North Tonawanda: getting rid of a dead car

A car that has quit does not need to wait out any clock. We buy whole non-running and junk cars: sell the whole car as it sits, with free pickup anywhere in the US. Our truck can collect it from a North Tonawanda driveway or from a garage over in Niagara Falls that has given up on it.

Section 1224's three deadlines

New York sorts a parked car into "abandoned" on any of these:

• plateless on public ground for over 6 hours
• sitting in public beyond 24 hours
• parked over 96 hours on land that is not the owner's, with nobody's permission

At that point the city of North Tonawanda, being where the car was left, gets custody. Below a certain value it goes faster: an unplated car worth no more than $2,250 wholesale becomes the city's on the spot, and when it is headed for the crusher the city skips getting a title for it. Pricier cars trigger a letter to whoever owned them last; ten days on, ownership shifts and the city may auction the car or take bids. Reclaiming it means paying the towing and the storage.

Your own driveway is a different question

For North Tonawanda, Section 1224 deals with cars left in public places or on someone else's lot. A dead car on land you own sits outside it and answers to local law. With North Tonawanda's ordinances unavailable to us, a call to the city is the safe way to learn whether a car can stay in the driveway.

The New York paperwork, start to finish

Signing over a car here takes two papers. First the title: its reverse carries the ownership-transfer lines, which you complete and sign. Second, MV-912, the state's bill of sale, recording seller, buyer, VIN, vehicle, price and date. Nobody notarizes either. Both parties hold a copy and the original travels with the buyer, who titles and registers the car at a local DMV office.

Your plates do not go with the car. Unbolt them and scrape off the windshield sticker before the tow leaves, then turn them in to the DMV, or bolt them onto another vehicle right away. Order matters: plates first, insurance cancellation second. New York's slogan is "No insurance, no plates", and doing it backwards can lead to a suspended registration and maybe a suspended license. The DMV hands you an FS-6T receipt when you surrender; file it beside the bill of sale in case a lapse letter comes later.

If the title is lost, MV-902 gets a replacement for $20.00, printed in Albany and mailed out. Older, cheap cars have one more option, explained in junk car with no title. Wrapping up insurance and plates is in after you sell.

Neighbors on the map

From North Tonawanda, crow-flight distances run 7.8 miles to Niagara Falls, 10.8 to Buffalo and 12.1 to Lockport. For the whole state's rules, open New York.

Asking for an offer

Got a North Tonawanda car to sell? Call (877) 421-6008 or send the short offer form. North Tonawanda spreads across about 10 square miles of Niagara County, and pickup happens anywhere in that, or far outside it.