Junking a Vehicle From a Closed Business

We did not find a Washington vehicle rule that speaks to how a dissolved or closed company signs a title. So gather what shows your role and take it to a licensing office.

• The title, showing the company as owner. If it is lost, WAC 308-56A-200 says a replacement goes only to owners of record.
• Your operating agreement or partnership agreement.
• Your Secretary of State record, including dissolution papers if you filed them.
• Any written agreement on winding the company down, naming who handles its property.
• Information on any lender or unpaid debt secured by the vehicle.

Some closings involve partners, creditors or an unfinished bankruptcy. If yours does, talk to an attorney before you sell anything the company owned.

If there was a loan and the lender also closed, the Department of Licensing (DOL) gives two routes: petition a superior or district court, with an order naming the year, make, model and VIN, or if the lienholder was a Washington dealer, file a complaint. Our guide to a lost title and an old lien explains more.

This is the path where the temptation to cut a corner is strongest. The truck is on your land and the tenant is gone. Even so, the WSP guide says “You cannot sell or assume ownership of vehicles or vessels”. For a car on your land, the honest answer is no, unless it qualifies and goes through the junk vehicle process.

1. Check the vehicle’s status

   Find out who the owner of record is, and try to reach them. A signed release solves the problem.

2. See if it qualifies as a junk vehicle

   Under RCW 46.55.010, that takes at least three of four criteria: three years or older, extensively damaged, apparently inoperable, and fair market value only of scrap. An authorized official has to inspect and certify it.

3. Follow the notice steps

   Under RCW 46.55.230, you mail notice to the last registered and legal owners. More than fifteen days later, you may dispose of it or sign an affidavit of sale. If there is no record, it is immediate.

4. Consider the alternatives

   A registered tow may be right if you do not want to deal with this. See towing from private property. If rent is owed, RCW 59.18.310 covers left-behind property, though it does not name vehicles, and WAC 308-56A-311 covers title under a landlord’s lien. See a tenant left a car behind. That statute may not reach a commercial lease, so ask before relying on it.

In Tacoma, the city cannot remove abandoned or inoperable vehicles on private property. There, for a vehicle the owner has had no affiliation with, the property owner submits a DOL Junk Vehicle Affidavit, and a Road Use Enforcement officer inspects and signs it.

A hauler’s license comes with duties. RCW 46.79.020 lets a hauler move a junk vehicle upon obtaining the title, a release of interest from the owner, or an affidavit of sale from a landowner who complied with RCW 46.55.230. RCW 46.79.070 makes removing a vehicle without the property owner’s written permission and department-approved documentation a ground for fining a licensee. If someone offers to remove a truck with no paper at all, ask what they will hold while transporting it. You can read more on our license page or in how to check a hauler’s license.

A vehicle from a closed business is not a typical sale, so do not book until we have spoken. Call us at (206) 941-0612 and tell us what you have, and we will tell you whether we can take it. It helps to know the name on the title, your role, what documents you have, whether a lender is listed, and whether the truck is on property you control. We need one of: a Title, an Affidavit in Lieu of Title, or a Junk Vehicle Affidavit.

For heavy vehicles, see junk truck removal.