Warwick, RI Junk Car Pickup: Free Tow, Paid at the Curb

Warwick spreads across thirty-five square miles of Kent County and more than thirty villages, with thirty-nine miles of coastline wrapped around it, so no two pickups in this city look alike. One week the vehicle is on a wide driveway off Route 2; the next it is down a short shoreline lane in Conimicut with a seawall on one side. Dial 1-800-935-8652, describe the vehicle and where it sits, and a flatbed comes to it. You are paid when the car is loaded, and there is nowhere for you to drive to. Worth knowing before you put it off: in Warwick the order to get a junked or unregistered vehicle off private property comes from the police department, or from the city’s property maintenance office when you own the property the car sits on, and the deadline it sets is measured in hours.

Call 1-800-935-8652 for a free offer on your vehicle in Warwick. Free towing, cash on pickup.

💰 Get My Cash Offer

How to sell a junk car in Warwick

Everything starts from an accurate description, so when you call, give the year, make and model, then say whether the engine turns, whether the wheels roll, what has already been stripped and whether the catalytic converter is still underneath. A quote built on a generous description does not survive the driver’s walk-around. After that, the access conversation. Apponaug and Pontiac have older village lots with short setbacks and street widths that predate modern tow rigs. Conimicut, Oakland Beach, Bayside and Shawomet sit on the water, where lanes narrow, turnarounds disappear and parking tightens in summer. Hillsgrove and the blocks around T. F. Green sit between the airport and the Route 37 and Post Road traffic, so the driver will want a time window rather than a window of a whole afternoon. Greenwood, Hoxsie, Norwood and Cedar Hill are mostly conventional driveways. Condominium and marina lots usually need someone to let the truck in. Mention anything blocking the vehicle in, and whether a gate or a management office stands between the truck and the car, before a driver is dispatched rather than after he arrives.

What is a junk car worth in Warwick?

A realistic band for a junk vehicle in Warwick is $150 to $700. Scale weight is the base, so a crew cab, cargo van or full-frame SUV with its engine and transmission still in place prices higher than a compact that has already lost its converter. Beyond weight, it is about what still resells, and this is where a coastal city differs from an inland one. Warwick has thirty-nine miles of shoreline and more marinas and moorings than any other community in Rhode Island, and vehicles kept near the water take salt air on top of the road salt every Rhode Island car eats in January. Brake and fuel lines, exhaust hangers and rear subframes go first, and corroded parts come off the valuation. Converters are the other swing factor, and if one has already been cut off, say so on the phone rather than letting the driver find the empty hangers. The offsetting advantage is distance, or the lack of it. Warwick is about ten minutes from Providence by the city’s own reckoning, with I-95 and I-295 at the edges, so the haul is short and the trucking cost that erodes offers in rural markets is small here.

Title and paperwork rules in Rhode Island

Start with the lien, because that is the step that stalls Rhode Island sales. If a lender was ever on the title, the DMV wants an original Release of Lien with original signatures before it will touch a duplicate application; faxes and photocopies are refused outright, and a loan contract stamped paid does not qualify. Once a lien is satisfied the state does not make you get a fresh title, since a lienholder signature on the title or a release letter attached to it is enough. The second Warwick-relevant wrinkle is age. Rhode Island did not title model year 2000 and older vehicles until January 1, 2024, so plenty of older cars here have only a registration. Those are now titleable: bring a valid or expired registration or a stamped paid sales tax form, a completed TR-2/TR-9 and $53.50 to the Research Office at the Cranston DMV. A straight replacement title uses the same TR-2/TR-9, Application for Title for Vehicles, revision 11/2025, at the same $53.50. It is notarized, it is filed only in Cranston, and the Research Office answers at (401) 462-5774. Branch offices cannot do title work at all.

Warwick abandoned and inoperable vehicle rules

Warwick’s rule sits in Chapter 76 of the Code of Ordinances, Article VI, Junked or Abandoned Vehicles, sections 76-300 through 76-312, adopted as Ord. No. O-13-4 on April 29, 2013. Section 76-301 is the one homeowners meet: the owner of an abandoned, junked or dismantled vehicle has seventy-two hours to remove it after being ordered to do so by the police department, and if the owner cannot be identified the notice can simply be attached to the vehicle. Where the vehicle owner also owns, leases or occupies the property, notice comes from the police or from the city’s property maintenance office. The definition in 76-300 sweeps in anything unregistered, anything lacking the equipment needed to be registered, and anything without a current state inspection certificate under G.L. 31-38-4. Two exceptions are written in: unregistered seasonal farm vehicles used by the owner on their own land, and vehicles bought for restoration that meet the antique definition in G.L. 31-1-3. Penalties run through section 1-4, a fine up to $500 or up to thirty days, with every day counted separately, and three notices inside six months makes you a chronic offender. Warwick Police, 99 Veterans Memorial Drive, routine line (401) 468-4200; Property Maintenance, 65 Centerville Road, (401) 738-2012.

How Fast Can You Get Rid of a Junk Car in Warwick?

Junk car removal in Warwick starts with one call, not a drive anywhere: describe the car and whether it sits on a wide Route 2 driveway or down a narrow Conimicut shore lane to 1-800-935-8652, and a flatbed meets you there, paying cash as the car loads. Warwick also runs its own clock, separate from the rest of Rhode Island: a police order gives you seventy-two hours to clear a junked or unregistered vehicle off your own property, far tighter than the seven days Providence allows, so call the moment that order arrives.

Areas of Warwick we tow from

Coverage runs the full city, all thirty-five square miles of it, across the villages Warwick grew out of. North end work means Pawtuxet, Norwood and Pontiac, up along the Pawtuxet River. Center means Apponaug, Hillsgrove and the commercial spine of Route 2 and Post Road, plus the hotel and rental-car blocks ringing T. F. Green. The bayside villages, Conimicut, Oakland Beach, Bayside and Shawomet, run east toward the water. South and west we take Greenwood, Hoxsie and Cedar Hill, out toward Toll Gate Road and the Kent Hospital blocks. Interstate 95 cuts the city and I-295 clips the western edge, which keeps response times short. We also work the neighboring communities in and around Kent County, including West Warwick, Cranston, East Greenwich and Coventry.

• Apponaug
• Conimicut
• Pawtuxet
• Pontiac
• Hillsgrove
• Norwood
• Oakland Beach
• Bayside
• Shawomet
• Greenwood
• Hoxsie
• Cedar Hill

Frequently asked questions

Warwick police told me to move a car off my own property. How long do I have?

Seventy-two hours. Section 76-301 of the Warwick ordinance says the owner of an abandoned, junked or dismantled vehicle shall remove it within seventy-two hours after being ordered to do so by the police department. If the owner is not known, the department can attach the notice to the vehicle itself. When you are also the homeowner, that notice comes from the police or from the city’s property maintenance office at (401) 738-2012. Three days is not much lead time, so call early.

Can I get permission to keep an unregistered vehicle in my Warwick yard?

Yes, and it does not cost anything. Section 76-310 lets the building official issue a license for open storage, valid sixty days, for a vehicle in legal operating condition that is only temporarily unregistered, for an unregistered but operable vehicle stored by someone serving in the United States military, or for a vehicle being repaired on private property by its owner. Section 76-311 says those licenses are issued in writing and without fee, and they can be extended in further sixty-day blocks for good cause.

I am restoring an old car. Does the ordinance apply to it?

Not if it fits the carve-out. Section 76-300 says the term abandoned, junked or dismantled vehicles does not include vehicles purchased for purposes of restoration that comply with the antique vehicle definition in G.L. 1956 section 31-1-3. The same subsection also excludes unregistered seasonal farm vehicles operated by their owner on their own property. If your project car does not clear that bar, a free sixty-day open storage license from the building official is the legitimate path.

What happens if a tow company takes the vehicle before I deal with it?

A certificated tower has to notify Warwick police within two hours of removing it, then notify the last registered owner and any lienholders within fourteen days by registered mail, return receipt requested. The tower holds a possessory lien for recovery, towing and storage at its filed tariff. If nobody claims the vehicle within thirty days of that mailing, the lien is foreclosed and it goes to public auction. Under section 76-305 the impound lot has to be within ten miles of where it was taken.

Will Warwick keep billing me car tax on a junk vehicle?

No. Rhode Island repealed the motor vehicle and trailer excise tax effective July 1, 2022 under R.I. General Laws section 44-34.1-5, and for fiscal 2023 and after no tax is levied. Warwick’s own community profile lists the motor vehicle tax as eliminated in 2022. You still need to cancel the registration, though, because state law requires insurance for as long as a plate is active, and letting that lapse is its own penalty.

Where do I replace a lost Rhode Island title, and what is the fee?

Only at DMV headquarters in Cranston. Duplicates are not handled at the Middletown, Wakefield or Woonsocket branches. Use the Application for Title for Vehicles, form TR-2/TR-9, revision 11/2025, which prints a $53.50 fee payable to the RI DMV, and the agency’s fee table lists duplicate title at $53.50 as well. Your signature has to be notarized, the notary must sign and print, and a Rhode Island notary stamp has to be inked rather than embossed.

My 1999 van only ever had a registration, never a title. Is that a problem?

It used to be a quirk and now it is a fix. Rhode Island did not title vehicles of model year 2000 and older before January 1, 2024. Since that date every vehicle is eligible for a title, including older ones that were registered under the previous rule. To get one, present a valid registration, an expired registration or a stamped paid sales tax form, along with a completed TR-2/TR-9 and $53.50, to the Research Office at the Cranston DMV.

Does salt air near the bay change what my car is worth here?

It affects the parts half of the offer, not the scrap half. Warwick has thirty-nine miles of coastline and more marinas and moorings than any other Rhode Island community, and vehicles kept near the water corrode faster at the brake lines, fuel lines, exhaust hangers and subframes. Those are exactly the components a dismantler would otherwise resell. Scale weight still pays the same, which is why a heavy truck from a shoreline village can still land near the top of the $150 to $700 range.

Ready to get rid of it? Call 1-800-935-8652 and we will quote your car in Warwick over the phone, tow it free, and pay you cash at pickup.

💰 Get My Cash Offer

Cash for junk cars across Rhode Island