Selling a dead or junk car in Oakland Park

The 24-hour driveway limit

The same section caps repair work at home. Mechanical repairs on a private car are allowed "only inside a residential enclosed garage." No car may be left "in a state of disrepair or on floor jacks" outside a garage or carport, or on a driveway, for more than 24 hours. Loose parts and equipment may not sit outside a garage or carport at any time.

Section 24-79.1 adds an outdoor storage rule. Junk vehicles on residential property belong inside "a permitted completely permanent enclosed structure (not in carports)," out of sight from other property. A carport, in other words, does not count.

When does a car become abandoned property?

Section 8-125 defines an inoperative vehicle broadly. Any one of these is enough:

• not all wheels mounted
• tires not inflated
• no current license and registration
• "a condition of substantial disrepair"

Such a car may stay on private land only inside a fully enclosed building or a storage area with "a wall or hedge to screen the stored inoperative vehicle from view." Once an enforcement officer posts a notice, you get five days. After that the city may have it towed and destroyed and keep any salvage value toward its costs. Rolling the car from your lot onto the street after the posting is itself unlawful.

What a violation can cost

Section 23-1 bans leaving property "in a state of disrepair, wrecked, junked or abandoned condition" on public or private land. A conviction carries a fine of $50 to $500, a jail term as long as 90 days, or both. Section 24-234 also lets a case land before the city's Code Enforcement Board or one of its special masters, where fines can reach $250 a day for a first violation and $500 a day for a repeat. Notice comes by hand or by certified mail; posting it at the site is used only when both fail.

On the street, Section 21-38.2 bars parking longer than 30 minutes between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. where signs prohibit all-night parking. A car impounded under Section 21-46 stays in the garage until its towing and storage charges are paid.

Title paperwork in Broward County

FLHSMV's Broward list lists a service center in Plantation (Suite 101, 1800 NW 66th Ave.; phone (954) 765-4697). As the crow flies, it is roughly 6 miles southwest of the heart of Oakland Park.

No notary is involved. On the front of the paper title, the seller's block asks for four things: the buyer's name with an address, the miles showing, what was paid, and the day of the deal. A car with a loan against it cannot change hands until the lender is paid and reports the lien satisfied. Inside 30 days of the sale, send FLHSMV the HSMV 82050 notice; that is what pulls your registration off the car.

The plate is yours, not the car's. Unscrew it before pickup. Bolt it on your next vehicle, or, when you drop the insurance attached to it, return it at a service center. After you sell walks through the rest.

Getting an offer

Ring (877) 421-6008, or ask online. Have the year, make and model handy, plus the miles and where the title is. Tell us whether the car is in a carport, a closed garage or on the street, and the truck meets it there. Just over the line? See Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale Lakes or Pompano Beach. Title missing? Read selling with no title, or the Florida page for statewide rules.