Selling a dead or junk car in Sheridan

The rule itself

Section 18-8.2 makes it a nuisance "to park, store, leave, or permit the parking, storing, or leaving of any unlicensed, abandoned, or junk vehicles and parts or remains thereof." That covers private and public property, streets, alleys and easements. The section also names "wrecked, dismantled, derelict, or inoperative" vehicles. There are two more exceptions. A Sheridan vehicle stored inside a building on private land is one example. The other is one linked to a lawful business in the proper zone.

For a donor car kept for parts, the code is specific. It must be "of the same make, model, or demonstrate direct interchangeability of parts to the receiving vehicle." A pile of unrelated cars is not a restoration.

Counting cars and hours

• Seven or more. Section 18-8.9 bars keeping seven or more motor vehicles on a single-family residential lot for more than seventy-two hours, "whether attended or not." Cars in a building, travel trailers, motor homes, ATVs, snowmobiles and utility trailers are excepted, as are qualifying restorations whose owners make every reasonable effort to screen them from view.
• 48 hours on the street. Section 16-21 limits any vehicle on a public street or alley to forty-eight hours in a row. The only exception is "fully operative motor vehicles belonging to persons residing upon the abutting property." A dead car does not get that pass, even in front of your own house.

If the city takes it

When someone ignores a municipal court order, Section 18-8.4 allows the chief of police or a designee to seize a junked vehicle and haul it off. It is against the law to block that removal. Section 18-8.7 gives the owner until the sale or destruction to redeem it. The city treasurer sets the bill, covering removal, any advertising for a sale, and storage.

The Sheridan County title office

Sheridan is the Sheridan County seat, and its clerk and recorder's office handles titles. We found it at 224 S Main St., Suite B-2, phone (307) 674-2500. It's on the Main Street that runs through the historic district in the photo. In a straight line, it's less than a mile east of central Sheridan. Take plate and registration business to the county treasurer. WYDOT sets the statewide rules.

Signing it over in Wyoming

You sign the title assignment before a notary, as does a co-owner listed with or/and, and you note any liens. A car made within the past 10 years also needs an odometer statement. Wyoming sells plates to people, not cars, so the plates and any credit left on them go with you to your next vehicle. If the car came from another state carrying a salvage, rebuilt or flood brand, that brand is placed on the Wyoming title. For a missing title, see junk car with no title.

Nearby

Gillette is 80.7 miles away in a straight line, Casper 138.8, Rock Springs 248.7, Laramie 250.3 and Cheyenne 276.0. The Wyoming page has the statewide picture.

Getting an offer

Online or at (877) 421-6008, describe the car, its odometer reading, its running condition and the title you hold. A stalled project and its donor car can each be sold whole, and the truck collects them from where they sit.