Selling a junk car in Albertville

Two chapters, two clocks

Albertville writes about junk cars in two places, and each sets its own limit.

• 48 hours (Chapter 13). Once that time passes, the property-maintenance rule reaches a wrecked, dismantled or "otherwise inoperable" car, or one with no current plate, "whether attended or not."
• 72 hours (Chapter 18). Under Section 18-33, a person in charge of private property, "whether as owner, tenant, occupant, lessee, or otherwise," cannot keep a "partially dismantled, non-operating, wrecked, junked, or discarded vehicle" there past that limit.

Renters are named in both, so this is not only a landlord's problem.

Out of sight is the legal option

Section 13-26 makes it unlawful to keep an inoperable vehicle on a home lot, an apartment complex or a trailer court unless it is "housed in an approved, enclosed and covered structure so as not to be viewable from any public" way. Throwing a tarp over it beside the house falls short of that. Commercial lots need the same covered structure.

Two kinds of business are exempt. A licensed repair shop may hold cars "being repaired or awaiting repair" if they are stored without a health, fire or safety hazard. A licensed junkyard may hold wrecks, but it has to sit behind a solid fence at least eight feet high.

When the letter comes

The code gives you one lever. Under 13-26, anyone "receiving written notice" of a violation may, "within seven days following the date of issue of such notice, request an extension of the date." Count from the date printed on the notice, not the day you opened it. Our page on a notice to remove a car walks through the choices.

Street and city property

Section 18-30 treats a street-parked car as abandoned after it stays "72 hours consecutively." A junked car cannot sit on a street for any length of time. Public property is stricter. Section 13-27 allows 48 hours: a notice goes on the car or to the last owner of record, and after that the city may tow and impound it, with a lien for removal, impoundment and storage. A car on public property "without a current and proper license plate" counts as abandoned outright.

Code Enforcement Officials designated by the Mayor do the removing. To get a car back before it is sold, 18-30 has you pay the cost of taking it in, its upkeep and storage, and "a pro rata of the cost of publication."

Paperwork through Marshall County

Alabama titles come from the Department of Revenue. County license offices handle plates and registration. The Marshall County office we checked is at 425 Gunter Ave., Ste. 110, Guntersville (256-571-7764). Measured in a straight line, it is roughly 8 miles northwest of central Albertville. There could be more offices in the county.

Your signature on the title needs no notary in Alabama. Certify the mileage and make sure it matches what the buyer writes on the application, and keep every owner's name the same as it appears on the title. Take the plates off; they may move to your next car through the plate office. If the title is gone, a replacement costs $15. Some older cars skip it entirely. No title for your Albertville car? Once it has 12 model years behind it and a value of $1,000 or less, you can still sell it to a scrap recycler or a dismantler. That buyer then files form MVT 5-18. See junk car with no title.

Getting an offer

Reach us at (877) 421-6008 or by the form. Share the car's model year and maker, its odometer miles, if the motor fires, and what the title shows. We send the truck to the car, be it under a carport near downtown or inside a repair bay. Albertville is about 21 miles from Gadsden and about 40 from Huntsville. The Alabama page has the statewide rules.