Selling a junk or dead car in Sweetwater

The 72-hour line

The same section defines an abandoned motor vehicle as one "left on public or private property or public road for a period of more than 72 hours, regardless of whether the vehicle is wrecked, damaged, or inoperable, and regardless of whether the vehicle bears a current license plate." Since a home driveway counts as private property, parking there does not stop the clock.

Plates matter here. Sweetwater's code treats "the absence of a valid license plate or sticker for the current year" as prima facie proof of abandonment, and adds that a current plate, by itself, proves nothing in your favor.

Inspectors look for other signs too: a car that is wrecked, "vegetation underneath as high as the vehicle body or frame," debris collected under it, or a car "used solely for storage." A wrecked motor vehicle, by the code's terms, is one that cannot run on its own power and is missing "two or more of the wheels, engine, transmission or any other substantial part."

Faster than 72 hours

The officer does not always have to wait. The code lets code enforcement order removal "in less than 72 hours" when the car is inoperable or wrecked, when it is a repeat violation, when it threatens public health or safety, or when it has just been moved to another spot and is still abandoned.

After removal: a 30-day window

The notice tells the owner they can reclaim the car by paying the city "all charges incurred by the city in the removal and storage." If payment is not received "within 30 days after date of the notice," the right to reclaim it is lost, along with your title and interest in it.

Separate rules apply when police impound a car after a misdemeanor arrest. Section 42-1 sets an administrative fee of $250 for vehicles with four or more wheels, on top of towing and storage.

Title and plate

FLHSMV's Miami-Dade office is at 200 NW 2nd Ave in Miami, (305) 375-5448; from Sweetwater it lies some 12 miles east as the crow flies.

Signing a Florida title over takes no notary. The seller writes in the buyer and their address, the odometer figure, what was paid and when. Your tag stays with you when the car leaves. Within 30 days, send in HSMV 82050 and the state stops linking the car to your name.

An older car whose title is lost can still be scrapped legally. Where the car is worth under $1,000 and was built at least ten model years ago, the derelict route (HSMV 82137) opens a sale to licensed salvage dealers and metals recyclers, and the state will never title it again.

Did the car sit unregistered for months or years? No license tax is owed in Florida for the months a car sat in dead storage, provided you sign a notarized or certified affidavit saying so. More on long-parked cars in sitting for years.

Nearby

Doral is 2.8 miles away, Hialeah Gardens 7.4 and Hialeah 7.9. See Florida for statewide rules.

Getting an offer

Fill in the details online or call (877) 421-6008. Describe the car, its miles and whether it still runs, and say whose name is on the title. A driver picks it up from the spot it is in now: your driveway, a work lot near the mall, or the shop where it quit.