Selling a junk or dead car in Jacksonville Beach

The 72-hour rule

Section 14-17 is short and strict. No owner, tenant or occupant may "allow any inoperable or wrecked motor vehicle to remain on any private or public property within city longer than seventy-two (72) hours." A separate clause bars anyone from leaving such a car on any property in the city past those same 72 hours.

The code counts a car as wrecked if it is "incapable of operation by its own power on a public street," or if "the wheels, engines, transmission, or any substantial part thereof has been removed." Two groups are carved out of the tag test: cars on a licensed new or used dealer's lot, and antique or collector vehicles registered with the state under F.S. 320.086.

The land code adds its own definition of a junked vehicle: one that is dismantled, wrecked, demolished or "not bearing current license tags." Either way, the tag is what the city looks at first.

Street parking near the ocean

On the street, the limit is longer but still firm. Section 31-36 allows 60 consecutive hours on any street or alley. Marked spaces on the east side of State Road A1A, from 25th Avenue South to the St. Johns County line, are held to 4 hours.

A breakdown buys less time than that. Under Section 31-48, police may let an owner leave a disabled car where it stopped instead of towing it, but only for up to 24 hours. After that it gets moved or impounded. Section 31-46 lets the city keep impounded cars in its own storage place or a lot the police chief approves.

Title office and Florida paperwork

Duval County's FLHSMV counter is downtown at 231 E. Forsyth St., Jacksonville, (904) 255-5700. Measured from the beach side as the crow flies, it is roughly 16 miles inland to the west.

A seller with the paper title in hand can usually skip that drive. Florida asks for no notary stamp. On the face of the title, the seller's block wants four things: the buyer's identity and home address, the clock's mileage, what they paid, and the sale day. Within 30 days after that, Florida law has you send in the Notice of Sale on HSMV 82050, which is what breaks your link to the car.

Unscrew the plate before the hook-up. It belongs to you and can go onto your next car. Dropping the insurance that covers it, or moving away from Florida, means handing it back to a service center instead.

Lost the title on a car that is old and nearly worthless? HSMV 82137, the state's derelict certificate, applies once a car is ten model years old or older and worth less than $1,000, and the buyer must be a registered metals recycler or licensed salvage dealer. It is the end of the line: no new title is ever issued for it. The no-title guide has the other options.

Getting an offer

Reach us at (877) 421-6008 or online. Have the car's make, model and year ready, a rough odometer figure, a word on if it cranks, and whether the title is somewhere you can find it. Tell us if the tag is expired or the car has sat for years; the car sitting for years guide covers what to check first. Jacksonville is the nearest city page, and statewide rules are on the Florida page.