How to sell a junk car in Marion

The three-of-five test

Under 660.07(A), a car is a junk motor vehicle when at least three of these are true:

1. It is five years old or older.
2. It is partially dismantled. The code's examples run from the drivetrain (no engine, no battery, no transmission) to the body (a door, fender or hood gone), plus a car on blocks or without wheels, flat or absent tires, and broken or missing glass.
3. It is inoperable, which the code defines as unable to move on its own power. Fourteen days without moving creates the presumption.
4. It would bring less than $1,500 at fair market value.
5. It has no license, an improper one, or no valid plate on display.

A ten-year-old car with lapsed tags that has not moved in two weeks already meets three.

Ten days after the notice

A police officer or a designee of the Safety/Service Director serves written notice on both the property owner and the car's owner, by hand or by certified mail. If no receipt comes back within 20 days, or the letter returns unclaimed, the city can publish the notice once in a daily newspaper or post it on the property and on the car itself.

From receipt, the car has ten days to go. Moving it to another spot in the city where it still violates the section is not compliance. An appeal goes in writing to the Safety/Service Director within five days, weekends and holidays excluded, and it is limited to two points: your link to the property or the car, and whether the car meets the junk definition at all.

Convictions escalate. A first one under 660.07 counts as a minor misdemeanor; a second rises to fourth degree; the third, and every later one, sits at third degree. Every 30 days the car is still there after the notice adds a separate offense. A fully enclosed building, where zoning permits one, is the lawful place to keep such a car.

Plates on a residential lot

Section 660.07(E) runs its own clock. In a Residential District, a vehicle without a current Ohio plate registered to it may not be kept outside a building for more than 15 days, counted consecutively or added up. That rule does not care how old the car is or whether it runs.

Street parking and curbside repairs

Marion's traffic code caps a parked car at 72 consecutive hours on city streets, and an officer can have a car in violation moved to the nearest garage or place of safety. The same code forbids treating a roadway as a sales lot or a service bay: no stopping there chiefly to display a vehicle for sale, or to wash, grease or repair it, unless the repair is an emergency. The Marion Police business line is (740) 387-2525, ext. 6. Emergencies go to 911.

Why parting it out is harder here

Marion's sanitation policies turn away large auto parts, auto bodies, batteries, engine parts and tires. Strip a dead car and the city's trash trucks won't take the leftovers. Part out or sell whole compares the two routes.

The title office on West Center Street

The street in this page's photo is West Center Street, and Marion County's title office is on it, at 222 W. Center Street. That puts it about 0.7 miles southwest of Marion's Census center point, measured as the crow flies. Call (740) 223-4080. The Delaware County office, about 18.7 miles south, also handles Ohio titles.

The seller's half of the paperwork is the assignment section on the title's reverse, and Ohio's BMV wants that signature notarized. Keep the plates. Ohio's plate statute, ORC 4503.12, cancels the registration at the moment of sale and puts the job of removing them on the original owner, right away. The buyer, for their part, must file for a new title inside 30 days.

Getting an offer

An offer starts with four facts: year, make, model and odometer reading. Add whether it runs and which of the five traits fit, and send it online or say it at (877) 421-6008. If a notice has arrived, keep its date handy, since the ten days run from receipt. Nearby: Delaware, Marysville, Mansfield. Statewide rules are on the Ohio page.