Selling a dead or junk car in Scranton

What state law says about a stranded car

The Vehicle Code's definition is short. The law presumes a vehicle abandoned if it is "physically inoperable and left unattended on a highway or other public property for more than 48 hours." That presumption can be rebutted, meaning an owner may prove the car was not abandoned. Still, 48 hours on a public street is the point at which the presumption applies.

Private land runs on a different clock. A landowner who finds your car there without permission for more than 24 hours can report it to local police and then authorize a tow, with police finishing the abandoned-vehicle paperwork inside five business days. In a city of 75,514 people packed into 25.308 square miles, that happens more often than you might think: in shared lots, behind apartment blocks, and outside a shop that closed with the car still in it.

If the car was towed

After an abandoned car is removed, notice goes out by certified mail. The owner and any lienholder may reclaim it "within 30 days" by paying towing and storage. PennDOT lets an unclaimed Scranton car be disposed of 30 days after the certified-mail notice. If the mail didn't reach the owner, the clock runs 30 days from publication. Storage keeps adding up during that month, so selling the car before it is towed usually leaves you with fewer bills. If it has already been towed, see towed or impounded.

Salvage, nonrepairable and plain junk

Pennsylvania uses two terms that decide what paperwork a wreck will carry later:

• Salvage vehicle. One that is "inoperable or unable to 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. Anyone who owns, possesses or transfers a car that qualifies must apply for a certificate of salvage.
• Nonrepairable vehicle. Unsafe to operate and worth nothing beyond its parts or scrap metal. Pennsylvania will not let it be rebuilt or retitled, and no certificate is ever issued for it again.

A seller does not need to sort that out first. When the title goes to a vehicle salvage dealer, that dealer sends it to PennDOT marked nonrepairable or with a certificate of salvage application. A scrap metal processor files it with a nonrepairable mark.

The title in Lackawanna County

There is no county title office in Lackawanna County. Pennsylvania titles come from the state, and you complete them at a notary, tag service or dealer that PennDOT has authorized as an agent. In a private sale the seller fills in Section A in that agent's presence, signing, printing a name and entering the odometer figure, while the buyer completes Section D. Both sections signed and notarized means the car has changed hands. Every person listed as owner must sign. After the title is assigned, the buyer has 20 days to apply for a new one.

Scranton sellers skip the notary when a salvage dealer or scrap processor buys the car. A missing title leaves two paths: order a duplicate on Form MV-38O ($72.00), or, for a car that qualifies as salvage, hand it to a salvor that follows the statute even with the title faulty, lost or destroyed. Junk car with no title walks through both.

Plates, registration and inspection

Keep the plate when the car goes. In Scranton, the plate is mailed to PennDOT's Return Tag Unit, or moved for $11.00 onto another car you own. PennDOT has no release-of-liability form, so handing back the plate is the step that counts.

A Pennsylvania registration expires when the month on the card ends, so a Scranton car sitting out a long winter can quietly lose it. Publication 763 puts Lackawanna in the Northern emissions region and labels that region pending certification. The annual safety inspection applies everywhere in the state. An expired sticker is often what makes owners decide to stop paying for repairs; see failed inspection or rust.

Getting an offer

Phone (877) 421-6008 or use the form. Scranton sellers can start with the offer form. We can load it on a steep side street, from a downtown lot, or at a garage in Wilkes-Barre. Statewide steps are on the Pennsylvania page.