Selling a junk car in Williamsport

The junk-vehicle test

Section 1311.49 applies only to a motor vehicle or trailer "located outside of an enclosed building," so the definition skips anything parked inside a closed garage. Licensed antique cars that do not need an inspection sticker are carved out of the sticker condition. The broader definition of "junk" in Section 1311.48 includes "motor vehicle parts," so a pile of pulled parts next to the car counts as junk too.

The city's nuisance chapter goes further. Section 717.01 lists "the storage and accumulation of abandoned or junked motor vehicles or motor vehicles not used or licensed" as a nuisance. A car that is unused and unlicensed can be a problem under that chapter even if the zoning test has not been met.

Junkyards and the six-car line

The zoning use table, Section 1333.05, deals with scrap processing, auto wrecking and junkyards as a regulated use. Under that entry, "Overnight outdoor storage of 'junk' shall be prohibited within view of a public street or an adjacent dwelling," and "A maximum of 6 junk vehicles shall be parked outside of an enclosed building unless screened from view by evergreen plants."

Impounded cars

The Chief of Police or a designee keeps a record of every towed or impounded car under Section 525.11, so the department can always say which storage facility holds yours. Section 525.16 sets the deadline: if the owner fails "within 30 days after the mailing of the notices" to redeem the car, the city may collect the towing and storage money before the District Justice of the Peace. Money left over after a sale goes to the owner. If the car meets the state definition of abandoned, the excess goes to PennDOT instead. See towed or impounded if you are already dealing with this.

Snow emergencies

Snow emergencies are declared by the Mayor or a designee when snow on the streets "causes or will cause a condition of serious traffic congestion." The emergency routes, including Poplar Street from West Third to West Fourth, stay closed to parking "for 24 hours after the snow stops or the end of the time of the declared snow emergency, whichever is longer." In the Central Business District, bounded on the north by Little League Boulevard and on the east by Mulberry Street, the ban runs one day past the end of the snowfall or the emergency. A car with a dead engine sits through all of it.

Lycoming County title and plates

Lycoming County has no title office to visit. The state issues Pennsylvania titles, and Williamsport sellers finish the job at a notary, tag service or dealer authorized by PennDOT. In front of that agent, sign, add your printed name and fill in the odometer; on a jointly owned title, each owner signs. Williamsport title assignments are "sworn to before a notary public or other officer empowered to administer oaths," per the statute. A salvage dealer or scrap processor buyer is the exception.

Leave the car, keep the plate. Williamsport plates get mailed back to the Return Tag Unit or switched to another car for $11.00. Registrations lapse at the close of the month printed on your card.

Publication 763 lists Lycoming among the Northern emissions counties, a region it calls pending certification. A missing title calls for Form MV-38O and $72.00. Salvage cars with lost titles have a second path to a salvor under the Vehicle Code; junk car with no title explains both.

Getting an offer

For a car in Williamsport, call (877) 421-6008 or send the form. We can load it at a curb past the business district, in a back lot off Park Avenue, or from a driveway on the road to State College. Statewide steps are on Pennsylvania.