Selling a dead or junk car in Spokane Valley

What a hauler must have in hand

WAC 308-65-080 lets a hulk hauler take a car on any of these:

• a title endorsed the right way
• the record owner's signed affidavit saying the title is lost or stolen, plus that owner's release of interest
• a junk vehicle affidavit of sale, as RCW 46.55.230 provides
• an affidavit of sale from a tow operator who is registered

A handoff with nothing signed matches none of those papers. With a lost title, selling with no title explains the affidavits, and junkyard or scrap yard explains where these cars end up.

City code, state code

We did not find Spokane Valley's code online, so the city may have nuisance rules we have not read. Washington lets local governments add them. Across the line, Spokane repealed both of its junk vehicle abatement chapters, so state law does the work on both sides.

The state's junk label needs three of four: a car three years old or more, badly damaged, seemingly dead, and worth scrap prices. When one sits on another person's land, that person can send notice to the car's owners and, once it has gone unclaimed past 15 days, scrap it. Dumping a junk car is a gross misdemeanor, with restitution set at twice the removal cost.

Title office in the city next door

Our checked office for Spokane County is in Spokane proper: 1116 W Broadway Ave, (509) 477-2222. It sits near 9 miles west of downtown Spokane Valley in a straight line. DOL lists it among quick title offices; the county may have more.

The trip may be unnecessary. The Vehicle Report of Sale is due in 5 days. Send it online, mail it, or bring it in. It names the sale date, buyer and seller with their addresses, the VIN and the plate. Filing it keeps towing charges and the new owner's liabilities off you.

Seller checklist

1. Release your interest on the title with your signature.
2. A Spokane Valley seller adds a signed bill of sale when the price and date are missing from the title. Keep one copy.
3. Remove the plates. Reuse them on a similar vehicle or surrender them; they do not transfer to the buyer.
4. Report the sale.

Only the buyer's application gets notarized. Statewide rules are on the Washington page.

Getting an offer

Send the form or call (877) 421-6008. Use the form for a Spokane Valley offer. We pick up at a house, an apartment lot or the garage where it died. Spokane has its own page, and so does Pullman.