Palm Beach Gardens: the ten-day rule and selling a dead car

Signs the city reads as inoperable

The code does not leave it to opinion. It names what counts as "prima facie evidence" of the nuisance:

• no current state license plate on the vehicle
• no engine, or parts missing
• a condition that makes it inoperable, "such as, vehicle damaged or flat tire"

The only exceptions are a car sitting at a duly licensed garage or repair facility, or at a junk yard that conforms to zoning. The city's land development code adds a related line: a lot holding "two or more unregistered, inoperable motor vehicles" fits its definition of a junkyard. Even a public parking garage is defined to exclude "storage of inoperative motor vehicles," so moving the car into a garage at the mall is not a fix either.

Pushing it to the curb will not work

Section 70-62 forbids stopping, standing or parking a motor vehicle "on the roadway or street between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m." The same section bars parking anywhere a vehicle could block fire or emergency vehicles. A car with a dead engine is a poor fit for a street it has to leave every night.

The title office

For Palm Beach Gardens, title business goes to West Palm Beach, at 301 North Olive Avenue, up on the 3rd Floor; call (561) 355-2264 before going. As the crow flies the trip is roughly 12 miles, heading southeast.

Florida's rules for handing over the title

Florida puts the seller's section right on the title's face. FLHSMV's procedure manual skips the notary for it. Four things go in: the purchaser's name and home address, the odometer, what was paid, and the day.

Misplaced the paper? Form HSMV 82101 gets a duplicate, and it has to come before the sale. FLHSMV lists $75.25 for it, and Fast Title raises that by $10.00. Lost in the post? Then the replacement is free, provided the request lands no more than 180 days after that title was printed. Electronic titles skip the paper: both parties go to a service center together, each carrying photo ID.

Last, unbolt the tag; it travels with you. A 30-day deadline applies to HSMV 82050, the Notice of Sale. Of its sections, you own the first and the third. No buyer autograph is required. See after you sell for the rest.

Getting an offer

Ring (877) 421-6008, or go online, and share the model year, brand, model, odometer figure and whether the engine turns over. Missing an engine or wheels is fine; see missing parts. The truck can meet the car in your driveway or at the repair shop holding it. Close by: Jupiter, Riviera Beach and West Palm Beach. Statewide rules are on the Florida page.