Selling a dead or junk car in Lauderdale Lakes

Two clocks in the city code

The 72-hour rule is the short one. The longer one sits in the nuisance chapter. Section 42-32 calls it a nuisance to keep "old and unused stripped junk and other automobiles not in good and safe operating condition" in unsheltered storage "for a period of 30 days or more," except in licensed junkyards. The same section lists "abandoned or inoperable motor vehicles" as an attractive nuisance that may harm children.

Section 86-14 also brands any derelict vehicle, or even its parts, a public nuisance anywhere inside the city limits, from alleys and streets to backyards. Licensed repair shops and towing storage yards approved by the city are exempt.

On the street or in the swale

Leave a derelict car parked on city land or along a right-of-way and code enforcement will serve written notice. The car must be off "within 72 hours from the hour of the notice." That notice may be handed over in person, stuck on the windshield, or sent by registered or certified mail. Once the 72 hours run out with the car unmoved, law enforcement or code enforcement may seize it and haul it to a storage area.

Under Section 86-33, the Broward Sheriff's Office, Lauderdale Lakes Unit, can also tow any car left unattended on a street "continuously for more than 24 hours." A towed car is not released until the impound and storage charges are paid.

Parking rules matter for a car that will not move. Section 86-35 keeps passenger cars in a residential district on a hard paved driveway, a carport, a garage or a screened side yard, and never parked parallel to the street on a straight driveway. In the swale, the rule is two wheels on the pavement and two on the grass. On business lots, Section 86-36 allows only "intermittent parking," which it defines as "less than 24 hours," for employees, tenants and customers.

If you get a notice to remove

Section 86-34 lets the sheriff's unit or code enforcement post a notice on a car parked against city rules, and the city mails a notice to remove to the owner on file with the state. You can contest it by filing with the city by the date in the notice, "together with an application fee in the amount of $200.00." If the city manager rules against you, you get 24 hours to move the car. A towing site has to release cars to owners "on any day that the person or firm towing such motor vehicle ... is open for towing purposes, from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m." And in a county of 500,000 or more, like Broward, a car pulled off private property without consent must stay within 10 miles of where it was taken.

Title, plates and the Notice of Sale

Near Lauderdale Lakes, one Broward office is in Plantation at 1800 NW 66th Ave., Suite 101, reachable at (954) 765-4697. It's about 3 miles southwest of central Lauderdale Lakes in a straight line.

Florida asks for no notary. A Lauderdale Lakes seller writes the buyer's name and address, miles, price and date in the front section called Transfer of Title by Seller. Then take your plate off. Florida plates belong to the seller and can move to your next car. You stay liable until the Notice of Sale (HSMV 82050) is in, which you have 30 days to do; FLHSMV service centers accept it. Lost the paper title? Order a duplicate before the sale. The title can't be transferred until any lien is paid and the lender reports it. No title in Lauderdale Lakes? In Lauderdale Lakes, a licensed salvage dealer or metals recycler can still buy a car worth under $1,000 that's 10 or more model years old using a derelict certificate (HSMV 82137), but that car can never get a title again. See selling with no title and after you sell.

Getting an offer

Ring (877) 421-6008 or use the form above. Lauderdale Lakes sellers can fill in our short offer form. We'll pick it up where it's parked, like a repair shop's lot or a paved pad off State Road 7. Neighbors in Lauderhill, Oakland Park and Fort Lauderdale have their own pages, and Florida covers the statewide rules.