Manassas: selling a car that no longer runs

If the one car you are allowed is no longer worth keeping, we buy whole non-running and junk cars. You sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US, anywhere in the city's 9.843 square miles included.

The three-part test

Section 78-134 applies on property zoned for residential, commercial or agricultural use. It defines an inoperable motor vehicle three ways:

1. any car "which is not in operating condition";
2. one 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"; or
3. one "on which there are displayed neither valid license plates nor a valid inspection decal."

Owners trip over the third test most. A car that still starts can qualify once its plates and sticker both lapse.

Owners must remove such cars "at such time as the city prescribes." If they do not, the city may remove the car itself "after reasonable notice," and may dispose of it after notifying the car's owner again. The section sets no fixed number of days. The city picks the date, so read your notice.

Moving it is allowed

Section 114-252 says "Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit towing an unlicensed motor vehicle or motor vehicle which has not been inspected." A car with dead tags can legally leave on a truck.

Driveway rules matter while it waits. Section 130-62 wants cars on private property in off-street parking spaces that meet the city's parking standards. It allows parking outside a space on a home lot for no more than six hours in 24, and only to unload or clean the car.

Snow emergency routes

Under Section 114-623, a parking ban starts on its own "on any part of any snow emergency route on which there has been an accumulation of snow and ice of four inches or more." If a car stalls on one of those routes, Section 114-627 says the driver "shall take immediate action to have the vehicle towed or pushed off the roadway."

Emissions, registration and title

Manassas is one of the cities where Virginia requires emissions inspections, in addition to the yearly safety inspection. Emissions certificates and waivers last two years, counted from the end of the month they were issued. A sale does not cut that short.

Should anyone re-register a car whose registration ran out over twelve months ago, DMV sells a fresh registration of one, two or three years and adds no late fee.

We checked DMV's Parkridge Center office at 11270 Bulloch Drive (703-257-4563), roughly 4 miles northwest of central Manassas as the crow flies. When a car already has a Virginia title, seller and buyer can finish the whole transfer online. Manassas sellers with a paper title sign Section A on the front. A Manassas sale needs no notary for the DMV. Report the sale and pull the plates afterward.

Nearby

Fairfax is 12.3 miles away, Herndon 16.3 and Alexandria 22.1, straight-line. The Virginia page has the statewide rules.

Getting an offer

Ring (877) 421-6008 or send the form for your Manassas car, noting whether its plates are still valid. Cover and all, the truck picks the car up from its spot.