Selling a broken-down car in Portland, Oregon

The seven-day rule, word for word

Section 29.20.010 of Portland City Code lists what every property owner must keep up outdoors. One line covers cars. It tells owners to "neither store nor permit the storing of a disabled vehicle for more than seven days unless the vehicle is enclosed within a legally permitted building or unless it is stored by a licensed business enterprise dealing in junked vehicles lawfully conducted within the City."

Three things follow from that sentence:

• The clock is seven days. That is short. A car that broke down on a Sunday is over the limit by the next Monday.
• Covering it is not the same as enclosing it. The exception is for a "legally permitted building." A tarp does not turn a driveway into one.
• Licensed junk businesses are exempt. Moving the car to one ends the problem, and so does selling it.

The same section also tells owners to remove "any condition that provides a place where rats gain shelter, feed, or breed." If the city has already left a notice, our notice to remove a car guide covers what comes next.

Street parking and state law

A broken car moved to the curb is still a problem. Abandoning a vehicle in Portland is an offense under Oregon law, whether on a highway or public or private land. Towing and disposal costs fall on the owner in DMV records. Unclaimed after 30 days, a towed car is auctioned or dealt with under local ordinance. Once a notice has been on a car for at least 72 hours, a Portland private lot owner may have it towed.

DEQ testing in the Portland area

Portland is one of the two areas of Oregon where DEQ tests cars. In the Portland metro area, registered passenger vehicles that aren't exempt get tested every two years. Portland cars from 1996 and later are tested by plugging into the OBD port, while 1995 and earlier cars get a tailpipe test. A car that cannot start cannot get tested, and one that fails may not be worth fixing. See failed emissions. DEQ's boundary lookup confirms whether an address is inside the testing area.

If you were planning to strip it

Taking a registered car apart in a Portland driveway runs into two clocks. Under ORS 819.010, DMV must hear from you 7 days before you take it apart. Portland gives you 30 days to finish when the work shows from a public right of way. Add the city's seven-day limit on a disabled vehicle, and parting out at home gets hard fast. Once a car is taken apart, you return its Oregon title to DMV.

Three DMV offices we checked

In Oregon the state DMV, a division of ODOT, issues titles; counties do not. We checked three offices that serve Portland; there may be others. All three list 503-299-9999. Distances are straight-line from the middle of the city:

DMV also takes title paperwork by mail at its Salem address.

Signing over a Portland car

1. In Portland, put your signature and the date on a bill of sale or on the title's reverse side. DMV's steps for sellers don't call for a notary.
2. Any lender with a loan on it signs a release of its interest.
3. Selling a Portland car from 2011 or later that is younger than 20 years? You and the buyer each sign an odometer disclosure.
4. Report the Portland sale in DMV2U inside 10 days, giving the buyer and their address. Once a Portland sale is reported and the title handed over, the buyer's driving, parking or abandoning is no longer the seller's problem.

If the title is missing, get a replacement before anything else. A wrecker's bill of sale can't stand in for it at DMV. The fee is the regular title fee, from $101 to $116 for most cars, or $192 for an all-electric one.

Feel free to pull the plates before you sell. You can only put them on a car you also own. Moving them to another person's car ends the rest of the registration on both. After you sell has the rest.

Neighboring towns

Milwaukie is 6.5 miles away, Lake Oswego 8.9, Beaverton 9.1, Happy Valley 9.9, Tigard 10.2 and Gresham 10.4, all straight-line. The Oregon page covers the whole state.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or send the form with a few basics. That means year, make, model, the miles it shows, if it runs, and who holds the title. We can load it from an Irvington driveway, a curb on the other side of the river, or the lot of the shop that priced the repair.