Hollywood, Florida: what to do with a dead car

When a car counts as unusable

Hollywood's code describes the problem car two ways. Section 101.01 makes it unlawful to "cause or permit" an "unusable vehicle" on any yard, lawn, outbuilding or premises in the city. It defines one as a car with a wheel or tire dismantled or flat, a car missing parts that motor vehicle law requires on public streets, or one "incapable of normal operating under its own power."

The abandoned-property chapter adds its own test in Section 90.02: a car kept with a wheel off or its tires gone soft, or in "substantial disrepair." And Section 101.40 lists "unsheltered storage for a period of 30 days or more" of junk cars "not in good and safe operating condition" in its list of nuisance conditions, though junkyards holding a license are exempt.

Five days after the notice

Once an enforcement officer posts a notice on the car, the clock is five days. If nobody removes it by then, Section 90.07 lets the officer have it "removed and destroyed." Whatever salvage value the car has stays with the city, applied against the removal bill. When the car sat on private land, the landowner is told and has to pay for hauling it away and cleaning up after.

One move is off the table. Once the notice is up, shoving the car off the driveway to the curb breaks the same section.

Street parking and towed cars

Section 72.009 bans using a street to park a car "as junkage or dead storage" for longer than 24 hours. Private lots fall under the same ban, unless the lot is yours or its owner signed off in writing. A ticketed car can be towed if it is still there 24 hours after the ticket.

Hauled off private land without your okay? Section 111.03 says it must be stored inside city limits, at a lot with an employee present from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. Section 111.06 gives the tow company one hour to release it once you ask and pay. You may inspect the car, and you get a receipt plus a copy of the property owner's written order to tow.

Paperwork in Florida

Florida titles go through FLHSMV's motor vehicle service centers. One that serves Hollywood is Plantation's Suite 101 at 1800 NW 66th Ave., roughly 9 miles off, northwest, as the crow flies; the number to call is (954) 765-4697.

A paper title in your hand usually means no trip there. The seller's part sits on the face of the title and asks for four things. Buyer: name plus street address. Odometer: the reading. Money: the price. Calendar: the sale date. FLHSMV's procedure leaves notaries out of it.

Unscrew your tag first. Florida plates follow the owner, so it can go onto whatever vehicle you drive next. Then, inside 30 days of the sale, state law requires the seller's report of the sale, HSMV 82050 (Notice of Sale). Sections 1 and 3 fall to you, while the buyer's signature there is optional. Filing it ends your registration on the car. The after you sell page walks through it.

Close to Hollywood

The truck covers the whole area, including Dania Beach at 1.8 miles, Hallandale Beach at 3.6 miles and Miami Gardens at 7.5 miles. For statewide rules, see Florida.

How to get an offer

Online or at (877) 421-6008, describe the car: model year, make, model, rough mileage, if it fires up, plus title status. A car that has already been towed is covered in towed or impounded.