Selling a junk or dead car in Kent

Rules that reach any premises

Kent's property maintenance code (section 1410.04) is broad. Except where other city or state rules allow it, a car that is inoperative or unlicensed can't be kept, stored or even parked on any premises in Kent, and no vehicle may ever sit in major disassembly, in disrepair, or half stripped.

Two more sections set clocks:

• 72 hours, private land. Section 356.07 forbids storing a junk car, junk parts or an unlicensed collector's vehicle anywhere but inside a building once three days (72 hours) pass, permission from the landowner notwithstanding. Without permission, 356.06 sets the same 72-hour limit.
• 15 days, open lots. On an open lot, open parcel or unfenced business property, section 351.14 bars leaving an inoperative or unregistered car for 15 days or more. A building, garage, carport, or fenced storage yard in a business or industrial district is exempt.

A mailed notice, then a hearing

Kent does not tow a car off private land without warning. Under 356.09 the city, or the property owner if the car is there without consent, mails a notice by ordinary mail within five business days. It goes to the registered owner on BMV records and to the occupant or owner of the property, and it says the car will be impounded if it is not removed within ten days of the mailing. When nobody can be located after a real effort, the notice may instead go up on the car itself and stay there ten days or more.

The notice also sets a hearing before the Safety Director or a designee, more than 5 but no more than 17 days after mailing. That is the owner's chance to explain why the car should stay.

If a car is impounded and not released within five business days, a notice of impoundment goes out by ordinary mail with the release options and the right to contest. Section 356.11 then provides for a court hearing. After it, the police chief can authorize the tow operator to take title or dispose of the car, or it can be auctioned 30 days after the court order.

Streets, snow and tow rates

Section 351.13 limits a vehicle, or any part of one, to 24 consecutive hours on a public street, alley or right-of-way, and shifting it to another street does not count as moving it. Police may remove a car left past that limit, and a wreck that can't run safely, right away (356.02). A street with two inches of snow on it is a snow emergency street, and a car blocking snow removal can be towed immediately.

City-requested tows have capped rates under 137.11: $100 for a standard tow, $20 per 24 hours of outdoor storage, and $40 for a release when the tow business is closed. A towed car goes back only to its registered owner, who first picks up a Towed Vehicle Release Form at the police station. Police take non-emergency calls at 330-673-7732.

Ravenna title office and E-Check

Kent is in Portage County. Its Clerk of Courts title office at 449 S. Meridian St. in Ravenna is about 6.1 miles east of the middle of Kent, as the crow flies, phone (330) 297-3450. Any Ohio county's office can process the title, so Summit County's on Tallmadge Avenue in Akron, about 6.8 miles southwest, is an option too.

Portage is one of the seven E-Check counties. Every two years, a car that owes the test gets no registration until it brings back a pass, a repair waiver, or an exemption or extension. Since June 30, 2025, new cars skip testing for 6 years (7 for hybrids). If a failed test is what parked your car, see failed inspection.

Sign the title with a notary watching, and take your plates off when the car goes. A lost title can be replaced at any Ohio title office; junk car with no title explains how.

Getting an offer

Ask online or call (877) 421-6008. Tell us whether the car runs, where it sits, and whether it has a hearing date or a tow notice on it. Pickup is the same in Stow, Hudson and Akron.