Selling a junk or dead car in Monroe

Whose rules apply

We looked online for Monroe's city code and could not find it. Below is the state's rule set. Monroe might add more.

Washington treats a Monroe car as junk once three of these fit: three or more years old, heavily damaged, seemingly unable to run, worth only scrap. A car on blocks behind a barn for a decade usually meets all four. Sitting for years covers that situation.

Three other state points matter for a parked car:

• Old tabs on a public street. Once registration has been expired for over 45 days, a car parked on the street may be impounded.
• Leaving it somewhere. Abandoning a junk car on property around Monroe is a gross misdemeanor, and the owner pays double the cleanup cost, split between the landowner and the agency that dealt with it.
• Smog checks. None. The state stopped emission testing on January 1, 2020.

The report you can file from home

File the Vehicle Report of Sale, DOL form 420-062, no more than 5 days after you sell. You can do it online, mail it, or bring it to an office. Monroe sellers fill the report with the sale date, both people's names and addresses, the VIN and the plate number. Filing it keeps you clear of tow bills and of any civil or criminal trouble the new owner causes.

The requirement is broad. A sale, a gift, a trade or handing the car to a wrecking yard all count.

Signing the car away

• The release-of-interest box on the title gets your signature, and the title goes to the buyer.
• A bill of sale gets both signatures, except when the sale price and date appear on the title. Hold on to your copy; junk car bill of sale shows the details.
• The plates come off with you. They may go on another car of that type or be turned in; a buyer cannot drive on them.

Notarizing is the buyer's job. If your title is missing, replace it first for $39.50; it shows up in 4 to 8 weeks.

The buyer has a deadline as well. Transferring the title late costs them $50 on day sixteen and $2 more each day after, capped at $125. Your report of sale is what keeps their delay from becoming your problem.

Everett's office is at 3000 Rockefeller Ave. No phone was listed, and Snohomish County may have other locations. Statewide rules sit on the Washington page.

Getting an offer

Ring (877) 421-6008 or send the form. Start a Monroe offer by phone or form. We pick up downtown near Main Street, on a gravel drive past town, or at a shop that stopped working on it. Nearby pages cover Mill Creek, Lake Stevens and Bothell.