Franklin: selling a parked or junk car

If the insurer already totaled it

Once an insurer pays out above 70 percent of fair market value, counting the deductible, Wisconsin calls the car salvage. If you keep it, the insurer has 30 days to notify WisDOT in writing, and you must promptly seek a salvage certificate of title.

Brands can also appear on a Wisconsin title: flood damaged, manufacturers buyback, previously salvage, transferred to insurer, hail-damaged. A hail brand sticks unless the damage was repaired using replacement parts. Sellers fill in the brand disclosure themselves, so settle which applies before signing. Read more under insurer totaled it and salvage title.

Emission testing here

Milwaukee County, and with it Franklin, sits inside the seven-county testing zone. Covered vehicles: 1996 to 2006 models rated below 8,501 pounds GVWR that run on gasoline, natural gas or hybrid power, and every 2007 or newer model up to 14,000 pounds. Notices come from WisDOT. If yours did not pass, see failed emissions.

Franklin's ordinances

Franklin's vehicle code was not available online when we searched. Below is state law; local rules may exist too, because Wisconsin authorizes municipalities and counties to regulate abandoned-car removal.

Chapter 342 makes it illegal to leave a car looking abandoned. Outside first-class cities, each local body chooses the unattended period that turns a car into an abandoned nuisance. Being hidden from ordinary public view exempts it. Impounded cars wait to be claimed or disposed of, and where towing and storage outrun what the car is worth, the law lets it be scrapped or sold sooner. Mostly intact cars older than 19 model years go down a different disposal path. Abandonment, impound and disposal are billed to the owner.

Signing it over, and the plates

For a regular sale, sign and date the reverse, then record mileage, a brand check, the price, and the purchaser with a home address. Going to scrap? Write Junk across it instead. The car is then permanently out of the title system, and junking does not require replacing a lost title.

Before pickup, remove the plates. Franklin plates still in date can move to a similar vehicle owned by you, a spouse or a partner. If not, destroy them. The DMV won't take them back or refund unused registration. Sold to an individual? WisDOT expects your report within 30 days.

Close by

Straight-line miles from Franklin: Greenfield 5.3, Oak Creek 5.7, Muskego 6.3. State rules are on the Wisconsin page.

Getting an offer

Ring (877) 421-6008 or begin online. Our form gathers the details. In Franklin the truck reaches long rural driveways, subdivision garages, or the body shop with the estimate.