Selling a junk or dead car in Texarkana, Arkansas

Texarkana's ten-day rule

The rule lives in Chapter 44, the traffic chapter, and it has three parts.

• City property. No one may abandon a car in the city or on city property, or leave one so long that it "reasonably" appears "to have been abandoned or junked."
• Streets. No one may leave a "partially dismantled, unlicensed, nonoperating, wrecked or junked vehicle on any street or highway within the city." The code's only carve-out is a city-run dumping ground used under its rules.
• Private land. Ten days is the limit, for the owner, a tenant or whoever controls the lot, and for anyone who leaves such a car there.

The list names "unlicensed" as its own item, apart from "nonoperating." The code gives no definition of "unlicensed." Exceptions follow the ten-day sentence; check the Municode text before relying on one.

Two zoning sections tell you how the city thinks about stored wrecks. Truck stops get two weeks: "No inoperable vehicles shall remain on the property for a time greater than two weeks" (Section 50-179). A wrecker service that holds wrecked cars must keep them "screened entirely within enclosed opaque fence or wall," seven to ten feet tall, and no storage is allowed between the street and that fence (Section 50-148).

When the city tows

Section 44-97 lets the chief of police or city inspectors remove a car that "reasonably appears to be in violation" of the rules above, or that is lost, stolen or unclaimed. The code holds it "until lawfully claimed or disposed of in accordance with the ordinances of this city."

If your car is on private land, you get warning first. The car is not removed until the city has mailed written notice "to remove said vehicle within ten days of the mailing of such notice." That is your second ten days, and it starts at mailing, not when you open the letter.

On the street, a police or fire officer can have a wrecked or disabled car moved by an authorized wrecker when the person in charge of it is hurt or not nearby. A car reported stolen can be moved too.

Towing charges have a ceiling. Section 48-205 says wrecker companies may not charge more than the board of directors' fee schedule for non-consent tows and storage, and the bill must be itemized. A wrecker may charge less, or nothing.

What Arkansas law adds after a tow

State law runs a separate clock once a tow and storage firm has the car. Under Ark. Code 27-50-1208, a certified letter has to go out to the owner and any lienholder, mailed at least 2 and at most 8 business days from the day the lot took custody. In it you learn you have 30 days to challenge whether the tow was proper (27-50-1207). The letter also starts a 45-day window to get the car back. Miss that, and the lien holder can sell it for cash at a nonjudicial public sale (27-50-1209).

A car left at a repair shop is a different case. Under 27-50-1101 the shop may treat it as abandoned after 45 days unclaimed, or 45 days past the finished work with the bill still open. See stuck at a repair shop for that one.

Parking signs

Texarkana's street parking limits are posted, not blanket. Where signs give a time limit, it applies "between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. of any day except Sundays and public holidays" (Section 44-58). Where signs ban parking during set hours, the same Sunday and holiday exception applies (Section 44-57). A dead car left on a signed block runs into those limits on any day but Sundays and holidays, apart from the junk-car rule.

Title and plates on the Arkansas side

Arkansas titles run through the Department of Finance and Administration's Office of Motor Vehicle. Counter work happens at DFA's State Revenue Offices, run by the state rather than by a county clerk. You can also transfer a plate, apply for a title and pay sales tax online at MyDMV. Miller County's part is limited to property tax. Its assessor values the car, its collector bills the tax, and both get checked when you renew.

Selling takes two pieces of paper. First, sign the back of the title and pass it across. Next, you and the buyer write up Form 10-313 side by side, covering VIN, buyer, date, description, the miles on the odometer, the full sale price and a signature from each of you. No notary step appears in DFA's instructions. DFA's Notice of Transfer of Ownership costs nothing and is your choice to file, by mail or at the counter. Ark. Code 27-14-911 says that after a real sale and handover, a seller does not answer for how the next driver handles the car.

Your plates do not ride away with the car. Move them to a later vehicle for $1.00. No emissions or safety inspection stands in the way.

A replacement for a lost title is $10.00 at any State Revenue Office; allow at least three weeks. Lost the title on something 25 or more years old? For dismantling, DFA takes a bill of sale listing year, make, model and VIN, mailed along with the Notice of Intent to Dismantle. More on that in selling with no title.

Nearby towns

Every town near Texarkana on our list sits well up the interstate: Hot Springs at about 90 miles, then Benton, Bryant and Pine Bluff. For statewide rules, see Arkansas.

Getting an offer

Phone (877) 421-6008, or fill out the form here. Send the model, its rough mileage, whether the starter catches, plus the titled owner. From there a tow rig rolls out to it, in a yard counting down a city letter, behind a repair shop, or along a signed block downtown.