Selling a dead or junk car in Wooster

How a Wooster snow emergency works

• The trigger. Snow three inches deep or more within 12 hours, across the city or in one section of it.
• The streets. The Director of Administration can ban parking on the streets listed in 351.14(b). The list opens with Akron Road, Beall Avenue and Bever Street.
• The warning. The ban kicks in an hour or more after the city first tells the news media. That announcement counts as notice to everyone, and drivers are expected to keep an eye on the weather themselves.
• The end. It runs until the Director of Administration says plowing is complete.
• The penalty. The traffic code's parking fines and impounding rules apply.

Stops on those streets during an emergency are short: 3 minutes to load or unload passengers, 30 minutes for property.

Abandoned cars and towing

Section 303.09 covers abandonment. Leaving a car past the 72-hour mark on private property whose possessor hasn't agreed is unlawful, and so is parking it 48 hours or more beside a public road, or anywhere in its right-of-way, with the police chief left uninformed. Staying that long is prima facie evidence it was abandoned. Conviction means a minor misdemeanor, and Wooster also bills its disposal costs, minus anything it recovers from the car.

Section 303.08, which governs towing, swaps the two numbers: private land qualifies once 48 straight hours have passed, and a public way at 72 hours or more. It separately allows police to tow a wrecked or damaged car that can't run off any public street.

Once police haul a car off public property, 303.083 sets two clocks. Police get five business days to identify the owner and any lienholder, who then receive a certified letter; the car has to be claimed within ten days of that letter, or it is declared a nuisance. Getting it back costs the removal and storage charges, and you'll need a title, registration or lease to prove it's yours. Your belongings inside cost nothing to collect, apart from a possible after-hours charge.

Code enforcement contacts

The sections above deal with abandoned and towed cars. Wooster's Building Standards Division lists two code enforcement inspectors: the Property Maintenance Inspector at (330) 263-5237, and the Property Maintenance and Zoning Code Inspector at (330) 263-5200, ext. 362.

Wayne County paperwork

Wayne County runs two title offices. One is at 200 Vanover Street, Suite 2, in Wooster, about 1.8 miles southwest of the city's midpoint as the crow flies, (330) 287-5471. The other is at 207 North Main Street in Orrville, about 8.9 miles east, (330) 682-8932.

Ohio wants the seller's signature on the title's assignment of ownership notarized, so the title goes to a notary before it goes to the buyer. Then the plates come off. ORC 4503.12 makes the registration lapse at the transfer and puts plate removal on the original owner, immediately.

Getting an offer

Reach us at (877) 421-6008 or online. We'll want the car's make, model and year, its mileage, whether the engine starts, and where it sits today. If that's a street on the snow list, say so. Nearby: Wadsworth, Massillon, Medina. For state rules, see Ohio.