Selling a wrecked or dead car in Stevens Point

Section 9.09 in practice

The chapter we read is a scan, so some sentences are cut short. Three points come through clearly. The rule reaches wrecked and partly stripped cars as well as dead ones. A notice comes before the ten days start. Cars the city tows end up in a storage area. They come out only after "payment of a reasonable storage fee for each day the vehicle" stays there. Every extra day in storage costs the owner more.

A zoning rewrite in draft

The city has also published a memo on a draft rewrite of its property code. In the draft, Section 21.03 names a "disassembled, dismantled, junked, wrecked or inoperable and/or unlicensed motor vehicle" as a nuisance to be removed, with the city recovering what it spends. The same memo adds a definition of "Vehicle" and separates a tarp from a cover. That matters to anyone hoping a tarp keeps a dead car out of trouble. It is a draft, so it may not be in force yet; ask the city what applies today.

State rules that still apply

Wisconsin law lets any municipality write its own removal rules, and it also sets a baseline. Leaving a car so it "reasonably appears abandoned" is prohibited. In Stevens Point, a car stored where the public can't normally see it isn't treated as abandoned. An impounded car may be junked or sold early when its tow and storage charges run past its value. The owner covers those charges.

Portage County is not one of the seven counties where Wisconsin requires emission tests.

Signing over a Wisconsin title

The state issues titles through the WisDOT Division of Motor Vehicles, and the car must be titled in your name before you sell it. In Stevens Point, you sign and date the title on its back side. Next, the Stevens Point seller writes in the mileage and any title brand, then the price, then who bought it and their home address. A loan still showing on the title means the buyer also needs a lien release; see lien still on the title. If the title is gone, WisDOT lets you junk the car without replacing it, but it can never be titled again afterward.

Plates stay with you. Stevens Point owners may put current plates on a similar vehicle of theirs or destroy them. Don't mail them to the DMV. Report a private sale to an individual within 30 days through WisDOT's online seller notification. If the buyer means to drive it, they get two business days to title and register the car.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or ask online. For a Stevens Point car, our offer form walks you through what we need. Our driver can load it from a side street downtown, the lot behind a student rental, or a body shop where it landed after a crash. Pickup is free anywhere in the US. Wausau is 30.5 miles north as the crow flies; for crash damage, see wrecked or totaled, and for state law, Wisconsin.