Selling a junk or dead car in Ossining

Which Ossining are you in?

The chapter applies only to "the unincorporated area of the Town of Ossining." A driveway outside that area may fall under some other rule, and the village could have its own limits on junked cars. Ask whichever government sends your property tax bill before you decide which rule is yours.

The chapter also leaves out one kind of property: land "occupied and used for the repair, reconditioning and remodeling of vehicles in conformance with the Zoning Ordinance." A properly zoned shop can keep cars outside. Is your car sitting at that shop, and you've chosen not to repair it? Read car stuck at a repair shop.

Off your land: the state's abandonment clocks

Once a car leaves private property, state law takes over. Vehicle and Traffic Law 1224 calls a car abandoned in Ossining once it passes 6 hours plateless in a public spot, 24 hours in public with plates, or 96 hours on someone's land without leave. The town, city or village where it sits gets custody.

Value changes what happens next. If an abandoned car has no plates and would bring $2,250 or less wholesale, ownership passes to the local government on the spot, and it can be scrapped with no title. A more valuable car gets a letter to its last owner first; ten days on it can be auctioned, and an owner who turns up pays for the tow and storage.

The paperwork for a sale from Ossining

Ownership changes hands on the reverse side of the title, where you fill in and sign the seller's part. Next comes Form MV-912, New York's bill of sale. Write the VIN, the sale price, the date and both your names on it. Neither paper needs a notary. The buyer brings the original bill of sale to a NYS DMV office for registration and a title.

No title in the drawer? Two roads:

• Duplicate title. File Form MV-902 for $20. The new title is printed in Albany and mailed.
• Form MV-35. With a lost or never-issued title, the only way to skip a duplicate is selling to a "registered vehicle dismantler, itinerant vehicle collector or certified scrap processor." The Ossining car's value must be $1,250 or less and its age eight or more model years. It is never titled again. Our junk car with no title guide covers both.

A car from model year 1972 or earlier has no New York title at all; the transferable registration carries ownership.

Plates before insurance

New York gives Ossining sellers no notice-of-sale form to send in. Turning in your plates takes its place. After the Ossining car is sold, remove its plates and scrape the sticker off the windshield. Next, an Ossining seller hands the plates back to the DMV or moves them to a new car at once, while the policy is still active. The DMV's rule is "No insurance, no plates," and a gap can cost the registration and possibly your license. Ossining sellers should save two papers: the FS-6T plate surrender receipt and their bill of sale copy. You'll want them if a lapse letter comes. After you sell has the rest.

Getting an offer

For a car in Ossining, ring (877) 421-6008 or start with the offer form. A village driveway or a shop's back lot both work as the pickup spot. Ossining is 9.7 miles from both Peekskill and Spring Valley; for statewide rules, see New York.