Sell your car in Newark: running, won't start or not worth fixing
A car can't sit out the summer in a University of Delaware lot: UD prohibits vehicle storage in all of its lots, even though it made student permits good for 12 months in 2025. If yours won't be in regular use after spring finals end on May 26, 2027, ask for an instant cash offer online. Pickup is free.
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Your three steps
- Ask for the number. The offer takes minutes online and holds while you finish the semester. Accepting it is the only step that commits you.
- Name the title's home state. If the title wasn't issued in Delaware, say which state when you schedule, and the pickup is planned around that state's rules.
- Be there for pickup. The truck comes to the lot, street or townhouse court where the car is parked, and the keys and the title change hands there.
Where we pick up around Newark
We pick up in apartment complex lots, on streets near campus and in townhouse courts across Newark's 19711 and 19713. You don't need a city address: Glasgow and Christiana in 19702, Bear, Pike Creek Valley, and the stretch east through Brookside, Ogletown and Stanton to New Castle are all in the pickup area.
Renting on a permit street? A renter's City of Newark residential parking permit expires at the end of the lease. If the car has to be gone before your lease ends, say so when you schedule.
Clearing the car off your UD permit
UD's permits are virtual: your license plate is the permit. Once the car is sold, sign in to My Parking Account at udel.edu/permits and remove that plate. Parking Services says it isn't liable for citations that come from failing to remove vehicles no longer in service. You can't hand the permit to a friend who still needs campus parking, either: UD permits are non-transferable.
If you're a student who won't need campus parking again, you can return an annual permit for a refund, prorated by the month from the date Parking Services gets your cancellation. That only works through the spring semester's drop/add period. For spring 2027, the last day to add or drop courses is Friday, Feb. 19; after it, a student annual permit gets no refund. Faculty and staff who leave UD cancel or return their permits through the same parking portal.
Cash for your car in Newark
If a car becomes disabled on campus, the owner has to tell Parking Services or University Police right away, and it has 24 hours to be moved before it can be towed. UD lots don't allow engine or body repairs. Parking Services gives free jump-starts on campus from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays; after 4:30 p.m. and on weekends, help is available through University Police at 302-831-2222.
Off campus, Newark's property maintenance code sets rules for cars parked outside a building. The car has to be in operating order, not stripped or taken apart, and parked on pavement, stone or another hard surface, never the lawn. It has to be registered, and the registration can't be more than 30 days expired. On the street, city ordinance doesn't allow a car with expired registration.
If yours won't start, the route to cash for cars in Newark, DE is still the instant offer online, and the truck comes to you. If the car can't meet those city rules and isn't worth fixing, sell it as a junk car.
Deciding whether it's worth fixing? Selling a car with a blown engine or head gasket and selling a car with a slipping transmission both weigh the repair bill against selling as is, and selling a car after an accident does the same for body damage from a crash.
Offices that handle the rest
- •Newark has no Delaware DMV facility of its own. New Castle County's two, Greater Wilmington at 2230 Hessler Boulevard and Delaware City at 2101 Mid County Drive, both have New Castle addresses. Both keep the same hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on most weekdays, but 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays (source)
- •UD Parking Services is in the General Services Building, 222 S. Chapel Street. Staff answer by video call or at parking@udel.edu, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, and close for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. (source)
- •The City of Newark's Parking Division handles residential street permits at newarkparking@newark.de.us or (302) 366-7000, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays (source). Its Code Enforcement Division, on the second floor of 220 South Main Street, takes reports of abandoned or no-tag vehicles (source) and enforces the city's property maintenance code (source)
Asked by Newark sellers
Can my E-ZPass tag go in the car I drive next?
Yes, if both cars are the same vehicle class. Delaware E-ZPass lets a transponder move between vehicles of one class, and it asks for a new car's plate and vehicle information as soon as possible. Take the tag out before pickup: each time a toll lane reads it, the toll comes out of your prepaid account, and the I-95 Newark Toll Plaza has charged a car $5 since Aug. 15, 2025. You can add or remove vehicles on the Delaware E-ZPass website, or at the plaza's customer service lobby at 1200 Whittaker Road, south of the Route 896 interchange, which is open 24 hours a day.
Can my roommate take over my City of Newark street parking permit after I sell?
Sometimes. The city's Parking Division allows limited transfers to eligible roommates who are on the lease. You fill out a Relinquishing Permit Form and show ID, and then your roommate applies. Permits are free to eligible residents and are registered to the zone where you live.
Can the car wait in my UD lot until pickup day?
Only while it's in regular use. UD requires every car parked on campus to show valid registration and be in regular operational use. A car that stays put for long stretches, collects old citations, looks abandoned or has expired registration can be cited, immobilized or towed at the owner's expense, and a car cover that hides the plate isn't allowed.
Where does a private buyer park if they come to see the car on campus?
In a UD pay-to-park space, paid for that UD zone by app or at a kiosk. Anywhere else on University property, visitors must register with Parking Services first. A payment made to a City of Newark parking zone doesn't count on campus and gets a citation.
For signing the Delaware title, use our Delaware selling guide.