Selling a dead or junk car in Chesapeake

What the city calls inoperable

Section 74-276 treats "inoperable" and "inoperative" as the same word. It reaches any motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer that "for a period of 60 days or longer has been partially or totally disassembled by the removal of tires and wheels, the engine or other essential parts." The same section presumes a car is abandoned if it lacks a current plate, a current local plate or sticker, or a valid inspection sticker, and "it has been in a specific location for four days without being moved."

Project cars: two at most

Section 74-278 bars such a car from residential, commercial or agricultural property, by zoning or by use, unless it meets the section's conditions. One path is restoration. The car must be "actively being restored or repaired," and the cars used for it, "in no event to exceed two at any one time," must stay in a building or screened from view at all times.

No fixed number of days

Chesapeake's notice step does not set a day count. When an owner "has been issued a notice of violation" under 74-278 or the zoning ordinance and has not removed the car "within a reasonable amount of time given," the director of development and permits or a designee may have it removed. The car may then be disposed of "after giving reasonable notice to the owner of the vehicle." The vehicle's owner, the landowner, or both pay for removal and disposal. Read the deadline printed on your own notice.

On the street

Section 74-243 makes it unlawful to leave a car "for more than 48 hours in any public street." If you do not move it within 24 hours after a police officer tells you to, each further day is charged as a fresh offense. Section 74-14 also bars working on a car on a street or sidewalk. A driver whose car breaks down gets "a reasonable time to effect emergency repairs" to get it off the road, but a long repair job at the curb is not allowed.

The Chesapeake DMV office we checked

The DMV customer service center is at 813 Greenbrier Parkway (Chesapeake, VA 23320-3647; 757-312-8559). On a map, the office lies about 6 miles northeast of central Chesapeake. Chesapeake spreads over more than 338 square miles, and this is simply the office we looked up.

Titles, scrap and nonrepairable cars

Virginia lets a demolisher or scrap metal processor buy a car for wrecking or dismantling without titling it in its own name. A car carrying a nonrepairable brand has a narrower market: by law only licensed auto recyclers and vehicle removal operators may buy it; see nonrepairable or junk title.

With a clean title, Chesapeake sellers complete Section A: their signature, the buyer's details, mileage, date and price. The DMV's seller guidance has no notary step. Plates stay with you, and the DMV hears about the sale from you by web, phone or counter visit.

Getting an offer

Chesapeake drivers can start at (877) 421-6008 or the online form: say the model year, make, model, odometer reading, running condition and which papers you hold. Pickup can come to a covered car in the side yard, a farm shed, or a cul-de-sac driveway. Chesapeake is 12.8 miles from Portsmouth and 16.6 miles from Virginia Beach; see Virginia for statewide rules.