A junk car in Lacey, sold under Washington rules

Washington's three-of-four test

RCW 46.55.010 gives "junk vehicle" a strict meaning. A car qualifies when it is certified as meeting three or more of these:

• "three years old or older"
• "extensively damaged," which the law illustrates with a broken windshield or a missing motor, transmission, wheels or tires
• "apparently inoperable"
• a value "equal only to scrap"

Hitting two is not enough. A ten-year-old hatchback with a dead engine and a shattered windshield hits three.

Clearing an abandoned junk car off land

Under RCW 46.55.230 the sequence starts with an inspection by a police officer, a health department or another authorized person, who can approve disposal. The landowner then writes to whoever DOL lists as registered and legal owner. If nobody claims a Lacey car in 15 days, the landowner may scrap it. They may also sign an affidavit of sale that takes the place of the title. With no owner in DOL's records, there is no wait at all.

Walking away from a junk car is not an option in Washington. It is a gross misdemeanor, and the registered owner also repays double the removal cost, shared between the landowner and the agency that investigated. Lacey may have stricter local rules; the statute leaves room for them.

Paperwork that clears your name

We checked an Olympia office at 3000 Pacific Ave SE, Suite 130, roughly 3 miles west of central Lacey on a map. When you sell, the Department of Licensing looks for four things from you:

1. Your signature in the title's release-of-interest section.
2. The title itself, with an odometer disclosure when one is needed, handed to the buyer.
3. A bill of sale with both signatures, unless the price and date are on the title. Keep copies.
4. A report of sale to DOL, filed inside 5 days.

The plates stay with you. Lacey owners may move them to their next vehicle of that kind or send them back to the state. The notary appointment is the buyer's, for the title application.

Scrap buyers often operate as hulk haulers, and state rules list the papers one may take a car on: a properly endorsed title, a junk-vehicle affidavit of sale, a tow operator's affidavit of sale, or a lost-or-stolen-title affidavit from the owner of record paired with a release of interest.

Getting an offer

Online or at (877) 421-6008, share the year, maker and model, the miles, whether it turns over and whether you have the title. A driver comes to where the car rests, a driveway, a workplace lot or a street near campus. Olympia is 4.6 miles off in a straight line and Tumwater 6.7; the Washington page has the statewide rules.