Homewood's seven-day rule and selling a dead car

What Section 19-73 covers

The seven-day limit applies "whether attended or not," and it reaches streets, alleys, rights-of-way and private yards alike. Past that point, the code says the car's presence "is hereby declared a public nuisance." Two exceptions are written in:

• a car "totally enclosed within a building on private property"
• vehicles held by a business with a Homewood license operating in the right zone

A carport or a cover is not a building, so neither one meets the first exception.

The same section carries two more rules that catch families with a spare car. Only "persons licensed by the state to operate a motor vehicle" may store or park a vehicle in the city. And a licensed driver living in a residential district may not keep "more than two (2) motor vehicles" on the property or the street beside it. A dead third car in the driveway breaks that count even if it moved last week.

Notice, removal and the bill

Section 19-77 sets out who answers for the car. The vehicle's owner, or the property's owner or occupant, has to take it away "upon notice and opportunity to be heard." If the city does the removal instead, that person "shall be liable for the expenses incurred." A tenant can be named as easily as a landlord. Our notice to remove a car guide walks through answering one.

Street parking and impound

The 48-hour street limit in Section 19-29 is aimed at commercial vehicles and trailers. A disabled one can stay up to 72 hours only if you tell the police department why it cannot move before the 48 hours run out.

Section 19-34 makes any unoccupied car parked "for a length of time prohibited by any ordinance" an obstruction that officers may impound. Section 19-37 lets an owner reclaim it any time before the sale with a written claim, on the chief's own form, once the charges are paid. City lots and parks close to parking too: Section 14-95 bars leaving a car on public property more than "one (1) hour of the closure of the facilities" without a permit.

Jefferson County title office and Alabama rules

Homewood title work goes to the office we checked at 716 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. in Birmingham (205-325-5256), about 4 miles straight north of central Homewood. Jefferson County may run other offices too.

• Alabama does not ask for a notary when you sign the title.
• Certify the odometer figure. Your assignment and the buyer's application have to show the same number.
• The buyer's application has to list owners exactly the way your title does.
• Take your plates off; the plate-issuing office can tell you whether they can go on your next vehicle.
• ADOR's Public Title Portal handles lost-title replacements for a $15 fee; see junk car with no title.
• There is no emissions test anywhere in the state.

Getting an offer

Homewood owners can call (877) 421-6008 or use the offer form. We collect from a driveway off 18th Street South or a side street near Samford. Nearby pages cover Vestavia Hills, Birmingham and Mountain Brook; after you sell covers the last steps.