A dead car in Northport: street ban, yard notice, title

The yard rule and its ten-day clock

Northport's inoperable-car article covers cars "parked on private property in public view." Section 42-81 says that in a residential zone, whoever controls the property, owner or tenant, may not let a junked or inoperable car stay "longer than ten calendar days after written notice has been served." The code's list of covered cars is wide: abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, rusted and partly dismantled all count.

When the city cannot hand you the notice, Section 42-90 lets it mail one. That letter is treated as received "within five days of mailing regardless of whether the notice is actually received." The owner then gets ten days. A car still in place after that is hauled off by the city, which bills the expense to whoever is registered as owner. Before the ten days lapse, the owner, a secured party or the landowner may put a written request to the city council for a hearing.

When a dead car is allowed to stay

Section 42-89 lists three ways out:

• The car is laid up for ordinary service or repair, for no more than 30 days.
• It sits at a properly zoned wrecking or junk business, or a lot that stores and sells insurers' damaged or theft-recovered cars.
• It is in an enclosed building, or behind privacy fencing that hides it completely from anyone off the property.

A tarp is not on that list. Neither is a gap in the fence.

If the city already hauled it

Section 42-85 gives the city a lien on every impounded car for the cost of removing it. Section 42-97 keeps redemption open right up until a sale or the crusher. The owner shows the city proof the car is theirs and pays the removal costs, any sale advertising costs, and the storage charges. Note too that trucks and trailers get only one hour on a public street or lot under Section 70-53.

Title and plates in Tuscaloosa County

Alabama titles come from the state Department of Revenue, and county offices handle plates and registration. One Tuscaloosa County office we checked is at 2501 7th St., Ste. 100, in Tuscaloosa, phone 205-349-3870. It is about 4 miles southeast of the middle of Northport, as the crow flies.

Alabama's seller rules are short:

• No notary is needed on the seller's title assignment.
• Certify the odometer reading. The figure on your assignment and the one on the buyer's application have to agree, and so do the owner names.
• The plates come off with you. The county plate office can say whether they carry over to your next vehicle.
• Replacing a missing title costs $15, applied for on the state's Public Title Portal.
• Older, low-value cars have a no-title route. A Northport clunker valued at $1,000 or less, with 12 or more model years behind it, can leave with no title held by you. The scrapper then reports it to the state with form MVT 5-18 through SCRAP.

More on the paperwork is in selling with no title and after you sell.

Nearby

Tuscaloosa is 4.2 miles away. Bessemer (36.9 miles) and Helena (41.1 miles) are farther out. Statewide rules are on the Alabama page.

Getting an offer

Send the details online or at (877) 421-6008: the model and year, current mileage, and whether it starts. Tell us too which person the Alabama title is made out to. Our truck goes to it, whether it is parked behind a privacy fence, sitting on a Northport driveway, or waiting in a repair bay.