Selling a junk car in Fond du Lac

Who the ten-day rule binds

Two people answer to it. One is whoever parked the car. The other is anyone running the property, "as owner, tenant, occupant, lessee or otherwise." So a landlord with a tenant's dead sedan in the lot shares the problem.

Fond du Lac's code leaves out cars inside an enclosed building, plus cars a business run "in a lawful place and manner" needs on its grounds. A tarp does not turn a yard into a building.

Chapter 512's definitions also name "abandoned vehicles or machinery or parts thereof" in the kind of accumulation the city treats as blight.

72 hours and abandonment

Section 630-20 targets cars left behind. A car can't be left on a street or lot "under such circumstances as to cause the vehicle to reasonably appear to have been abandoned." Fond du Lac treats a car sitting past 72 hours on a city street, or on private land without consent, as abandoned and a public nuisance. It gets impounded and held until claimed or disposed of.

The $500 line at impound

Section 630-22 splits towed cars by value:

• Over $500. Certified notice goes from the police chief to the owner and lienholders. They get 15 days to cover towing, storage and notice charges and reclaim the car. Unclaimed, it is sold after a Class 1 notice describing the car and the terms runs five days ahead of the sale.
• Under $500. After police confirm it is not stolen, the car can be sold directly to a licensed salvage dealer.

The chief may also junk a car early when the tow and storage bill would top its value. Apart from stolen cars, the owner pays all costs of impounding and disposal. These dollar figures are legal tests the city uses for disposal. If the city has your car already, see towed or impounded.

Junking or selling on a Wisconsin title

WisDOT's Division of Motor Vehicles issues Wisconsin titles. A Fond du Lac car bound for scrap gets the word Junk written across its title, and a lost title can be skipped entirely for junking. Statute then gives the holder 10 days to inform the department and hand the title back, and Wisconsin will not title that car again.

Selling it for the road instead? It must be titled to you first, because only licensed dealers may sell a car titled to another person. Where the title still lists a lender, give the buyer a release from that lender too.

Plates, the seller notice and back registration

The plates belong with you, not the car. Fond du Lac plates go onto a like vehicle of yours, or get destroyed. WisDOT does not want them sent in. Plates that stayed on the car get cancelled with form MV2514.

Sold it to a private person? Report the sale to Wisconsin within 30 days. Fond du Lac sales need the VIN, the buyer's name, what was paid and the day it sold.

A long-parked car raises one more state rule. To register it again, you pay for all the months since it lapsed. That changes if the car had a different owner in the meantime, or if it sat for 12 months or more and the owner signs a statement saying it wasn't driven.

Emissions testing does not apply: Fond du Lac County is outside the seven-county testing area.

Nearby

Oshkosh is 18.4 miles off as the crow flies, Neenah 27.2 and West Bend 27.7. The Wisconsin page holds the statewide rules.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or go online and fill us in on the car's age and type, a ballpark mile count, if it starts, and what's printed on the title. You sell the whole car as it sits. Around Fond du Lac, our truck loads at home driveways, apartment lots and the shop where it quit.