Selling a dead or junk car in Madison

Section 10.16: no dumping it out front

The rule is aimed at owners and operators of homes and businesses. It covers vehicle parts as well as whole cars. A car or part counts as "adjacent" to your property "if it is upon a portion of the highway that directly abuts or is within 500 feet in any direction of the real property or place of business in question." Moving the car a few doors down does not get around it.

How long anything can sit on a Madison street

The city's schedule of citations in Section 1.08 lists "Street storage (48-hour limit)." Two days in one spot is the ceiling for any car, running or not.

Section 12.128 adds a rule many people never hear about. No one may let a car in their custody "stand or remain unattended on any street, alley or in any other public place" unless the ignition or another control is locked. A car in violation can be removed and impounded. Madison can junk or sell the car before the impound period ends if the Parking Division Manager finds that "the cost of towing and storage charges for the impoundment would exceed the value of the vehicle."

Winter turns a dead car into a ticket

From November 15 through March 15, between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m., the code says "all vehicles will be parked only on the even-numbered side of the street on even-numbered calendar days, and only on the odd side of the street on odd-numbered calendar days." Inside the downtown Snow Emergency Zone, that schedule applies only after a snow emergency is declared. Once the Street Superintendent declares one, alternate-side parking covers the entire city.

A Madison car with a dead battery or a seized engine stays on the wrong side every other night. That alone is a good reason to move it before mid-November.

When the city decides a car is abandoned

Under Section 12.128, any police or parking enforcement officer who finds an abandoned vehicle "on any public highway or private or public property" must have it removed to an impound. The notice that follows warns that failing to reclaim it "shall be deemed a waiver of all right, title, and interest in the vehicle and a consent to the sale of the vehicle." Whoever buys it at a city sale then has 10 days to haul it off.

Wisconsin law puts the abandonment itself, plus the bill for impound and disposal, on the vehicle's owner. If the car is already in a lot, our guide to a towed or impounded car walks through getting it out.

Driveways and private lots

The Madison sections above deal with streets, impounds and the 500-foot rule. For private property, state law exempts a vehicle kept where the public would not normally see it from the abandoned-vehicle rules, and it lets each city or county write its own. Madison may have yard and driveway rules beyond the ones quoted here, so check before letting a car sit.

Selling a Madison car under Wisconsin rules

• Whose name. Wisconsin will not let a private seller sell a car still titled to someone else; only a licensed dealer may do that. Get it into your name first. If that is a problem, see car not in your name.
• The back of the title. Sign it, date it, record the odometer reading, answer the brand question, and write in the sale amount and the buyer's name and home address. OR between owner names lets any one of them sign; AND requires every one.
• Loan. If the lender is still listed, the buyer gets the title plus a lien release.
• Junk. For a car bound for the crusher, write Junk across the title. Repaired or not, it is finished on Wisconsin roads for good.
• Plates. They stay off an auto or light truck you sell. Unexpired ones can move to a similar vehicle titled in your name or your spouse's or domestic partner's; otherwise destroy them. Leftover registration time is not refunded.
• Report the sale. For a private sale to another individual, tell WisDOT within 30 days.

Dane County is outside the seven-county area where Wisconsin requires emission tests.

Next door to Madison

Measured straight, Middleton is 4.1 miles off, Fitchburg 7.1 and Sun Prairie 11.7. Janesville and Watertown each sit roughly 35 miles out. The Wisconsin page gathers the statewide rules.

Getting an offer

For an offer, call (877) 421-6008 or send the form. A Madison seller only needs a few details: model year and make, rough mileage, running or dead, and title status. We pick it up at a near-east-side driveway, a parking ramp, or a Beltline shop that quoted repairs worth more than the car.