Selling a junk or dead car in Milwaukee

Who needs an emission test

Two groups get tested. The older group is model years 1996 through 2006 that burn gasoline or natural gas or run as hybrids, below 8,501 lb gross vehicle weight rating. The newer group is every 2007-or-later model up to 14,000 lb. Owners hear from WisDOT by notice when their test comes due.

If a check engine light or a failed test has stalled your registration, our guide to a failed emissions test lays out the choices.

Milwaukee's own code

Our search for Milwaukee's ordinances online came up empty, so the rules below are Wisconsin's. State law lets "any municipality or county" adopt ordinances on removing and disposing of abandoned vehicles, and Milwaukee may have its own rules for yards, streets and junk cars beyond these.

Here is what state law sets:

• No abandoning. Wisconsin forbids leaving a car in a way that makes it look deserted.
• The clock. Unattended past 48 hours in a first-class city, or past whatever limit the local governing body picks elsewhere, a car counts as abandoned and becomes a public nuisance.
• Out of sight. A car stored where passers-by would not ordinarily see it is outside the definition, as is one a city or county official has formally designated as not abandoned.

When a car gets towed

A car Milwaukee impounds over a violation stays in the lot under state law. It leaves only when its owner comes for it or the city disposes of it. The officer must tell the towing service who the registered owner and lienholders are within 24 hours of ordering the removal. When towing plus storage would top the car's value, Wisconsin allows early junking or sale. Cars more than 19 model years old that are substantially complete follow a separate state disposal track.

The bill lands on the owner, along with responsibility for abandoning the car. If yours is already in a lot, see towed or impounded.

Parked a year or longer

Letting registration lapse does not wipe the slate clean. A Milwaukee owner who re-registers later owes fees covering every month since the old registration expired. Milwaukee drops it in two situations: another person owned the car in the meantime, or a year or more passed and the owner signs that it sat unused. Selling it as it sits avoids the question.

Title rules for a Milwaukee sale

Wisconsin requires the title in your own name before a private sale; only licensed dealers may sell cars titled to others. Complete the reverse with your signature and the date, the mileage and brand statement, the purchase price, and the buyer's full name and address. AND between owner names means everyone signs; OR means any one may. A title listing a lender also needs the lender's lien release handed over.

Lost the title? Scrapping it needs no replacement. For any other sale, the statute sets a $20 replacement title fee, applied for on form MV2119. Sign the replacement over to the buyer even if the original turns up, and destroy the original.

Junking it? Write Junk across the title. From that day, repairs or not, Wisconsin will not title or register it again.

Totaled by insurance? A payout above 70 percent of fair market value turns a car into a salvage vehicle. Brands that can appear on a Wisconsin title include flood damaged, hail-damaged and previously salvage. Our wrecked or totaled guide has more.

Plates and the sale report

Take the plates off an auto or light truck before it goes. Milwaukee plates that haven't expired can move onto a similar vehicle in your name, your spouse's name or your domestic partner's name. Destroy them if not. WisDOT does not want them back and does not refund the unused months. If you already left them on, form MV2514 cancels them.

Selling privately in Milwaukee, you have 30 days to give WisDOT the VIN, buyer, price and date. To file online in Milwaukee, have your license or state ID number, your date of birth and your SSN's last four digits ready.

Around Milwaukee

Measured straight from Milwaukee, Wauwatosa is 3.5 miles, West Allis 5.0, Greenfield 7.4 and Brookfield 7.6. Menomonee Falls and New Berlin both sit just past 10. The Wisconsin page has the statewide picture.

Getting an offer

Selling a Milwaukee car? Call (877) 421-6008 or fill in the offer form. Mention a failed emission test or a lapsed registration if there is one. We pick up from an alley garage, a side street, a downtown parking structure, or the repair shop that ran out of answers.