Selling a dead car whole under Syracuse junk-car rules

Section 16-53 covers every lot in the city

The rule is broad. It is unlawful for anyone, "either as an owner of a motor vehicle or as an owner, occupant, lessee or tenant" of property in Syracuse, to store "an abandoned, junked or discarded motor vehicle upon any public or private property within the limits of the City of Syracuse." So the rule reaches whoever stores or allows the car there, whether they own the car, own the land or rent it.

Section 16-52 gives each of the three words its own test:

• Abandoned means the owner does not plan to drive it on public roads again. Clues the code lists: the shape it is in, how much time has passed since it was on a road, and whether its plates are valid.
• Junked means repairs to make it run would cost "more than the maximum retail value" of the car.
• Discarded means the owner does not plan to take it back, or no one can tell who owns it.

None of the sections quoted here gives a grace period. A garage is the only place the rule does not reach, because it covers outdoor storage.

Moving it to the street does not work

Section 15-327 says it is unlawful to park or stand "any unregistered or unlicensed motor vehicle" on a street, on a sidewalk, or in the strip between sidewalk and curb. Expired plates on a dead car fail that test.

Even a registered car has overnight rules. In the central traffic district, Section 15-318 bans street parking from midnight to 7 a.m. Outside it, many streets use alternate sides: even-numbered side on even-numbered nights, odd side on odd nights. A car that cannot be moved will be on the wrong side by the next night. And once the mayor declares a snow emergency, Section 15-337 bars parking on any posted emergency snow route.

Boots, tows and the caps in the code

Three or more unpaid parking tickets can get a car booted under Section 15-36. To release it, you pay the fines, penalties, surcharges and fees, or $1,500.00, "whichever is less." If you do not within "twenty-four (24) hours after the vehicle is immobilized," the car can be towed and impounded.

Towing from private lots falls under Section 46-10. Lots need a posted sign, unless they are only residential with fewer than five units. The code caps the charge at $150 plus tax for the tow and the first 24 hours of storage, then $40 a day. Get there before the hookup and you owe nothing. Once it is chained but still on the lot, the code limits the charge to $100. More on getting a car back is in towed or impounded.

The title and the bill of sale

Two signatures from you finish the sale. A Syracuse seller signs two papers: the title's transfer-of-ownership section and Form MV-912, which is New York's bill of sale. No notary is needed for either. Registering and titling is the buyer's errand at a local DMV office. Your own DMV task is turning in the plates.

A lost title has two fixes. A duplicate (Form MV-902) costs $20.00, and Albany prints and mails it. The other is Form MV-35, for a car eight model years old or more whose value tops out at $1,250. It moves the car, title-free, to a business the DMV registers to dismantle or scrap cars. After that the car "may never be titled again," and the form is off limits for sales to neighbors, tow operators and charities. See junk car with no title. Cars from model year 1972 or older have no title in New York; they sell on the transferable registration.

Plates first, then insurance

When you sell, remove the plates and scrape off the registration sticker on the windshield. With no state notice-of-sale filing, those plates are what ties the car to you. Either turn them in to the DMV or put them straight on your next car. Do this before you cancel the insurance, or the registration can be suspended. Hold on to the FS-6T plate receipt and the MV-912 copy. After you sell has the rest.

Towns near Syracuse

Auburn is 22.7 miles away as the crow flies, Rome 35.4 miles and Utica 46.5 miles. Statewide rules are on the New York page.

Getting an offer

For an offer, call (877) 421-6008 or fill in the form. Tell us which car you have, its rough mileage, if the engine will crank, and who owns it on paper. We collect it from its spot: a driveway off an alternate-side street, a lot downtown, or a shop it got towed to after it quit.