Olympia's thirty-day junk-car rule, and selling first

From inspection to tow under Chapter 8.40

The chapter exists to set procedures "for the abatement and removal of junk vehicles and parts thereof as public nuisances" under state law. The steps go in this order:

1. Inspection. An enforcement officer checks the car against the chapter's criteria. In Olympia the state test takes over. Olympia applies the state junk test, where any three of these four will do: "three years old or older," "extensively damaged," "apparently inoperable," or only worth its scrap.
2. Written notice. If the car qualifies, the officer writes to the last registered owner of record and to the owner of the property, telling them an administrative review may be requested.
3. Review, when someone requests it. The car's owners, and the landowner named on the county's last equalized assessment roll, get the hearing's time, place and date "by certified mail, with a five-day return receipt requested."
4. Removal. Once the review goes the city's way, or if nobody asked for one in time, the car is "removed, at the request of the enforcement officer, and disposed of by a registered tow truck operator," and the Washington State Patrol is told.

Who pays for the tow

Removal costs can go to the registered owner when that person is known, unless the owner followed the state's transfer rules when ownership changed. Otherwise they may fall on "the landowner of the property on which the junk vehicle is stored."

Landowners who never wanted the car are protected. If the review finds it was left "without the consent of the landowner and that the landowner has not subsequently acquiesced in its presence," the Director of Community Planning and Development, or a designee, does not bill that landowner for administration and removal.

Brands, salvage and a destroyed car

If your car was totaled or wrecked, Washington's statewide rules for damaged cars apply.

• Salvage. Washington treats an Olympia car as salvage when its title went back after it was destroyed or totaled, when records label it salvage, or when parts, labor and salvage value make fixing it a losing deal. No percentage cutoff is written in.
• Brands. An Olympia car's DOL record can carry "Contaminated," "Odometer not actual," "Rebuilt," "Returned to manufacturer," "Former taxicab," "Former for hire," "Former exempt" or "Repaired - Wrecker/insurance bill of sale." Once added, a brand stays. The state has no flood brand itself, but brands from NMVTIS states come along with the car.
• Destroyed. When an Olympia car is wrecked for good, you have 15 days to notify DOL. Send in the title stamped "DESTROYED." If it's lost, an "affidavit in lieu of title" stamped the same works. Keeping the title on day 16 is a gross misdemeanor.

Salvage title and insurer totaled it cover selling a car in that condition.

The Pacific Avenue counter

The Olympia office we found is at 3000 Pacific Ave SE, Suite 130. That is about 2 miles east of downtown Olympia in a straight line. Washington's Department of Licensing leans on county auditors and subagents for counters like this, and it recommends that buyer and seller sign over the title at one.

What falls to you as the seller:

• the release-of-interest signature on the title
• a bill of sale, which the title can replace if it carries the price and date
• the Vehicle Report of Sale, due inside 5 days

An online report submitted at night still counts once the fee clears, and DOL says that payment is what makes the sale legal. Plates come off with you; the buyer may not use them. The buyer's Vehicle Title Application is the form that gets notarized.

Getting an offer

Phone (877) 421-6008 or fill out the form for an Olympia offer. Our driver goes to the car, be it in a carport on the westside or a garage by the Capitol. In a straight line, Tumwater sits 3.7 miles away and Lacey 4.6. Statewide rules beyond Olympia are on the Washington page.