Selling a junk car in North Salt Lake

Two sections, one seven-day clock

Section 4-2-4 is called the "Abandoned, Wrecked, Dismantled Or Inoperative Motor Vehicle Ordinance." It covers any car "in an abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, inoperative, rusted, junked or partially dismantled condition." Its definitions add one more test. A car counts if it lacks "both an unexpired license plate or plates and a current motor vehicle safety inspection certificate" and is in one of those conditions.

Section 10-1-37, the property-maintenance rule, repeats the seven days. It calls it "a public nuisance" for an owner or tenant to let such a car or car part remain "in excess of seven (7) days," unless it is in an enclosed garage or behind an opaque screen.

How the city decides a car is abandoned

Section 10-1-37 lists what the city considers: "the amount of time the motor vehicle has been resting in the same place, the state of the motor vehicle's mechanical condition," the registration details, and "information provided by surrounding property owners." In other words, a neighbor's report counts.

Asking for more time

A permit is possible. Under 10-1-37, the community and economic development director can grant an exception if the owner applies in writing. The application includes a description of the car's condition, "i.e., that the motor vehicle is unregistered, inoperative, dismantled, wrecked or abandoned."

Streets are off limits

Under Section 6-2-7, "inoperable vehicles or trailers shall not be parked, placed, stored, abandoned, or otherwise left on any public street, alley, sidewalk, park strip, curb, or right-of-way at any time." During a snow event, no vehicle may sit on the paved street until plowing is finished from edge to edge. And "no person may recover any impounded vehicle without first paying the cost of impound and storage." See towed or impounded.

Title office and Utah paperwork

From central North Salt Lake, the Davis County counter we checked (969 W Clark Lane, Farmington; 801-297-7780) lies roughly 9 miles north as the crow flies. Other county offices may exist.

An insurance total brings in Utah's salvage law, which uses a 100 percent test. If putting the car back in safe running shape would cost more than it's worth on the market, it's a salvage vehicle. A car an insurer or another state already labeled salvage counts too. If the title is branded, or the car carries a salvage certificate, the buyer must hear about it from you in writing first. Salvage title explains the brands.

Ordinary sales are simpler. No notary on the title, plates back to you unless they're part of the deal, and a sold report to the DMV. After you sell lists the steps.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or go online to sell your North Salt Lake car. We load it off the street, from a fenced pad, the garage or the driveway. Close by: Bountiful, Salt Lake City and Farmington. The state page is Utah.