Selling a dead or junk car in Leesburg

The rule itself

Section 13-4 makes it unlawful to let "any derelict, unused or abandoned vehicle" stay on land of either kind, public or private, except where it is "stored within a fully enclosed structure" or sits at a business that holds every license and permit it needs. Loose "vehicle parts," scrap and other junk get five days on any property, unless they belong to a permitted project in progress.

To overcome the presumption, whoever owns the car or the land must present "clear and convincing evidence" that the car is not derelict, unused or abandoned. That evidence has to show it was true at the time the notice of violation was issued. Cleaning the car up after the notice does not change how it looked on that day.

The zoning code adds a line worth knowing. It defines a junk yard as using more than 200 square feet of a lot to store junk or to take apart vehicles or machinery.

Streets: 24 hours

Section 21-48 bars parking on any street, alley or other thoroughfare for "storage, or as junkage or dead storage for more than twenty-four (24) hours." An officer who finds a car breaking a city parking rule takes down its registration number and fixes a citation or written notice to it (21-18).

Title offices around Leesburg

One office on our list sits outside Lake County:

• 220 E. McCollum Avenue, Bushnell, (352) 569-6740: 13 miles or so to the west, as the crow flies
• Dade City: (352) 521-4360, at 14236 6th Street, Room 100, about 30 miles southwest
• 301 S. Rosalind Ave., Orlando, (407) 434-0312: about 34 miles east

You may not need any of them. Leesburg sellers sign a Florida paper title over right on it, adding the sale date, price, mileage, and the buyer and where they live. No notary is involved. Office visits are for electronic titles, duplicates and filing papers in person.

What Florida asks of the seller

Take the tag off; it goes home with you. Then, inside a 30-day window, report the sale to the state on form HSMV 82050 so your name comes off the car's registration. Leaving Florida or dropping the tag's insurance means returning it to a service center.

Two facts help with a car that sat. If you ever bring an old registration current, Florida waives license tax for any stretch the car sat in dead storage, as long as a sworn affidavit, notarized or certified, documents it. And no emissions test stands in the way, because Florida dropped its inspection program back in 2000. More in sitting for years.

Getting an offer

Online or at (877) 421-6008, let us know the make and model year, the mileage, if it starts up, and what's on the title. The truck comes to the car, so it can stay right where it has been sinking into the lawn until pickup. Close by: Groveland, Wildwood and Tavares. Statewide rules live on the Florida page.