Selling a junk car in Bethlehem

The local ordinance online is the township's

We looked for Bethlehem's own junk-vehicle rules. The ordinance that came up belongs to Bethlehem Township, a separate municipality with its own police department, not the City of Bethlehem. The city may have its own rules. The township's version still shows how towing works under Pennsylvania's Motor Vehicle Code:

• Only a towing and storage garage "approved by the Board of Commissioners" may do the work.
• Abandoned cars go "only to a salvor authorized by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation."
• A tow is called off if the owner is there, "expresses a willingness and intention to remove the vehicle immediately," and does it.

Pennsylvania's clocks for a dead car

In the absence of a city rule, state law sets these limits:

• 48 hours on public ground. State law presumes an inoperable, unattended car on a highway or public land is abandoned once two days pass. That presumption can be rebutted.
• 24 hours on someone else's lot. A landowner whose lot has held an unwanted car for over a day may report it to local police and authorize removal. Police then get five business days.
• 30 days to reclaim. Mailing of the notice starts a 30-day window for the owner or a lienholder to settle towing and storage and take the car back. Once it closes, PennDOT can approve disposal.

If you are the one stuck with someone else's car, see car abandoned on your property.

Title and plates

Neither Lehigh nor Northampton runs a title office, since Pennsylvania has no county title offices at all. Bethlehem title transfers happen in person at a notary, tag shop or dealer that PennDOT has approved. With the Bethlehem agent watching, you add your signature, your printed name and the mileage. Each co-owner signs too. Selling a Bethlehem car to a scrapyard or salvage dealer means you can leave the notary out. Without the title, start with a duplicate: Form MV-38O, $72.00.

You keep the plate. It does not go with the car. PennDOT will take it back, or it can go on another vehicle for an $11.00 fee. PennDOT's selling page names no seller notice or release form. The Pennsylvania page has more.

Nearby

Measured as the crow flies, Allentown is 6.2 miles from Bethlehem and Easton is 8.8. Pottstown is 29.8.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or fill in the form. Include the model year and brand, the miles, if it runs, and the title situation. Free pickup anywhere in the US means the tow truck comes to a side street, a rented garage, or a driveway on either side of the county line.