughly 4 miles south of Secaucus as the crow flies.

Near Secaucus

Union City is 2.1 miles away, Hoboken 3.3, Kearny 3.6 and Jersey City 4.9. State rules are on the New Jersey page.

Getting an offer

Send the form or call (877) 421-6008. We want the model year and make, rough miles, if the engine starts, and if your title is clean. Pickup can be at a Secaucus tow yard after release, in a condo lot or from your driveway.