Selling a dead or junk car in Payson

Scrapping a car under Utah law

Once permitted, a Payson owner may part out the car or haul it to a licensed dismantler, crusher or salvage dealer. Until then, the title is the obstacle.

A truly finished car has a shorter road. If an investigator writes that it cannot be rebuilt, it is treated as abandoned and inoperable and can be scrapped without the permit steps. The salvage buyer then signs a statement that it will not be rebuilt. There is also another path. For a dead Payson car that won't be rebuilt, State Tax Commission staff can issue an "Affidavit of Abandoned and Inoperable Vehicle" or Junk Permit, letting it be dismantled and shredded.

Not sure which yard handles what? See junkyard or scrap yard. For pulling parts first, how to sell a car for parts walks through the options.

Payson's own rules

Payson's city code was not located online, so this part is Utah law, and Payson may be stricter.

A car sitting along a highway for more than two days with nobody minding it is abandoned under state law. On land, the statute describes a car left "on public or private property for a period in excess of seven days without express or implied consent of the owner or person in control of the property." Payson owners in that spot face an infraction, and police with grounds can have the car towed.

The title office, 14 miles up the valley

Utah issues every title at the state level, through the Tax Commission's motor vehicle staff. The office we found is at 150 East Center in Provo, suite 1400, about 14 miles north of central Payson measured straight. Its number is 1-800-DMV-UTAH.

From Payson, the drive is worth avoiding, and most of a sale needs no counter:

• Title. Sign; skip the notary. On a Payson title, AND means both owners sign, and OR means just one does. The buyer should have it inside two days.
• Lost title. With TC-123 you can transfer the car without getting a replacement title in your name first. A replacement by itself is $6.00, online.
• Odometer. TC-891 is signed by both sides unless the car has turned 20.
• Report the sale. Online through the Utah DMV's Motor Vehicle Portal, by phone, on TC-502, or in a letter to the division's Salt Lake City post office box.
• Plates. They come off with you unless the buyer is taking them. A plate left on a sold Payson car can drag its later tickets back to you.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or go online. Share the make and year, the rough miles, if it can drive itself, and where things are with the title. Payson covers 13.053 square miles. Pickup covers all of Payson, a Main Street lot included, plus a shop 7.4 miles north in Spanish Fork. The Utah page has the statewide rules.