Sell a junk or broken-down car in Hialeah

Three words that cover most dead cars

Section 98-2206 points to the definitions in Section 90-171, and they are broad:

• Abandoned: "any motor vehicle without a legal or current tag that is parked on public or private property," or one known as a junked motor vehicle.
• Mechanically incapacitated: "any wrecked, inoperative or partially dismantled motor vehicle," and also one "temporarily undergoing major repairs."
• Junked: the term the city uses alongside the other two.

That second definition catches people. A car on jack stands in the driveway while you wait on a transmission is "undergoing major repairs," and only the small jobs named in 98-2206 are allowed outside a garage. And a tag that ran out turns even a car that runs into an "abandoned" one.

The same rule covers the street side. Section 98-2206 also bars these vehicles from "a public right-of-way, public swale area or other public property."

When the city has it towed

For junk on public property that cannot be moved easily, Section 58-7 has an officer post a notice requiring removal "within five days of the posting," in the form state law sets out. "Easily removed" property is the kind that can be cleared by "reasonably available wrecker services or tow trucks."

Section 90-178 says where towed junk goes. Wreckers working for the city tow abandoned or junked vehicles "at no charge to the city," and every one "must be towed to a licensed wrecker company, junkyard or automobile storage location" that operates "inside a masonry wall." Impounded cars held as evidence or for forfeiture can be stored up to five weekdays at $5.00 a day, after which the city can ask for them to move to its own lot.

Hialeah is strict about junk storage generally. Under Section 98-1927, no yard for "junked, demolished or dismantled automobiles" can open without a permit from the city council.

Title office and Florida paperwork

Hialeah has no FLHSMV counter of its own. One Miami-Dade location on the state's list is downtown in Miami, 200 NW 2nd Ave, (305) 375-5448, roughly 9 miles southeast of the middle of Hialeah as the crow flies.

Few sellers need the trip. A Florida title goes to the buyer without any notary. A Hialeah seller puts the buyer's name and address, the mileage, the price and the sale date on the front of the title. After that, the buyer gets 30 days to title it. Pull your plate before the car is towed off; in Florida it is the seller's to keep.

The Notice of Sale comes last. HSMV 82050 asks a seller to fill only sections 1 and 3, and it does not need the buyer to sign. Florida gives you 30 days to send it in, and once filed your registration is no longer attached to that car.

Title lost on a car that is ten model years or older and worth below $1,000? The derelict certificate, HSMV 82137, lets you sell it to one of two buyer types, licensed salvage dealers and registered metals recyclers, and from then on it may only be dismantled or crushed.

Getting an offer

Phone (877) 421-6008 or go online. Say what the car is and what year, the odometer reading give or take, whether it runs, and which papers you hold. Pickup happens where it sits, whether that is a closed garage, under a carport, or behind the shop that diagnosed it. Close by: Miami Lakes, Hialeah Gardens, Doral, and the Florida page for statewide rules.