Sell your car in Detroit: daily driver, rusted or not running
Full coverage in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area averaged $3,696 a year in a February 2025 national study, against $3,131 for Michigan as a whole. Whether it's your daily driver or a car that quit last winter, describe it for a cash offer. We come to it anywhere in the city or the suburbs around it.
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When the car has been tagged or towed
- The street clock is 48 hours. City ordinance treats a car as abandoned once it has sat 48 straight hours on a public street, alley or public place and looks unclaimed. On someone else's private property, the limit is 48 hours without the owner's consent. For a car that's yours, the police department's page says to move it, have it towed, or donate it.
- If it was towed, watch for the state's notice. In the process reported in August 2024, police tell the state within 24 hours of an abandoned-vehicle tow. The state then mails the registered owner who towed it, where it is and the deadline to claim it. Cars not claimed within 20 days of the date on that notice go to the city's auction. Any police precinct can give you information about a towed car.
- A blight tow brings its tickets along. Under the city's release procedures, as reported then, a car towed for blight violations isn't released until its outstanding tickets are paid. An owner who denies responsibility posts a $1,500 bond and shows proof of ownership to get it back.
Where we pick up around Detroit
We cover the city and the ring around it in one trip. That means every Detroit neighborhood up to 8 Mile Road, the city's northern border, and on past it into Warren, Sterling Heights and Southfield. To the west and downriver, Dearborn, Livonia and Taylor are covered, and so are Hamtramck and Highland Park, the two cities Detroit almost entirely surrounds. If there's a car and a title, we'll come to it.
Search your plate first: the city's Parking Ticket Search looks up Detroit tickets by plate and state. Once six or more tickets in your name go unanswered, city code lets the Municipal Parking Department boot or tow any car registered to you. The Parking Violations Bureau sets up payment plans, but a plan only counts if it is active before the boot goes on.
Cash for your car in Detroit
By the Department of Public Works' count, about 80% of Detroit's snow events bring 3 inches or less, and crews handle those by salting the major streets. Rusted rocker panels, a flood-damaged interior, high miles or a dead engine: the car still gets a real cash offer. We come to it in the driveway, the backyard or the garage.
A car that has stopped for good is also a code problem here. City code makes it unlawful to keep an inoperative or unlicensed car on any premises, including one in major disassembly or being stripped for parts. The only allowance is mechanical work on one car inside a garage or other enclosed structure (Sec. 8-15-110), and a blight ticket can be written for each day the violation continues (Sec. 8-15-10). If you're after cash for junk cars in Detroit, a stripped or dead car like the one that section describes can still sell as a junk car.
For a dead engine, selling a car with a blown or seized engine helps you tell a head gasket from a rod knock before you describe the car. A flood-damaged interior or crash damage is covered in selling a crash- or flood-damaged car, and if the insurer has declared it a total loss, selling a totaled car explains the salvage title that follows.
What a car that stops moving can cost here
- •The city's blight fine for failing to remove an inoperable or unlicensed car from a property is $100 for a first offense, $250 for a second and $500 for a third or later (source)
- •Detroit police said they had towed 7,774 abandoned vehicles in 2024 as of July 31 (source)
- •The police department's abandoned-vehicle page listed three police vehicle auctions for September 2026, on the 11th, 16th and 23rd (source)
Asked by Detroit sellers
Where is a Secretary of State office in Detroit if my title needs work?
There are several inside the city. The Secretary of State's 2025 and 2026 notices list offices at 580 E. Warren Ave. in Midtown, 2835 Bagley St. and 14634 Mack Ave., and the state says every office offers instant title service. Book a visit at Michigan.gov/SOS or 888-767-6424 (this is the office many people search for as the Michigan DMV), and the scheduler tells you what to bring. In the March 2026 notice, the E. Warren office was open weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
I want to sell my junk car in Detroit, but it has a parking boot on it. Can it be picked up?
Not until the city takes the boot off. Under Detroit code, nobody the city hasn't authorized may remove a boot or move a booted car, a tow company's staff included. Moving one is a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $500, up to 90 days in jail, or both. To get the car released within 21 days, pay what's owed at the Parking Violations Bureau, (313) 963-9630, or go there in person to request a hearing in writing. If the city impounds the car instead, the same 21 days apply from the impoundment notice. After that, the car is treated as abandoned and can be sold.
My car already got a blight ticket. Where do I deal with it?
At the Department of Appeals and Hearings, the city department that decides blight cases. It sits in the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, 2 Woodward Ave., Suite 1004, open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., phone (313) 224-0098. City code has the fines for an inoperable or unlicensed car paid there, and the department's page also links to paying a blight ticket online.
Do these Detroit rules apply if the car is in Hamtramck or Highland Park?
No. Hamtramck and Highland Park are separate cities, each with its own mayor, city council, police department and city services. The code sections on this page are Detroit's, so check your own city's rules for a parked or dead car there.
Signing a Michigan title and handling your plate work the same in Detroit as anywhere else in the state, so our Michigan selling guide covers them.