Selling a dead car in Auburndale

Who the 10-day rule covers

The rule reaches "any property within the city," and it names everyone who might be in charge of it: "owner, tenant, occupant, lessee or otherwise." A second sentence closes the gap for cars left by someone else: "No person shall leave any such vehicle on any property within the city for a longer time than ten (10) days."

Three settings are carved out:

• a vehicle "in an enclosed building," such as a closed garage
• a vehicle at a lawful business that holds any city license it needs
• a vehicle in a storage place the city keeps

The list names only "an enclosed building." A car under a cover out in the yard is not on it.

What the city looks for

Section 13-21 says a vehicle breaks the rule if it is "in a state of evident disuse, neglect or abandonment." Its list of evidence reads like a description of a car that has sat too long: grass grown up "as high as the vehicle body or frame," trash or debris collected underneath, a car "used solely for storage," and one with "no engine, transmission, or other major visible parts."

The definitions in Section 13-16 go further. A vehicle that cannot be used as the maker intended because of "a legal infirmity" counts too. Even boats, trailers and RVs fall under the city's definition of a vehicle. If yours has been picked over, see missing parts.

Public streets

Section 13-18 bars abandoning any "dismantled, partially dismantled, wrecked, junked, unlicensed or inoperative vehicle" on a road, street, alley, highway, public easement or other public property. No grace period is written into that section.

Title office and Florida rules

Auburndale has no title office of its own. Residents use Polk County's FLHSMV counter at 430 East Main Street in Bartow, (863) 534-4700. Going straight south as the crow flies, that is a trip of about 15 miles.

A paper title is signed over right on its face. On the Auburndale form, write the buyer's name and address, the odometer miles, the sale price and the date. No notary is needed. The buyer's own clock then starts: 30 calendar days to apply for a fresh title, or face a late transfer penalty. You keep your plate. A seller in Auburndale has 30 days to turn in the Notice of Sale. After that, the car stops being linked to you.

Did the registration run out while the car sat? Florida skips the license tax for stretches of dead storage proven by a notarized or certified affidavit, but that only comes up if the car is ever registered again. Meanwhile, driving on a registration more than six months out of date is a first-offense violation under s. 318.14, one more reason to let the tow truck move it.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or send the form with what you know: model year and name, approximate miles, whether turning the key gets any response, and where its title is kept. Pickup is wherever the car is parked, in a yard, a driveway or a shop lot. A car that has barely moved in years is covered in car sitting for years. The closest town page is Winter Haven, and the Florida page covers the state.