Davie: selling a car that no longer runs

The 24-hour rule and who it spares

Under Section 24-43.1, more than 24 consecutive hours on a street, right-of-way or vacant parcel is "prima facie evidence" of dead storage. Police or the town's code enforcement officers can tow the car at the owner's expense.

The section carves out one group: agricultural equipment and utility trailers parked in the A-1, A-2, E-1 and R-1 districts on land owned by the person keeping them there. A broken-down pickup is not on that list.

Correction notices and street tows

Section 24-4 works in two steps. First, police or code enforcement put an "authorized correction notice" on a car parked wrongly in a prohibited district or zone, naming the car, the location and the type of district. The notice orders the car out of that district within 24 hours. Second, if it is still there, or it drifts back, it is towed away and the owner pays.

Police have broader tow power on the street itself. Under Section 24-7, a car nobody attends on a street for over twenty-four hours "may be presumed to be abandoned," and police may haul it off, as they may a car so disabled it blocks traffic. Section 24-71 adds cars left on a street, bridge or causeway where they obstruct traffic.

On your own lot

The sections we reviewed deal with streets, rights-of-way and vacant land. For a car on your own developed property, Davie may have its own rules, so ask the town before assuming it can stay. One clue from the land development code, Section 12-503: collecting, dismantling, storing and salvaging "two (2) or more inoperative vehicles" is part of how it defines a salvage yard, a use that belongs in its own zoning. Florida state law separately defines junk as a former motor vehicle, now inoperable, worth more as scrap metal or parts than anything else.

Replacing a lost title

A seller with a lost paper title has to get a duplicate before the sale. The application is HSMV 82101, handed in at a service center, and the fee schedule shows $75.25 (Fast Title adds $10.00). If the post office lost it, apply before 180 days from issue pass and pay nothing. More options sit in selling with no title.

One service center near Davie: Suite 101, 1800 NW 66th Ave., in Plantation, (954) 765-4697. From the middle of town, the crow's line runs about 6 miles northeast.

Before and after the sale

Florida repealed its Motor Vehicle Inspection Program, Chapter 325, in 2000. The title needs no notary when you sign it over. Keep your plate; it belongs to you, not the car. Within 30 days, report the sale on HSMV 82050.

Around Davie

Cooper City sits 2.2 miles away, Plantation 3.5, Pembroke Pines 5.7 and Sunrise 6.5. Statewide rules are on the Florida page.

Get your offer

Go online or dial (877) 421-6008. Have the year, make and model handy, along with the mileage, whether it turns on, and your title status. Junk car removal explains how the pickup goes.