Dead and junk cars in Madison, Alabama

The 48-hour sticker

When a code enforcement officer or a property owner flags a car, section 22-192 has them post a dated notice on it saying the car "will be removed at the direction of the property owner or his agent upon the expiration of 48 hours from the date of the notice." The count starts on the day it is posted. The city also mails a copy, by regular post, to whoever last registered the car. Section 22-193 then lets code enforcement or police remove a car that "reasonably appears to be lost, stolen, or unclaimed." Our page on notices to remove a car covers what to do with one.

Apartment and condo parking lots

Lots that landlords keep for tenants and guests have their own test in section 22-198: "A vehicle shall be defined as abandoned or inoperable under this subdivision if it has an expired license plate or has remained in the same parking lot for a period of 30 days or more." Here the posted notice gives seven days, not 48 hours. A dead car you can't move from a complex lot in Madison is on that clock from the day the sticker goes up.

Front yards and the six-hour limit

At Madison houses, section 32-134 keeps front-yard parking to a paved driveway. It lists "Parking vehicles while being repaired for more than six hours" among the violations. An afternoon brake job is fine. A car on jack stands all week is not. The city sends a ten-day warning first, and no citation issues unless the same party has had at least two warnings in the previous 12 months.

On the street, section 22-200 allows a broken-down or wrecked car only "so long as may be necessitated and required by a wreck, breakdown or other such emergency."

Title offices for a two-county city

Madison straddles Madison and Limestone counties. ADOR's probate list gave us two offices to check:

• 100 North Side Square, Rm. 108, Huntsville, phone 256-532-3553, about 10 miles east of central Madison, as the crow flies
• 100 S. Clinton St., Suite B, Athens, phone 256-233-6430, about 13 miles northwest of Madison's center, as the crow flies

ADOR wants the owner names on a buyer's application to match the title letter for letter. That matters if the car is titled to a couple and only one of you is signing. Unbolt the tag yourself, because it can transfer to your next vehicle. Replacing a missing title runs $15 on ADOR's Public Title Portal. The Alabama page has the rest of the state's rules.

Close by

Huntsville is about 5 miles away, Athens about 12 and Decatur about 16.

Getting an offer

Use the form or phone (877) 421-6008. The offer form asks what we need about your Madison car. Free pickup anywhere in the US covers a Madison driveway, a complex lot with a seven-day notice on it, or a side yard behind the fence.