Selling a dead or junk car in Ocoee

The rule in Chapter 165

Section 165-3 says "no person shall keep any abandoned or junk vehicle on any public property or any private property within the corporate limits of the city," except as Section 165-5 allows on private land. It also makes it unlawful to permit one on property you own, rent, lease or control.

The definitions in Section 165-2 are broad. A junk vehicle is one "which is dismantled, wrecked, junked and/or nonoperating." An abandoned vehicle includes one with "no monetary value other than nominal salvage value" left "unprotected from the elements."

Section 165-4 lists what counts as presumptive evidence:

• no currently registered license plate, where one is required
• "one or more flat tires or other visible signs" it cannot move under its own power
• grass grown up around it, or dead grass beneath it
• sitting on blocks in that state "for more than 15 calendar days"

Public property and the 48-hour sticker

On city streets and other public property, the window is short. Section 165-3 bars leaving a vehicle "parked in the same place continuously upon any public property of the city for 48 hours," and Section 165-4 treats one that does as abandoned.

When the enforcement officer finds such a car, Section 165-6 calls for a weatherproof notice on it reading "THIS VEHICLE MAY BE IMPOUNDED IF IT IS NOT REMOVED WITHIN 48 HOURS." The officer also tries to reach the owner in person or by certified mail. If the car is still there after 48 hours, the officer may charge a code violation and have it towed "at the owner's expense." The owner is to be told within 24 hours after the tow, and the removal and storage costs become "a lien against such abandoned or junk vehicle."

On private property, Section 165-7 sends the code officer to the owner, tenant or person in control to give notice under the city's code enforcement sections, 7-6 and 7-10.

Ocoee's zoning code also keeps wrecking out of neighborhoods. Under Section 2-4, dismantling or storing wrecked vehicles is "permitted only in an I-2 General Industrial District."

The title office

For Ocoee the closest FLHSMV service center listed is in Orlando, at 301 S. Rosalind Ave.; its number is (407) 434-0312. That is roughly 10 miles east of central Ocoee as the crow flies. The usual reason to drive over is an electronic title. Those cannot be signed at the kitchen table; both parties appear at the counter, IDs out, and the clerk moves the title and notes the miles.

Flooded cars and Florida brands

In FLHSMV's words, a brand is a title label that records what happened to a car, for example junk, salvage or flood. Statute 319.14 adds a rule for water: once an insurer writes a car off as a total loss from flooding, the state stamps that on the title, and the stamp has to be there before any sale. Insurance companies feed those reports to the state. Our flood damage guide explains selling one.

Plate and notice of sale

Keep the tag when the car goes; Florida plates do not travel with the vehicle. Inside 30 days, send in HSMV 82050 per Statute 319.22, which ends your liability for the car.

Getting an offer

Online or by phone at (877) 421-6008, give us the basics: what make and model, which year, about how many miles, can it be driven, and is the title clear. The truck meets the car in the yard, on blocks or in a shop lot. Winter Garden and Apopka are close by, and the Florida page has statewide rules.