Selling a junk or dead car in Hamilton

Selling it is the other way out. We buy whole non-running and junk cars, so you can sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US, Hamilton included.

Junk, or just non-operating

Hamilton's newer rule, 1931.22, covers two kinds of car.

• Junk vehicle: extensively damaged, for example "missing wheels, tires, motor, or transmission," apparently inoperable, and kept out of doors on private land beyond 72 hours.
• Non-operating vehicle: any car without current, valid state plates, or any car partly taken apart. If it has not moved in thirty days, the code presumes it cannot move under its own power.

The second group catches cars that look fine. An unplated car parked beside the house qualifies.

The 72-hour notice

The City Manager or a designee puts the warning in writing and sends it certified with a return receipt, by commercial carrier, or by personal service. It can go to the registered owner, to the owner or occupant of the property, or to both. From then on there are 72 hours to move the car to lawful storage or put it in a building where nobody can see it from the street or alley.

The person who got the notice may still move or house the car, paying for it themselves, up until the city arrives. If not, the City Manager can have it removed and disposed of. Under the older police-chief section, 355.04, every further stretch of more than 72 hours counts as a separate offense.

Resident Services, which includes Code Compliance and the Quick Strike Team, answers at (513) 785-7222. Residents can also flag non-emergency problems straight to the city employees responsible, through the MyHamilton (311) app.

Cars on streets and on other people's land

• Public streets: Section 355.05 lets the Chief of Police order into storage a car left 24 hours or longer without word to the Chief about why. Once a certified letter is mailed, the clock is ten days; an unclaimed car then becomes a nuisance, and the city disposes of it.
• Someone else's property: on a complaint, Section 355.03 lets the police chief order a car into storage when it has sat four hours on private land without permission. You get the car back by paying the removal and storage charges and showing proof of ownership.
• Abandoning a junk car on purpose is a minor misdemeanor under Section 355.02, and the city adds what it cost to get rid of the car.

Getting an impounded car back (Section 303.08) begins with a visit to the police offices, where you establish identity and ownership. Hand the pound operator the release form, settle the towing and storage charges, and the car is released. Non-emergency dispatch is 513-785-1300.

Butler County titles and your plates

Ohio routes every title through a county Clerk of Courts title office rather than the BMV. Butler County's nearest is on the fifth floor at 315 High St., about 0.5 miles northeast of the center of Hamilton as the crow flies; call (513) 887-3092. A second office at 744 NW Washington Blvd. is about 2.7 miles northwest, at (513) 887-3090. Farther out are the county's office in Fairfield Center, Suite H at 530 Wessel Dr., about 4.1 miles south, and the office at 4872 Union Centre Pavillion Dr. in Westchester, about 6.8 miles southeast.

Ohio makes the seller sign the title before a notary. The plates are yours, not the buyer's. Once sold, the car's Ohio registration is void, so take the plates off before it leaves.

Getting an offer

Send us the basics online, or call (877) 421-6008: what the car is, about how many miles, does it start, and do you have the title. Pickup happens wherever the car sits. Fairfield, Middletown and Oxford are nearby, and Cincinnati is the metro's largest city.