Used Cars in Hackensack, NJ

Hackensack is the closest city to our lot, and it is worth being precise about why: Apex Motors sits in South Hackensack Township, which is a separate municipality from the City of Hackensack. Different town, different code, different parking rules. What they share is about 2.8 miles of Route 46, River Street and Essex Street — call it six minutes off-peak, fifteen at rush hour.

That makes us the nearest multi-brand used lot to a city of roughly 46,000 people, carrying Honda, Toyota, Ford, Mazda, BMW, Nissan and Lexus in one place. If you want to compare a CR-V against a RAV4 against a Rogue without driving to three franchise dealerships, that is the practical reason to come down.

Why buy a used car in Hackensack

Most of the city rents, and most households run one car

Hackensack is 36.6% owner-occupied — by some distance the lowest rate of any Bergen municipality we serve — with 2.20 people per household and a median household income of $84,277. What that adds up to is a city of renters and small households where the car has to do everything, because there usually is not a second one. Reliability and a clean, readable service history matter more here than they do in a two-car suburb, and that is why every vehicle we list carries a free CARFAX you can read before you commit.

Rail parking is not the answer

Three Pascack Valley Line stations serve the city, and between them they have very little parking. Anderson Street has 52 spaces along Railroad Avenue. Essex Street has 221 across two lots. That is 273 commuter spaces for 46,000 residents, with New Bridge Landing in neighbouring River Edge taking some of the northern load. Mean travel time to work is 28.9 minutes, the shortest of the Bergen towns we cover, which tells you most people are driving locally rather than commuting into Manhattan.

The hospital runs around the clock

Hackensack University Medical Center on Prospect Avenue is one of Bergen County’s largest employers, with roughly 800 licensed beds and around 9,000 staff. Hospitals run three shifts, and a shift worker’s requirements are specific: something that starts reliably at 5:30 in the morning in February, costs little to fuel, and does not surprise you with a repair bill. Fairleigh Dickinson’s Metropolitan Campus is close by as well.

Neighbourhoods we cover

We have a dedicated page for Fairmount, the residential section around Fairmount Avenue, Summit Avenue, Prospect Avenue and Grand Avenue — worth reading if you live there, because Grand, Summit and Prospect are all snow-emergency no-parking streets for their entire length. If you are set on a particular make, our Honda and Toyota pages for Hackensack go deeper on models than this page does.

What a used car actually costs in Hackensack

New Jersey charges 6.625% sales tax on a used vehicle, and it is calculated after your trade-in allowance comes off — so a trade-in lowers the tax as well as the price. Three things have to line up: the trade-in is a motor vehicle, it goes to a registered dealer for resale, and the purchase and the trade-in happen at the same time. Sell your old car privately first and the credit is gone.

Title transfer is $60, or $85 if the car is financed and carries one lien. Registration is charged on weight and model year rather than value. Most used passenger cars land between $46.50 and $84 a year. The MVC publishes a calculator if you want the exact figure for a specific car.

New Jersey does not cap dealer documentation fees. What it does require is that the advertised price already includes them — the rule excepts only licensing costs, registration fees and taxes — and that each documentary service is itemised in writing on the sale document in at least 10-point type. So the number worth comparing between dealers is the advertised price, not the doc fee on its own.

One thing that surprises a lot of buyers: when you buy from a licensed dealer you do not go to the MVC at all. The dealer files the title and registration. You only need an agency if you are buying privately. For the record, the nearest MVC to Hackensack is Lodi at 8 Mill Street — but Lodi is a licensing centre only, so it cannot do a title or registration even if you wanted it to. The nearest agency that handles vehicle work is Wallington, 450 Main Avenue. Bergen County’s one state inspection station is at 20 W. Century Road in Paramus, with Lodi’s lanes currently listed as temporarily closed.

Distance and directions

From Hackensack to Apex Motors of South Hackensack

About 2.8 miles. South on River Street or Hudson Street to Moonachie Road, onto Route 46 and off at Main Street — roughly six minutes with clear roads, fifteen in traffic. It is the shortest run to our lot from any city we serve.

From Hackensack to Apex Motors of Pine Brook

About 19 miles west via I-80, roughly 25 to 35 minutes. Call first and we will tell you which lot has the car you want before you make the drive.

Sunday closing

Both lots are closed on Sundays. New Jersey law makes buying or selling motor vehicles on a Sunday a disorderly persons offence statewide, so this is not a Bergen County quirk and not a choice we make — every dealership in the state is shut. Saturday is our busiest day; a weekday evening gets you more time.