Selling a junk or dead car in Zanesville

What the notice covers

The section reaches "any unlicensed vehicle which is nonoperating, wrecked, partially dismantled and/or abandoned," whoever owns it, so a tenant or a landlord answers for it even when the car is someone else's. It offers no longer definition than that. Missing the seven-day deadline is a minor misdemeanor.

The rule does not apply to:

• a vehicle kept inside an enclosed building
• commercial garages and repair shops
• used-car dealers
• junk yards operated according to law

Three codes, one office

Zanesville's Building and Code Enforcement office, 401 Market Street, Room 227, enforces the International Property Maintenance Code, the city's Codified Ordinances and the Zoning Code, all three. It is open Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed holidays; call 740-617-4890. The police department is at 332 South Street, 740-455-0700.

Street and abandoned-car limits

Section 351.13 caps parking on any city street at 72 consecutive hours. A first offense is a minor misdemeanor; repeat it within twelve months and it becomes fourth-degree, and after that, third-degree.

Section 303.09 is the abandonment rule. Its limits: more than 72 hours on land whose possessor never said yes, or two full days (48 hours) or longer on a street or highway right-of-way unless the chief knows the reason. The penalty is a minor misdemeanor, plus Zanesville's disposal costs. The towing section, 303.08, uses 48 consecutive hours for both places: more than 48 on private land, 48 or longer on a public way. It reaches wrecks too: a car damaged past the point of running can be hauled off a public street.

To redeem an impounded car under 303.08, show up at the police offices able to prove your identity and your right to the car. Any fines, or a court-ordered bond, come first; the pound operator's towing and storage bill comes after.

Muskingum County title office

The Muskingum County title office is at 22 N. Fifth Street, about 1.2 miles south, as the crow flies, of the point the Census uses as Zanesville's center. Call (740) 455-7103. Licking County's office at 877 East Main St in Newark, about 20.1 miles west, also processes Ohio titles.

The seller completes the title's assignment of ownership and has the signature notarized, and the plates leave with the seller, because the registration expires at the transfer under ORC 4503.12. When a car is headed for dismantling, Ohio law lets a salvage dealer who receives the assigned title mark it "FOR DESTRUCTION" and surrender it to the clerk. From then on, the statute says, no such vehicle "shall be used for anything except parts and scrap metal."

Getting an offer

Online or by phone at (877) 421-6008, we need the basics: make, model and year, the mileage on the dash, whether the engine catches, and whether its registration is current. Nearby: Newark, Lancaster, Athens. The Ohio page has the state rules.