Selling a dead or junk car in Portsmouth

If the tags lapsed because the car is not worth fixing, we buy whole non-running and junk cars. You sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US.

The placard and the letter

Section 23-48 starts with a search for the landowner. The director mails written notice to the address "as shown on current real estate and tax assessment records." If no address is known and there is no local agent, the notice is posted on the land. The director "may also place on the vehicle a brightly colored placard." The notice tells the owner to fix the car, remove it "forthwith," or take it to an authorized place of storage.

Moving it around does not reset anything. If the car goes anywhere in the city other than a repair facility without fixing the cited problems, "a continuing violation will be deemed to exist," and no further notice comes before the tow.

Ten days, then the compound

Under Section 23-49, if the problem "has not been remedied within ten days after the mailing, posting or delivery of such notice," the director may remove and dispose of the car. What follows:

• Removal and disposal costs plus a per-vehicle administrative fee go to the car's owner or the landowner, collected the way taxes are.
• An assessed landowner gets "a lien on the real estate from which said vehicle was removed."
• A car behind a locked gate, fence or other barrier that is not cleared when the director asks makes the landowner "guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor."
• The city tells both owners where the car went and the date it will be disposed of. After that it goes to public auction. If it does not sell, the city may get rid of it "in any manner that removes the vehicle from the compound and permanently disposes of the vehicle."

Getting an impounded car back under Section 22-805 means paying a towing charge, plus storage if it has been held long enough.

Curbside rules

Section 22-562 says "No person shall park on any public street or right-of-way any vehicle with missing state license plates or expired state license stickers." That cuts two ways for a seller. A dead car with expired stickers cannot wait at the curb. And when you sell, pull the plates when the car leaves, not weeks before, if it is parked on the street.

Title and DMV

Of the DMV offices, we checked the one at 6400 Bickford Parkway (757-686-5065), some 2 miles west of central Portsmouth as the crow flies. Section A sits on the title's face. Print and sign there, and add who is buying, their address, the sale date and the agreed figure. The mileage must be the real reading, never a guess. Virginia treats the price written on the title as your bill of sale; now and then DMV wants more, such as a statement both parties sign by hand or its Vehicle Price Certification form. Then report the sale to the DMV.

Nearby

Norfolk is 7.6 miles away, Chesapeake 12.8 and Hampton 13.4, straight-line. Statewide rules are on the Virginia page.

Getting an offer

Got a Portsmouth junk car? Call (877) 421-6008 or fill out our short offer form. If a placard is already on the car, mention it. Pickup happens at the car's current spot in Portsmouth. A locked yard just needs the gate opened.