Selling a junk or dead car in Kernersville

The two-car ceiling

The code caps it plainly: "No residential lot or property as defined by the Town's zoning ordinance may exceed two (2) junked motor vehicles not enclosed in a garage or building structure." Anything beyond that must be fully enclosed so it "cannot be seen from a public street or abutting property." Several junk cars covers clearing a yard at once.

Under Section 10-27, a junked motor vehicle is a car that "does not display a current license plate lawfully upon that vehicle" and meets one more condition. A car abandoned on a street is one left "for longer than seven (7) days" or parked against a parking rule. The code also defines an automobile graveyard: a business parcel holding more than two wrecked, dismantled or inoperable vehicles not being restored.

Zoning on your lot, police on the street

Section 10-28 splits the work. The Police Department handles abandoned, nuisance and junked cars "upon the public streets and highways within the Town" and on town property. "The Zoning Administrator shall be responsible for the regulation, removal and disposition of abandoned or junked motor vehicles located on private property."

Once a car "has been declared a junked motor vehicle and ordered removed by the Town," leaving it in place is unlawful.

Notice and the Board of Aldermen

Section 10-33 requires notice before a tow. For a junked car, Kernersville mails a first class letter to any owner it can locate. If a car is abandoned or its owner can't be traced, a notice goes on the windshield with a removal date "no sooner than seven (7) days after the notice is affixed."

Appeals go in writing to the Board of Aldermen, which takes them up at its next regular meeting.

Kernersville's Section 10-37 releases a towed car once you pay the tow and storage bill or post a bond for twice that sum. Section 10-41 forbids taking it off the storage lot first.

Title offices we checked

Two offices near Kernersville, with straight-line distances from downtown:

• Greensboro, 5533 W. Market St., about 11 miles east
• Rural Hall, 145 Bethania St., about 15 miles northwest

NCDMV also handles titles by mail. The seller signs the title's assignment in front of a notary and discloses known damage on Form MVR-181.

State law has its own label for a long-ignored car. Under G.S. 20-137.7, derelict covers a car past 12 years of age lacking a current license, a car stripped of major parts, and a car its owner disclaims.

Plates and inspections

The plate stays with you after the sale. With no other car to carry it, send it back to NCDMV, in person or by mail, while the insurance is still in force. Kernersville straddles Forsyth and Guilford, and both are emissions counties. That means a safety inspection plus an emissions test before renewal, a hard bar for a car that doesn't run.

Getting an offer

Kernersville sellers can get an offer at (877) 421-6008 or through the form. We can pick up from the carport, from behind the fence or from a shop. High Point, Winston-Salem and Greensboro have their own pages, and North Carolina has the state rules.