Charleston's abandonment rules and selling a dead car

Charleston's four abandonment tests

Section 14-31 lists four ways a vehicle becomes abandoned. Any one is enough:

1. No plate and not working. No current license plate, plus wrecked, partly dismantled, or unable to move "in the manner for which it was originally intended." No time limit.
2. A day on someone else's land. Left on private property "without the consent of the owner, occupant or lessee thereof for a period of time exceeding twenty-four (24) consecutive hours."
3. Seven days on a street or in a garage. Left on any public street or highway, or in any city parking garage, "for a period of time greater than seven (7) consecutive days."
4. A day on other city property. Anywhere else the city owns or runs, the limit is "twenty-four (24) consecutive hours."

The first test is about the car, not the place. A wrecked Charleston car with an expired plate, parked in its owner's own yard, meets it. The second and fourth turn on consent and ownership, so they mostly catch cars left on a landlord's lot, a friend's driveway, or city land. The third catches the car parked on a city street or in a city garage and forgotten.

Vacant property: weekly removal

Owners of empty buildings face a stricter rule. Section 21-54 says "there shall be no inoperable equipment or vehicles" stored in any yard of a vacant property unless they are being used for renovation or construction there. It then requires that "inoperable vehicles and auto parts shall be removed on a weekly basis." If you inherited a house with a dead car behind it and nobody lives there now, that section reaches the car. Inherited car covers the paperwork side.

Towed in Charleston

Section 19-231 lets a police officer or other authorized person remove and impound any unoccupied, unattended vehicle found breaking the motor vehicle chapter. It "shall be surrendered to the duly identified owner thereof only upon payment of cost of impounding." Carry identification and something showing ownership. If paying that bill makes no sense for a car this tired, read towed or impounded.

State law covers what follows. Once a Charleston car is towed, the wrecker and the storage lot each send registered or certified mail, receipt requested, to its last registered owner and every lien holder. Officers can also stick a colored tag on an unattended car, which warns that it may be handled as derelict or abandoned. If no one claims it, a public auction can follow; the winning bidder receives a magistrate's order of sale and a title clear of liens.

Totaled, salvaged, or too old for paperwork

Some Charleston cars reach the end after an insurer has finished with them. If an insurer takes a car after a fire, flood, crash or other loss, or pays it as a total loss and lets you keep it, the insurer mails the SCDMV the title plus a damage report. In South Carolina, a car is salvage when repairs would run at least 75% of fair market value. That section leaves out antiques and cars worth $2,000 or less. Salvage title explains more.

At the other end is the car with no usable title at all. Twelve model years is the line in Charleston. Past that, with no valid plate and no engine or no way to run, the car can go untitled to a demolisher or secondary metals recycler. The seller signs an affirming form, and the buyer keeps it. This applies to a car you own whose title is lost, destroyed or faulty, and to one someone dumped on your land. Scrapping or dismantling a titled car any other way means delivering its title and plates to the SCDMV.

Selling: title, plate, and the SCDMV

Charleston straddles Berkeley and Charleston counties, but the title comes from the state either way. The title's first assignment block wants these: buyer and buyer's address, lienholder if any, mileage, price, sale date, two signatures. Titles printed without a price line need a bill of sale riding along.

Next comes Form 416. That is the Notice of Vehicle Sold, and the SCDMV accepts it by post or in a branch. The plate belongs to you, not the buyer. Transfer it to a vehicle you still own, or return it using Form 452 together with Form 416, and end the liability insurance on the sold car. Replacing a lost title costs $15, and paying another $20 gets you optional same-day service at a branch counter. Where a lien is on record, the SCDMV mails that duplicate to the lender; lien still on the title covers the fix.

Around Charleston

Mount Pleasant lies 6.4 straight-line miles from Charleston, with Hanahan at 7.3 and North Charleston at 8.2. Goose Creek is 11.7 miles out. The South Carolina page has the statewide rules.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or ask online. Describe the car by model year and maker, give the mileage, tell us if it cranks, and mention any lien still on the title. You sell the whole car as it sits, with free pickup anywhere in the US. The truck can collect it from a narrow downtown street, from the yard behind an empty house, or from the impound lot.