Selling a dead or junk car in Forest Grove

Junk under Section 91.012

The rule itself is one line: "No person shall keep junk outdoors on a street, lot, or premises or in a building that is not wholly or entirely enclosed except for doors used for ingress and egress." An open-sided shed does not count as enclosed. The list that follows covers "motor vehicles, motor vehicle parts, abandoned automobiles." Junk "kept in a licensed junkyard or automobile wrecking house" is exempt.

The discarded-vehicle notice

Section 74.29 sets out what happens when an Enforcement Officer "has cause to believe a discarded vehicle on private property exists." Forest Grove sends written notice to whoever owns the land, and also to the car's owner when that is someone else, either in person or by certified mail. It spells out the ways out:

• the car "must be removed from the property and either brought to a lawfully conducted business enterprise dealing in junked vehicles or kept completely enclosed within a building"
• or you file a written petition with the Municipal Court "within ten days of the date of the notice" and ask for a hearing, setting out the facts
• otherwise Forest Grove may haul the car off itself, bill the removal "against the property," and write a citation as well

If the letter is already on your counter, our page on a notice to remove a car lays out the choices.

Street rules: 24 hours, 72 hours, three tickets

Section 74.01 treats a Forest Grove car as abandoned after it has sat "in or within 500 feet of the same location in excess of 24 hours" while looking inoperative, wrecked or junked, lacking a current plate or trip permit, or seemingly left behind. Moving it down the block does not restart the clock.

Section 73.003 adds two limits for any car on a public street or public property: no parking for "more than 72 consecutive hours" without written permission, and no parking with plates or stickers "expired by 30 days or more."

Tickets bring their own trouble. Under Section 73.055, a car with "three or more unpaid parking citations" and a Municipal Court order can be booted. If fines stay unpaid or nobody contacts the city within 24 hours, a pre-tow notice goes on the car, and then it can be impounded "at the owner's expense." Section 74.35 lets an owner redeem an impounded car by applying to the city before it is sold.

The DMV office we checked

Titles go through the state DMV, not Washington County. The office we checked for Forest Grove is Hillsboro's, at 1300 SW Oak St, Suite H, about 5 miles straight east of central Forest Grove. Its number is 503-299-9999.

Oregon title and plate rules

A Forest Grove seller signs and dates a bill of sale or the back of the title, and any lender from an old loan signs its release. Odometer statements cover model years 2011 onward that are younger than 20, with both signatures. The Oregon DMV seller steps list no notary.

No title in hand? Replace it before you sell, on Form 735-515; the regular title fee applies, starting at $101. Then use DMV2U inside 10 days to record the sale, typing in your buyer's name and street address. The plates are yours to remove. Put them on a car someone else owns, and the registration left on both cars ends.

Getting an offer

Selling a car in Forest Grove? Call (877) 421-6008 or fill in our online form. Pickup works on a farm property outside town, in a driveway, or wherever the notice found the car. Nearby: Hillsboro, Beaverton and Newberg, or Oregon for state rules.