Selling a dead or junk car in Bradenton

If that describes the car out back, we buy whole non-running and junk cars. You sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US.

What Bradenton counts as evident disuse

Section 38-82 gives inspectors a list of signs, and any of them can count:

• the car is wrecked
• weeds or grass have grown up to the body or frame
• refuse or debris has collected underneath
• it is being used only to store things
• it is partly dismantled, with "no engine, transmission or other major and visible parts"

When weeds are the main sign, the code asks the inspector to use "training and experience" and judge "the totality of the circumstances." A car "in an evident state of extended disuse or neglect" is treated as abandoned or derelict.

Paperwork counts too. The section says lacking "a valid license plate or sticker for the current year" or a current registration certificate is "prima facie evidence that such vehicle is abandoned, junked or discarded." Having a plate does not, by itself, clear the car.

Not at a house at all

The land use regulations close the other door. Section 5.1 says: "unregistered or inoperable vehicles or trailers shall not be stored at residential properties." That is not tied to how long the car has sat. A car that will not run, or whose registration has lapsed, simply is not supposed to be kept at a home.

Street limits: 24 or 48 hours

Section 50-2 lets police remove a car from a street, alley or city parking lot when it is "left unattended upon any street or in any city parking lot for any period of time longer than 24 hours in the downtown fire district or 48 hours in any other district." The cost of towing, removing and storing it is charged to the owner "and shall be a lien upon the vehicle." The registered owner is responsible for the charges even if someone else left the car there, unless it was reported stolen.

When a private wrecker has the car, state lien law makes the operator mail certified letters to the owner of record, that owner's insurer, and any lender with a lien.

Selling it in Florida

Manatee County's FLHSMV office stands on 301 Boulevard West at number 819, phone (941) 741-4800. Measured straight south from downtown Bradenton, as the crow flies, it is about 2 miles.

Florida keeps the seller's paperwork short and skips the notary. On the title's face, list the person buying, their address, the current miles, the price and the sale date. Lenders must release any loan before a title can change hands. By statute, Florida labels an inoperable former car junk once scrap metal or component parts are its main value, which is the kind of car this page is about.

The plate is yours to unbolt and reuse. Next comes HSMV 82050, due within 30 days, which records the sale and ends your registration on the car.

Nearby

Sarasota is 10.7 miles away, St. Petersburg 19.3 and Pinellas Park 26.7. Statewide rules are on our Florida page. A car that has been stripped is covered in missing parts.

Getting an offer

Go online or call (877) 421-6008. Tell us what you are selling, how many miles it shows, if it fires up, and where the title is. Our driver hooks it up wherever it is parked, weeds and all.