Selling a junk or dead car in Clermont

Clermont's street rules

Section 36-1 also allows a tow when a disabled car blocks traffic, or when a car is parked so illegally it is "a definite hazard or obstruction to the normal movement of traffic." When the officer knows or can find the owner, the code requires notice "of the fact of such removal, and the reasons therefor, and of the place to which such vehicle has been removed." The garage gets a copy too.

For a lesser parking violation, Section 36-25 has the officer record the registration number and fix a ticket or written notice to the car.

A related clock exists for mobile homes: under Section 22-2, one may not be parked on a lot, street or city property for more than 24 hours outside a licensed park or sales lot.

Yards and driveways

The Clermont code sections we reviewed deal with streets and parking. They do not set a junk-vehicle rule for private yards. The city may still have its own rules elsewhere, so treat a dead car in the yard as something code enforcement could raise.

State law fills in some of the picture:

• Public land. Florida's Chapter 705 covers wrecked, inoperative or partly dismantled property sitting on public ground with no owner anyone can identify. Once an officer posts notice on it, a 5-day window opens; when it closes, the property may be hauled away and disposed of.
• Someone else's land. Tow trucks clearing private lots without the car owner's say-so face a distance limit in Statute 715.07. The storage yard may lie at most 10 miles off from the hookup spot in counties of 500,000 people or more, or 15 miles in smaller counties.
• Storage liens. Under Statute 713.78, a wrecker claiming a storage lien must send certified mail to every lienholder, to the insurer, and to the person the car is registered to. Towed or impounded covers getting a car back out.

Title offices

Service centers FLHSMV lists for Clermont, with straight-line distances from central Clermont, as the crow flies:

• Orlando, about 21 miles east: 301 S. Rosalind Ave., tel. (407) 434-0312
• Bushnell, about 25 miles northwest: 220 E. McCollum Avenue, tel. (352) 569-6740
• Dade City, about 30 miles west: Room 100 at 14236 6th Street, tel. (352) 521-4360

You may never need one. Selling on a paper title means filling in its front: the purchaser, their address, the odometer figure, the price, the date. Florida's TL-11 procedure rules out any need for a notary.

Plates and the notice of sale

Pull the plate as the car leaves. Florida tags belong to sellers and can be moved to a replacement car. Then, inside 30 days, Statute 319.22 has you file HSMV 82050, which ends your liability for the car.

Getting an offer

Reach us online or at (877) 421-6008 and describe it: the model and year, roughly how many miles, running or not, and what title you hold. We dispatch the truck to it, whether it is in a driveway, a garage or stuck at a shop. Minneola, Winter Garden and Groveland are close, and the Florida page has statewide rules.