Selling a dead car in White Plains

When state law calls a car abandoned

Vehicle and Traffic Law 1224 sets three limits:

• over 6 hours on a public street or lot with no plates
• over a full day (24 hours) anywhere public
• over 96 hours on someone else's land when they never agreed to it

Past one of those lines, the law splits. Once a White Plains car is abandoned without plates and worth $2,250 or less wholesale, the city owns it right away. The city can junk, salvage or crush it without a title. Every other abandoned White Plains car means a letter to its last owner. Ten days later the city may auction it or take bids, and that is also when ownership changes. Whoever claims it covers the towing and storage.

A dead car in your own driveway

The statute stops at your property line. A junk or unregistered car sitting on its owner's lot is a matter for local rules, and the city is the one to ask. Our sitting for years guide covers the practical side: the dead battery, the flat tires and the old registration.

An old registration is not a dead end

Lapsed under a year? It can still be renewed online. Lapsed longer, the car simply gets a new registration, at a DMV counter or through the mail, and we found no catch-up charge for the gap. Registering and titling is the buyer's errand anyway, done at a local DMV office.

Insurance is different. If insurance lapses on a car that is still registered, the DMV sends a letter and can fine you or suspend the registration. The DMV's rule is "No insurance, no plates", so turn the plates in before the policy ends.

Who can legally scrap it

A White Plains buyer who parts out or scraps cars needs a DMV dismantler registration, or it is a class E felony. That same rule shapes Form MV-35, the fallback for an owner with no valid title. $1,250 is the most a White Plains car can be worth for this, and it needs eight or more model years behind it. A White Plains car can go to only three kinds of buyers. One is a dismantler on the DMV's register. Another is a traveling vehicle collector the DMV has registered. The last is a scrap processor holding certification. It does not cover private buyers, tow-truck drivers or charities. See who buys cars for parts.

Title and plates

You sign twice, once in the seller's assignment on the title's reverse and once on an MV-912 sales receipt, and neither page gets notarized. A lost title is replaced with Form MV-902 for $20.00, and Albany mails it. After a White Plains sale, remove the plates and windshield sticker. White Plains sellers then have the plates to deal with. Return the White Plains plates to the DMV soon, or move them onto the car you drive next. Ask for the FS-6T receipt. The DMV will not take plate frames or fasteners.

Nearby towns

Harrison is just 1.7 miles away as the crow flies. Port Chester is 4.6 miles, New Rochelle 7.1 and Yonkers 8.1. For the statewide rules, see New York.

Getting an offer

Ask online or call (877) 421-6008. Let us know which car you have, the miles on the dash, if it turns over, and if you have the title. Pickup comes to wherever it waits: a driveway, an office lot downtown or a repair shop.