Sell your car in Cranston: running, wrecked or with a salvage title
Sell your car in Cranston, RI: the offer is firm, and pickup costs nothing in any part of the city. Overnight parking on Cranston streets is prohibited all year, and when the February 2026 blizzard dropped 39 inches, the city called a parking ban until further notice. A car you've stopped driving needs a driveway, a lot or a new owner.
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If a crash or a pothole did the damage
- Put a minor crash on record. When the police do not need to be involved, Cranston Police take a do-it-yourself (DYS) report for insurance. Fill it in at home or in the lobby at police headquarters; the Traffic Division reviews it and gives it a case number to pass to your insurer. Incomplete or illegible reports are not processed.
- Blame a city pothole? Use the city's form. The Pothole Accident Report goes to the City Clerk's Office, Room 207, City Hall, 869 Park Avenue, with an itemized repair bill, a copy of the vehicle registration and photos of the pothole and the area around it.
- Write down the details before pickup. The pothole form also asks for the odometer reading and the VIN. Note both and copy the registration while the car is still with you, then ask us to price the car just as it stands.
Where we pick up around Cranston
We buy cars in Cranston from one end of the city to the other, and pickup is free: Edgewood, Pawtuxet Village, Auburn, Knightsville, Garden City, Oaklawn and western Cranston. It also crosses the city line into Warwick and Johnston. A driveway, a condo lot or the back of an apartment complex all work, and your plates come off in the driveway. Pickup can usually happen within the week you ask; when you book, you get a realistic day based on where the car is and which papers you have.
Clearing spare tires out before pickup? Cranston no longer takes tires with regular trash. Drop them at the Highway Department dumpster, 929 Phenix Avenue, weekdays 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., at no charge. The Oil Igloo in the same municipal complex takes up to 10 gallons of used motor oil per resident.
Rhode Island's duplicate titles come from New London Avenue
The RI DMV's headquarters is in Cranston, at 600 New London Avenue, and the DMV's title page says duplicate titles are processed there and nowhere else. You cannot just walk in: the DMV lists the headquarters as open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., by reservation only. When you apply, the Research Office in the same building can help document the vehicle's information.
A lost title does not have to hold up the sale. You can ask for an offer while the duplicate is on order, and the pickup is set for after it arrives.
Cash for your car in Cranston
During a citywide parking ban, Cranston Police ticket and tow cars left on the street. After the blizzard, the city's recovery notes said parked cars cause the greatest delay once the snow stops, because they keep plows from reaching the curb, and that recovery would take days and, in some areas, weeks.
If yours has been stuck at the curb because it won’t start, cash for junk cars in Cranston covers it, along with cars that are old, rusted, wrecked, flood-damaged or carrying a salvage brand. Say on the form whether it starts, so the right truck is sent; the car is checked against what you described at pickup. If fixing it would cost more than it’s worth, see how selling a junk car works.
Whether a crash, a pothole or a flood did the damage, selling a car with crash or flood damage explains how a buyer prices it and what you must disclose. If your insurer has declared it a total loss, selling a totaled car walks through the payout, buying the car back and the salvage title that follows.
Other Cranston offices that deal with cars
- •Cranston Municipal Court, at 5 Garfield Avenue, the same address as police headquarters, hears Cranston parking and other city-ordinance cases. Its clerk's office is open 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, and suspensions must be paid with certified funds or exact cash (Cranston Municipal Court)
- •Crash reports come from the Cranston Police Records Division, weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at (401) 477-5020, or can be ordered online for an added fee (Records Division; Traffic Unit)
- •The Cranston Police VIN verification station at 900 Phenix Avenue checks cars that were registered or titled in another state, Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The $20 fee is check or money order only (Cranston Police VIN station)
Asked by Cranston sellers
After I sell, will Cranston still bill me car tax?
No new ones. In August 2022 the city's tax office announced that motor vehicle tax bills had been 100% phased out by the state. Older bills are another matter: prior-year motor vehicle taxes are still due and collectable. If one left a block at the DMV, the city says an online payment will not remove it automatically: pay by debit or credit card online, or with cash or certified funds in person, then call the Tax Collector's office at 401-780-3333 to have it removed (City of Cranston).
The car belonged to a Cranston resident who has died. Which office handles the estate?
The Cranston Probate Court, handled through the City Clerk's office; the probate clerk's line is (401) 780-3197. Its fee schedule lists $39 for a voluntary informal administrator or executor, and $84 or $134 to open an administration, depending on whether advertising is waived or required (Cranston Probate Court).
What if Cranston calls a parking ban before the pickup day?
If the car runs, move it off the street: during a ban there is no parking on any city street. For the January 2026 storm ban, the city listed free public parking at the William Hall Library and the Cranston Memorial Ice Rink (City of Cranston). If it does not run, give us its location when you book.
Rhode Island’s own steps, from signing the title and handing over a lien release to cancelling your plates, are on our Rhode Island page.