Selling a dead car in Summit

How Summit's code describes a junk car

Two chapters of the Summit code reach a car that no longer runs. Both are definitions sections, so they say what counts as a problem rather than setting a deadline.

• Section 35-7.2, in the land use rules, describes blight as "any adverse, unpleasant or incongruous appearance caused by such matters as exposed storage of inoperable automobiles or junk materials". The same section treats "the dismantling, demolition, or abandonment of automobiles" as junkyard use. It also defines a parking space as room for "one operable, licensed motor vehicle".
• Section 15-4.2, in the property rules, lists an "abandoned motor vehicle" among hazards that "may be detrimental to the safety or health of persons". It names "exposed storage of inoperable automobiles" as something that hurts nearby property values, and counts "abandoned automobiles" as solid waste.

Read together, a car that cannot move, parked where it is visible from the street or next door, is just what these sections describe.

When the car is not on your own land

Summit's towing chapter, Section 4-9.1, covers tows of "abandoned, impounded, seizure, or disabled vehicles". Past that, New Jersey law decides what happens:

• On a street, an abandoned car goes to public auction or is junked.
• On another person's property, it must be offered at public sale. When the sale finds no buyer, the landowner can apply for the title (N.J.S.A. 39:4-56.6).
• A repair shop gets a 60-day window, counted from an unauthorized drop-off or from its notice that repairs are done, before it may call a car abandoned.

Selling it: New Jersey paperwork

New Jersey will not take a title transfer through the mail; it is done in person at the MVC. From Summit, your job as seller is the signature on the title's reverse side and a bill of sale, which names the buyer and street address, the sale date, how many miles are on the car and the price agreed.

Plates do not travel with a New Jersey car. Unbolt them in your Summit driveway, then hand them in at the MVC or put them on whatever you drive next.

Lost titles get replaced by appointment for $60, on form OS/SS-UTA. A Union County center we found sits at Woodbridge Rd and East Hazelwood Ave (number 1140) in Rahway, roughly 10 miles southeast of Summit as the crow flies. More on the last steps is in after you sell.

Around Summit

Westfield is 4.6 miles off, Roselle 7.0, Plainfield 7.4 and Morristown 8.1. The New Jersey page has the statewide rules.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or use the form. Tell us which car it is, the miles on it, if it still starts, and whether the title is yours to sign. We can collect it from a Summit garage, a commuter lot, or the shop where it died.