Ithaca's 72-hour clock and the car that won't start

Selling it takes it off the clock. We buy whole non-running and junk cars, and you sell the whole car as it sits. Pickup is free anywhere in the US, from a Fall Creek curb to a driveway at the edge of Ithaca's 5.389 square miles.

Tickets that turn into a tow

Chapter 317 spells out when Ithaca may tow or boot a car. For a dead car parked on the street, unpaid tickets are the usual trap. "Whenever a person has failed to respond to at least five separate notices of violation for separate parking violations", the city may mail the owner a notice that the car "is subject to being impounded and/or being immobilized." If the tickets remain unanswered when that ten-day window closes and the car is found on a street or city property, the Chief of Police or the Superintendent of Public Works can order a tow.

The same section covers two more cases:

• Storms and emergencies. A car "found unattended on any highway or public parking lot within the City during a snowstorm, flood, fire or other public emergency."
• Reserved areas. A car left where the owner was told the space is reserved, and that unauthorized cars are removed "at the owner's or operator's expense."

Our registration hold guide covers tickets tied to a car.

The junkyard rule reaches worn-out cars

Section 232-30 targets junkyards, but its opening sentence reaches further. No one may keep a place "for dumping or accumulation of junk, old metal, paper, cloth or rubber or dismantled, abandoned or worn-out motor vehicles and parts thereof" unless it meets the rules, and the rules are tough on a back yard:

• a solid fence "at least eight feet in height and kept in good repair"
• nothing stacked high enough to show above the fence from the middle of the road
• vehicles and parts "piled neatly so as to eliminate all fire hazards", with no unpleasant odor

An Ithaca household with a row of retired cars does better clearing them all at once; several junk cars explains how.

The state law behind Ithaca's custody

Section 1224 of New York's Vehicle and Traffic Law sits above the city code. Its thresholds are 6 hours without plates on public ground, anything past 24 hours in public, and 96 hours on somebody else's land with no permission. Ithaca, as the place the car was left, takes custody. An unplated abandoned car worth $2,250 wholesale or under becomes Ithaca's immediately. A junk car on the owner's own Ithaca lot sits outside section 1224 and is left to local law.

Title, bill of sale and plates

Turn the title over and complete the assignment of ownership printed there, with your signature. Then fill out the MV-912, New York's bill of sale. An Ithaca bill of sale shows the buyer, seller, car, VIN, price and date. Skip the notary. In Ithaca, buyer and seller each hold a copy, and the original goes with the buyer to the DMV. Cars from model year 1972 and older never had a New York title; they pass on the transferable registration.

In Ithaca, unscrew the plates and scrape the sticker from the windshield. Surrender them before the insurance stops, take the FS-6T receipt, and keep the bill of sale with it in case the DMV writes about a lapse. Replace a missing title on MV-902 for $20.00, or read junk car with no title for the MV-35 route on older, low-value cars.

New York inspects yearly and at every sale. When the seller is a private party, the new owner has a 10-day extension that starts at registration.

Near Ithaca

Elmira lies 28.8 miles away in a straight line, Auburn 34.0, Binghamton 38.5 and Syracuse 45.1. All the state rules: New York.

Getting an offer

For a car in Ithaca, call (877) 421-6008 or use the offer form, and mention any ticket or tow trouble. Tell us too if the car sits on an Ithaca street.