Selling a dead or junk car in Graham

Who comes for the car

Section 20-189 splits the job. The police department handles cars "abandoned" on public streets, highways and city property. The inspections department handles abandoned, junked and "nuisance" vehicles on private property. The code defines a nuisance vehicle as "a junked vehicle on public or private property that is determined and declared to be a health or safety hazard, a public nuisance, or unlawful." Graham contracts private tow operators to haul, store and dispose of them.

On the street, a car is abandoned once it is parked against a parking law or "left on any public street or highway for longer than seven days." Section 20-156 is stricter about storage: no one may keep a vehicle on a street or city lot "for a period of more than 12 hours" just to store it. The same goes for trailers, motor homes and boats.

After a city tow: 15 days, then 30

Section 20-197 has the city hold an unclaimed abandoned, nuisance or junked vehicle "for a period of at least 15 days." Inside those 15 days, an owner who proves ownership and covers the removal, storage and administrative costs gets the car back. Driving off without paying is its own offense under Section 20-199.

If nobody claims it, the car may be destroyed or sold under state lien law. Within 15 days of that, the city notifies NCDMV that it was junked. Under Section 20-198, any money left after costs and recorded liens is held by the finance officer for 30 days. After that it goes to the city's general fund. Our towed or impounded guide walks through those choices.

There is also a faster route. "With the written consent of the owner," the city may dispose of a junked vehicle without holding it at all. Selling it before a tow keeps the decision in your hands.

Title and plates

There is no county title desk in Alamance County. NCDMV issues the certificate, and a plate agency or the mail gets your paperwork there. For a Graham sale, fill in the back of the title: the buyer and their address, the sale date, a damage statement, and an odometer reading when one is required by law. Your signature on it must be notarized. With no title in hand, the duplicate route is Form MVR-4. It needs a notary too, the current version lists $25.50, and a 15-day wait starts once NCDMV has it.

Keep the plates. In Graham, a plate with no other car to go on is mailed back or dropped at a license plate agency while the insurance still runs. Alamance is one of the 19 counties with emissions testing. An expired registration brings an NCDMV late charge that goes from $15 to $20 to $25 as time passes. That is one more reason a car sitting for years is often worth more sold than renewed.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or send the form. In Graham we load it behind a house or at a garage near Court Square. Burlington is 4.6 miles off, and Mebane is 6.5. For the state's rules, see North Carolina.