Sell your car in Ann Arbor: running or not, even at move-out time
Ask for an instant offer and tell us the day you need the car handled by, whether that's commencement, the end of a lease or a flight home. The pickup is scheduled around your day. Pickup comes to the car where it's parked, including inside a U-M structure.
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What happens once the city tags a car
- A notice gives you 48 hours. When a car looks abandoned on public or private property, the city can post a written notice on it. If it hasn't moved 48 hours later, it is deemed abandoned and can be taken into custody. On a street, the city can also ask the owner to show that the car runs, and not doing so counts as proof that it doesn't.
- A citation can lead to impound. If a citation for a junk or inoperative car isn't corrected within 48 hours, the city may remove and impound the car. It may do the same, or boot the car, when an unattended car's owner has left six or more parking tickets unanswered.
- After the tow. The owner has 20 days from the city's notice of the impound to ask the 15th District Court for a hearing. Getting the car back means paying the towing and storage charges. If no hearing is requested and the car isn't claimed, the city may sell it at a public sale no sooner than 20 days after that notice (Ann Arbor City Code).
Where we pick up around Ann Arbor
We come to the car anywhere from Whitmore Lake down to Milan and from Chelsea across to Ypsilanti. That includes central campus and the 48104 streets around it: a U-M structure like Thompson Street, or a co-op driveway off Packard. In a gated U-M structure, tow-truck access during enforcement hours goes through U-M's Gate Assistance Helpline, (734) 763-5555, so tell us which structure when you book. A title issued by another state is fine too (see selling with an out-of-state title).
Home football weekend? U-M requires every vehicle to be out of the lots south of Hill Street and lots W32, W39 and W40 by 10 p.m. on the Friday, and cars left in lots used for game parking are towed. If the car you're selling is parked in one of them, book the pickup for earlier in the week.
Your U-M permit is your license plate
U-M parking went virtual on July 1, 2025. Hang tags and windshield permits are no longer the credential. A permit is valid only while your license plate is registered and active in the university's parking system (U-M parking rules). The same rules say a permit is for your use only and may not be sold or transferred, so it can't be part of the sale. Not replacing the car? Active U-M and Michigan Medicine students, faculty and staff ride TheRide's fixed-route buses without limit on a valid yellow Mcard, with U-M paying the fares (TheRide).
Cash for your car in Ann Arbor
City code counts a car as inoperative if it can't move under its own power or lacks the equipment to be driven legally in Michigan. Section 10:138 bars keeping a rusted, wrecked, junk, partly dismantled or inoperative car on private property unless it is completely inside a garage. None may sit in front of the setback. One may stay in the rear yard for up to 30 days after the city serves a notice to remove it, if it is at least 20 feet from the next residential lot (Ann Arbor City Code). Apart from a repair business, then, a closed garage is the only place junk cars in Ann Arbor can wait with no deadline. If yours is old, damaged or won't start, get an offer on it in its current state, or first read what goes into selling a junk car.
Know what's wrong with it? Our guides to selling a car with a knocking or overheating engine, selling one whose transmission slips or has no reverse and selling a car after an accident each explain what you have to tell a buyer.
Secretary of State branches and the city's vehicle line
- •Titles and plates here go through the Secretary of State, Michigan's DMV. The Ann Arbor Secretary of State office is at 295 N. Maple Road. The branch the state names Ypsilanti is at 4675 Washtenaw Ave., which has an Ann Arbor address, and Chelsea's is at 1113 S. Main St. (Michigan Department of State)
- •You can book a visit up to six months ahead online or at 888-767-6424. Without one, staff find you the next open slot, which may be later that day or the next business day (SOS offices FAQ)
- •Ann Arbor Police's Community Standards unit takes complaints about inoperative and unregistered vehicles on private property and cars parked in the yard: 734.794.6942 (City of Ann Arbor)
Asked by Ann Arbor sellers
Can I hand a car over to a private buyer at U-M's Safe Exchange Zone?
Yes, it's open to the public for legal sales. The zone is the front lobby of the U-M Police Department in the Campus Safety Services Building, 1239 Kipke Dr., open weekdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., plus lot SC16 east of Crisler Center, which is open around the clock except during home football games. Trades there are recorded on video, but police don't screen them.
Can my car sit in a U-M lot over the summer until it sells?
Mostly not. U-M's rules bar parking for 48 hours or more in a row in any university parking area, except Housing and Student Storage areas with a valid permit. The rules also list a pattern of storing a vehicle in a lot as misuse that can cost you your permit privileges.
Can I fix the car up in my Ann Arbor driveway before selling it?
Not with major work. City code bars taking a car apart, rebuilding it or doing major repairs on private property. The exceptions are a car completely inside a garage and work done by a repair business. The same ban covers streets and parking lots.
What if the car breaks down on an Ann Arbor street before pickup?
City code allows a reasonable time, up to 48 hours from when it broke down, to tow it away or get emergency repairs on a street or in a parking lot. While it's there, it must show current plates registered to that car; a car without them can't be left on city streets or lots.
I'm U-M staff on a payroll-deduction permit. Does selling the car stop the charges?
No. Those permits don't expire. Under the payroll authorization, the monthly share of the annual fee keeps accruing, and you stay responsible for it, until the permit is deactivated. So deactivate it once the car is gone.
Signing over a Michigan title is explained on our Michigan page.