Selling a junk or dead car in Pittsburgh

What the city code says about tow trucks

Section 764.01 defines a tow business as one "engaged in, or offering the services of wrecker or towing services," and a tow truck, also called a wrecker, as a vehicle used "for the purpose of towing or removing disabled, abandoned or wrecked vehicles." The city licenses tow businesses. Companies that do only consensual tows may get a license too, "if the Tow Business elects to pay the fees," to show they meet the city's insurance, licensing and employee background-check rules.

A tow called in through an auto club for the driver or a passenger also counts as consensual. A tow the parking-lot owner orders does not. If your car went that way, towed or impounded covers getting it back.

Junk-car rules: state law fills the gap

We did not find a Pittsburgh section on dead cars kept on private land, so the clocks below are Pennsylvania's. Pittsburgh is free to add stricter local rules, and any it has would also bind you.

• Two days at the curb. The law presumes abandonment once a car that cannot run is left unattended on a street or other public land for over 48 hours. That is only a presumption, and an owner can argue against it.
• One day on private land. A landowner whose lot holds a car parked without permission for over a day can have it hauled off, but first files a report with the local police, who then have five business days to treat it as abandoned.
• A month to get it back. In Pittsburgh, the owner and lienholders have 30 days from the day the notice is mailed to settle towing and storage and claim the car. Once 30 days pass after the certified letter, or after publication, PennDOT can authorize disposal.

If a stranger's car is the one stuck on your lot, see car abandoned on your property.

Salvage or nonrepairable

Pennsylvania has two words for a car at the end. A "salvage vehicle" is inoperable or cannot meet equipment and inspection standards "to the extent that the cost of repairs would exceed the value of the repaired vehicle." No percentage test applies. A "nonrepairable vehicle" only has value as parts or scrap. Nobody can rebuild it, and it can never be titled again.

If your car meets the salvage test, the law expects whoever owns it, holds it or passes it on to apply for a certificate of salvage. Flood cars get their own brand on that certificate or on the title. Salvage title explains what each brand means when you sell.

Selling through a PennDOT agent

Nobody in Pittsburgh goes to a county building for a title. Pennsylvania runs titles from the state, and the counter you visit belongs to a PennDOT agent such as a tag service, a dealer or a notary. You put your signature in the seller's section, write your name in print and record the miles, all in the agent's sight, and the buyer adds theirs. A co-owned car needs every listed owner. For PennDOT, a Pittsburgh sale is done once Section A from the seller and Section D from the buyer are both signed before a notary. The new owner then has a 20-day window to title it.

Selling a Pittsburgh car to a scrap metal processor or a salvage dealer skips the notary. A processor sends the title back to PennDOT marked nonrepairable. Replacing a missing title runs $72.00 through Form MV-38O.

The plate stays with you

Unscrew the plate before the car leaves. PennDOT's Return Tag Unit takes it back, or $11.00 shifts it onto whatever you drive next. There is no separate seller's release form in PennDOT's instructions, which makes the plate the loose end people leave. After you sell has the rest.

Inspection in Allegheny County

Allegheny County is in PennDOT's Pittsburgh emissions region, with Beaver, Washington and Westmoreland. A car driven here needs the annual safety inspection and an emissions test. State law also gives a buyer a ten-day grace to drive a just-purchased car before it needs a current certificate.

Nearby towns

As the crow flies, Baldwin is 4.4 miles away, Mount Lebanon 5.8, Penn Hills 8.1, Bethel Park 8.6 and Monroeville 11.3. For the whole state, open the Pennsylvania page.

Getting an offer

Reach us online or at (877) 421-6008. Send the form for your Pittsburgh car. Our truck handles steep driveways, rowhouse curbs, and garages that quit on a repair.