Selling a junk or unused car in Schenectady

Unused is enough

The chapter reaches "junked, abandoned, unused or dangerous motor vehicles, or the parts therefrom" kept outside within the city. That word "unused" matters. A car parked for good on the side of the house can fall under the rule even if nothing is broken on it.

The council's stated reason is safety. It calls outdoor storage of these cars "a health, fire and safety hazard" and "an attractive nuisance to children." Section 167-49, the garbage and refuse rule, says the same thing more briefly: "Junked vehicles, equipment and materials shall not be stored in open areas of premises."

A few kinds of vehicle are left out: competition vehicles, recreational vehicles, utility vehicles, motorcycles and historic vehicles. The exemption ends if one of them is abandoned or dangerous.

Everyone on the property is responsible

Schenectady does not put the duty on one person. The car must be removed by the "vehicle owner, property owner, occupant, lessee, agent, tenant" or whoever else manages or controls the land or the car. A tenant with a dead car and the landlord who owns the lot can both be on the hook.

Two other routes run through the Bureau of Property Management. If it finds a direct hazard or imminent danger, it can order removal on the spot, treating the car as a public nuisance and charging the city's cost back under the code. And a property owner can ask the bureau to remove a junked, abandoned, unused or dangerous car stored on that owner's land.

Selling it the New York way

New York's paperwork for a sale is short, and the order matters at the end:

1. The titled owner signs the car over on the title's reverse side. Co-owners? Either name is enough.
2. In a Schenectady sale, buyer and seller both sign form MV-912, the state's bill of sale. This Schenectady form lists the VIN and sale date, the price paid, and who bought and who sold the car. You each hold a copy, and the buyer brings the original to DMV.
3. Take off the plates and remove the sticker from the windshield.
4. Hand plates and registration in at DMV while the policy is still active. DMV refuses frames and fasteners. Your receipt is form FS-6T.

New York sums up step 4 as "No insurance, no plates." Get the order backwards and the registration can be suspended, sometimes along with your license. Since the state uses no notice-of-sale form, a Schenectady seller's protection is pulling and surrendering the plates and keeping that bill of sale in case the DMV sends an insurance-lapse letter later. More in after you sell.

Nearby towns

Albany: 11.5 miles in a straight line (Albany). Troy: 13.6 (Troy). Saratoga Springs: 19.8 (Saratoga Springs). For statewide rules, see New York.

Getting an offer

Contact us online or at (877) 421-6008. Share the model and year, a mileage guess, and if it starts. Mention the title status too. In Schenectady the truck loads from a driveway, back lot or garage, with every part still on the car.