Selling a junk car in Cranston

Replacing a lost title

Start the request early, before the car turns into a problem. Under the statute, the DMV issues a duplicate once you supply satisfactory information and pay $50.00. Its posted fee table says $53.50, so bring that amount. The replacement is stamped with a legend warning that rights under the original certificate may still apply.

Cars from before the 2001 model year follow another path. Rhode Island issues them no title at all until the car is sold or a lender takes a security interest. Both situations are covered in selling with no title.

Junk-car rules from Rhode Island statute

Searching online, we found no Cranston junk-car ordinance. What follows is state law, and Cranston could layer local requirements on top that we did not see.

Rhode Island sorts dead cars two ways:

• Abandoned: won't run, older than eight years, and left alone on public land over 48 hours. An illegally parked car on public property, or one on private land with no permission, qualifies after three days.
• Abandoned and of no value: cannot run, past ten years of age, unregistered, worth $500 or less, and missing a valid inspection sticker.

Police may take either kind into custody, from public or private property, once a vehicle survey report is done.

If someone else owns the dead car

Property owners have their own tool. Ask the local police department for authority to sell or hand the car to a demolisher. The request is sworn and states the year, make, model, serial number and the facts of how the car was left. When the notice period is over, police give out a certificate of authority, and a demolisher accepts it in place of a registration. Car abandoned on your property has more.

Office and plates

Titles are issued by the state, not Providence County. One DMV office we checked, at 2000 Diamond Hill Road in Woonsocket, (401) 356-4031, sits about 17 miles north in a straight line.

You keep the plates when the car leaves. You can cancel the registration online. Or leave the Affidavit for Cancellation of Registration, plus ID or a registration copy, in a branch drop box. The plates stay with you.

Getting an offer

Use the form or dial (877) 421-6008. Fill out the offer form for your Cranston car, and we take it from there. Pickup is free anywhere in the US, so a Cranston backyard works, and so do Johnston, Providence and Warwick. The Rhode Island page covers the state rules.