Selling your junk car in Cedar City

Abandoned cars: Utah's rules, since the city code wasn't online

Our search found no Cedar City ordinance online, so this section leans on state law. Cedar City could still set its own limits on dead or unregistered cars, layered over the state's.

Utah's statute calls a vehicle abandoned if it is "left unattended on a highway for a period in excess of 48 hours," or on property "for a period in excess of seven days without express or implied consent of the owner or person in control of the property." Doing either is an infraction. An officer with reasonable grounds can order it moved.

Towing raises a separate deadline. After a Cedar City impound, if nobody claims a car eight model years old or older within 30 days of the first notice, Utah gives the tow operator a certificate of sale. The age is counted on the impound date from the model year in the VIN. Towed or impounded explains the choices.

Wrecks, floods and branded titles

Many Cedar City dead cars started as crash cars. Utah's salvage label applies when collision, flood or some other event pushes safe repair above fair market value, or when an insurer or another state already declared it salvage. Once repaired, a Cedar City car carries one of three title brands: "rebuilt and restored to operation," "in a flood and restored to operation," or "not restored to operation."

Does your car have a branded title or a salvage certificate? The law has you warn the buyer in writing first, and any ad must say so too. A car good only for parts or scrap is called nonrepairable. Read salvage title for the long version.

The Cedar City title office

Utah titles come from the Motor Vehicle Division of the State Tax Commission. Its office list includes a Cedar City branch at 82 North 100 East #103, phone 435-865-5360. Our straight-line measurement, as the crow flies, came out near 25 miles west of town center, so confirm the location on the Utah DMV site before driving.

Iron County sale checklist

• Sign the title; Utah wants no notary on it.
• Hand it over within 48 hours, registration included.
• Fill in TC-891 for mileage, skipped only on cars twenty or more years old.
• TC-843 is Utah's bill-of-sale form, handy proof the transfer happened.
• Lost the title? Six dollars and Form TC-123 brings a duplicate, or part two of that form transfers the car with no duplicate at all.

Keep the plate unless the buyer pays for it. Citations piling up under a plate you left on can be pinned on you. Finish with a sold report: MVP online, TC-502 in the mail, or a phone call to 1-800-DMV-UTAH.

Far from the next town

Cedar City's neighbors with pages sit well away: Hurricane 39.7 miles in a straight line, Washington 44.1, St. George 49.6. The next one after those, Payson, is 178.1 miles off. Statewide details are on the Utah page.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or go online, even if your Cedar City car has a branded title. Being a long way from Salt Lake changes nothing for pickup; it comes to the Cedar City address you give.