Sell your car in Columbus: running, broken down or past fixing
To sell your car in Columbus, OH, fill in the form for an instant cash offer. It takes minutes, and pickup comes to the car anywhere around the outerbelt. Below are the Columbus rules that matter while you sell: where a car that won't run is allowed to sit, how to get one back from the city impound lot, and which Franklin County title office to use.
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Getting a car back from the city impound lot
- Call before you go. The police impound lot is at 2700 Impound Lot Road. The impound line is (614) 645-4620, and the lot is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (City of Columbus).
- Bring paperwork in the owner's name. You need a physical ID that is current or expired within 30 days, plus the current registration or the title. The lot won't accept a signed-over Ohio title, and it releases the car only to the owner named on the front. Bring a title but no current registration, and the car has to leave on a tow truck (City of Columbus).
- Pay the fees, or give the car up. Mobility & Parking Services takes cash, credit or debit cards and money orders, but not personal checks. If the car isn't worth the bill, you can forfeit it to the city instead once the impound fees and all parking tickets are paid, and forfeiting skips the storage fees (Section 2107.09). Check your offer against the fees before you choose.
Where we pick up around Columbus
Pickup covers Columbus and the suburbs inside and beyond the outerbelt, and it usually lands within a few days. On the northwest side that means Dublin (43017), Hilliard and Upper Arlington. Up top it's Westerville, New Albany and Polaris (43240); out east, Gahanna and Reynoldsburg; to the south, Grove City. Downtown (43215) is covered, and so is every smaller city on Franklin County's own list, from Bexley and Canal Winchester to Whitehall and Worthington.
Columbus tip: Franklin County's title offices take appointments, and with one you can wait in your car until the office texts or calls you in (Clerk of Courts). Book one if the title is lost and you need a duplicate before pickup day; the county's fee schedule lists it at $23. If a new title isn't possible, see our guide to selling a car without a title.
Cash for your car in Columbus
Columbus zoning allows an inoperable vehicle on a lot only inside an enclosed garage (Section 3312.37), so the driveway and the yard are both off limits. Inoperable is a low bar. The city's traffic code counts a car with two or more flat tires, or with no plate valid for the current year, as inoperable (Section 2101.56), so a car that still starts can qualify.
Looking for cash for cars in Columbus, OH, because one has stopped running? Fill in the form with the car as it is. Say whether it starts and where it's parked: a garage, a driveway or the curb. If the car is past fixing, here is how selling a junk car works.
If it stopped running because of a blown head gasket or a seized engine, selling a car with a blown engine explains that sale, and a transmission that has gone into limp mode or lost reverse is covered in selling a car with transmission failure. For a car off the road after a crash, see selling an accident-damaged car.
Fees at the Columbus impound lot
- •$125 towing fee for a vehicle up to 7,000 pounds; heavier vehicles may cost more (source)
- •$18 a day in storage for a vehicle under 10,050 pounds, for each 24 hours or part of one (source)
- •$30 administrative fee. It and the storage fee apply once a certified notice has been sent, and any open parking tickets are added on top (source)
Asked by Columbus sellers
How long can a car stay parked on a Columbus street?
Seventy-two hours in one spot. After that, city code says a car has to move at least 75 feet (Section 2151.09). A car that can't be moved runs into a second rule: one that counts as inoperable under the city's definition above can't stay on the street longer than 72 hours in a row (Section 2151.22). A car whose registration has lapsed isn't allowed on a city street in the first place (Section 2151.21).
What happens to a car on the street during a Columbus snow emergency?
The mayor can declare one when two inches of snow are forecast with more on the way, or when ice makes driving unsafe. Drivers are treated as notified two hours after the announcement. From then on, police can have a car towed from a street posted "No Stopping During Snow Emergency" or from another street the city names for snow removal, and the owner pays the towing and storage (Chapter 2157). A car that won't start can't be moved in time, so don't leave it on one of those streets.
Does Columbus have a camera-watched spot for meeting an online buyer?
Five. The city runs Internet Purchase Exchange Zones at Columbus police substations, and a city-owned camera records each exchange: 8118 Sancus Blvd. (Far North), 5400 Olentangy River Rd. (North), 1371 Cleveland Ave. (Northeast), 4215 Clime Rd. (Far West) and 2500 Park Crescent Dr. (Far East). Each zone has a sign in view of the camera, and the city encourages you to make the exchange near it (City of Columbus).
Which title office do I use in Columbus?
Franklin County's Clerk of Courts runs four title offices: Title North at 220 E. Campus View Blvd., Title South at 45 Great Southern Blvd., Title East at 1583 Alum Creek Dr. and Title West at 4153 W. Broad St. All four are open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Title North is the only one with Saturday hours, 8 a.m. to noon, and Title South opens at 8:15 a.m. on Wednesdays (Clerk of Courts). At an appointment, every party needs valid photo ID, and one visit covers up to five title transactions (Clerk of Courts).
Before the truck comes, check how Ohio wants the title signed and notarized; our Ohio page walks through it.