Selling a junk or dead car in Birmingham

The hauling rules in full

Section 10-18-2 reads like a load checklist:

• Nothing on the load may sit higher than "13½ feet from the road bed."
• The junk car may not stick out more than five feet past the rear of the bed, and it may not stick out past the sides of the bed at all.
• No debris or scrap may fall onto a city street.
• One junk car may ride on another only on a proper car carrier, tractor trailer, flatbed or trailer.
• A car without "wheels and tires in a good and usable condition" needs a dolly under it if a wrecker pulls it, so that "no part of the junk vehicle shall come into contact with the surface of any street."

The city's fine schedule in Section 8-3-10 lists "Illegal hauling of junk vehicles" at $100, plus court costs. For how the pickup itself works, see junk car removal.

When a parked car becomes a nuisance

Section 11-8-72 sets the test for private property. A car, trailer or semitrailer is an inoperable motor vehicle once it "has remained on private property and in view of the general public for 30 days" and one or more of its "major mechanical components, including, but not limited to, the engine, transmission, drive train, or wheels, are missing or are not functional."

Two exceptions:

• Repairs. A car laid up "to perform ordinary service or repair operations" is not a nuisance for up to 60 days.
• The right business. A car on the premises of a wrecking or junking business, or one mainly storing cars for sale, is not counted.

Section 11-8-8 uses a broader definition: a car that "is not capable of being moved safely from one location to another under its own power or which does not meet the requirements for operation upon the public street." Expired tags can fit the second half.

What it costs to ignore

The fines are written into the code:

The first two offenses can be settled administratively. Court costs are added to most scheduled offenses, though parking violations on the local schedule are not.

The front-yard rule catches a lot of dead cars. Under Section 11-8-9, a car may not be parked in a home's front yard unless it sits on "a paved and properly permitted driveway" that leads to a carport, an attached garage, or a parking spot in the side or back yard. Parking over a curb, sidewalk or unpaved strip of the right-of-way is banned too.

Shops and lots have their own duty

Section 10-1-11 covers service stations, garages, towing services, repair shops, parts shops and car lots. They may not let disabled cars be stored or dismantled in view, and the fence that hides them must be "nontransparent," at least eight feet high, with gates kept closed.

Impounds for unlicensed drivers

Under Section 10-8-36, a car driven by someone without a valid license can be impounded. Two deadlines follow. A registered or legal owner may ask for a post-impound hearing by filing written notice with the office of the chief of police "within ten days of the impound." And "Any vehicle impounded that is not redeemed pursuant to this section within 45 days may be sold by the city according to state law." See towed or impounded.

The Arrington Boulevard office

Parts of Birmingham are in Jefferson County and parts are in Shelby County. We checked a Jefferson County office at 716 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd., Birmingham (205-325-5256). In a straight line, that is under a mile southwest of downtown. The county may have others. County offices handle plates and registration, and the Alabama Department of Revenue issues titles.

Alabama paperwork in brief

• Signature. No notary for the seller's assignment.
• Mileage. Certified, and identical on the assignment and the buyer's application.
• Names. Exactly as on the title.
• Plates. Yours to remove; they can move to your next car.
• Lost title. A replacement is $15 through ADOR.

Some older cars need no title at all. Birmingham scrap recyclers and dismantlers use Notice form MVT 5-18 to buy a car valued at $1,000 or less that has reached 12 model years. The buyer files that form on the SCRAP portal. For any other car, the dismantler needs the current title, properly transferred. Either way, Alabama suspends or revokes the title once the car is scrapped. More at junk car with no title.

Getting an offer

Phone (877) 421-6008 or send the form listing model year, maker, miles, running condition and where the title stands now. Pickup works at the curb where it quit, up a rear driveway or on a repair shop lot. Birmingham is about 4 miles from Mountain Brook and about 11 from Hoover. The Alabama page has the statewide rules.