Selling a junk or dead car in New Smyrna Beach

The ten-day notice under Chapter 38

Section 38-31 makes it unlawful to "store or deposit, or cause or permit to be stored or deposited, any abandoned, junked or discarded motor vehicle upon any public or private property within the city." Your own driveway counts as private property.

The city manager or a designee can order the lot owner to remove "abandoned, derelict, wrecked or junked vehicles" "within a period of ten days after the date of a notice." Miss that window and Section 38-32 lets the city do the job itself. It can then "charge, assess and collect the expense thereof against such lot, tract or parcel of land, and against the owner thereof." So the cost lands on the land, not just on you.

Own a lot here but live somewhere else? A registered or certified letter from the city clerk goes to whatever address the latest complete county tax roll shows. That counts as notice even if you never open it.

On the street

A dead car stopped on the road is its own problem. Under Section 78-4, officers can have a car moved when it is "so disabled as to constitute an obstruction to traffic." It goes to a rotation wrecker, the city compound or another safe place. Section 78-43 also bans parking that leaves "less than eight feet of the width for each direction of travel."

Unpaid tickets add up too. Section 78-50 allows a boot after three unpaid parking citations pile up on one owner, provided that owner got ten days' notice. If the boot stays on for more than 24 hours, the car can be towed and held until the penalties are paid.

Title work from New Smyrna Beach

One Volusia County tax collector office is in DeLand at 123 W Indiana Ave., Room 103. The number is (386) 254-4610. Measured as the crow flies, DeLand lies about 21 miles west of central New Smyrna Beach. That is the one we checked; Volusia may have others.

Florida skips the notary. New Smyrna Beach sellers fill in the title front with the buyer's name and address, the miles, the price and the sale date. Take your plate off afterward. Florida leaves it with the seller, and it can later go on a replacement vehicle you own. A Notice of Sale, form HSMV 82050, ends your liability; Florida gives you 30 days to file it.

Lost the title on an old beater? Florida's derelict certificate (HSMV 82137) covers a car valued below $1,000 that has reached its tenth model year, counting the model year as year one. Sold that way, a New Smyrna Beach car may only be bought by a licensed salvage dealer or a registered metals recycler. You turn the form in at the local tax collector office. After that, the New Smyrna Beach car can never be titled again. Our no-title guide explains the other routes.

Getting an offer

Selling in New Smyrna Beach? Call (877) 421-6008 or send our offer form. Pickup can be on the lot that drew the notice or at whatever repair shop it died in. Nearby, see Edgewater and Port Orange, or the Florida page for statewide rules.