Selling a junk or dead car in Tallahassee

The 72-hour rule

Section 20-134 is the core of it: no person in charge or control of any property in the city, "whether as owner, tenant, occupant, lessee, or otherwise," shall allow "any partially dismantled, nonoperating, wrecked, junked or discarded vehicle to remain on such property longer than 72 hours." The same line bars anyone from leaving such a vehicle on any property in the city past 72 hours. Note the word tenant: renters are on the hook too, not only landlords.

Section 20-131 gives two other ways a car can be called junked or abandoned. One is a car parked close to other junked or abandoned vehicles that no findable person controls. The other is a catch-all: "for any other reason the vehicle appears after reasonable inquiry and investigation to be junked or abandoned."

Homes have a second rule

Tallahassee's land development code adds Section 3-488 for homes. It is "unlawful for the owner or occupant of a residential building, structure, or property to utilize the premises" for "the open storage of any inoperable motor vehicle," along with ice boxes, stoves and building rubbish. Owners and occupants must remove those items "upon notice from the enforcement official."

The same code's definitions, in Section 1-2, fold in any lot holding "two or more unregistered, inoperable motor vehicles" when it describes a junk yard. Two dead cars behind a house fit the words of that definition.

Streets and curbs

On public streets the rule is flat. Section 20-133: "No person shall leave any partially dismantled, nonoperating, wrecked or junked vehicle on any street or highway within the city." Section 20-78 adds that no vehicle may park beside a yellow or red curb unless signs allow it, and police may have a violating vehicle removed.

Section 20-135 lets the city manager or designated representatives "remove or have removed any vehicle left at any place within the city which reasonably appears to be in violation of this article, or lost, stolen or unclaimed." The vehicle "shall be impounded until lawfully claimed or disposed of in accordance with law." If a private tow yard ends up with a lien on it, Florida Statute 713.78 requires certified letters to the owner of record, the insurance company and any lender.

Leon County's title office

The Leon County tax collector, at 1276 Metropolitan Boulevard, Suite 102, phone (850) 606-4700, handles titles. As the crow flies, the office is some 3 miles due north of downtown.

Selling under Florida rules

Florida leaves the notary out. Per FLHSMV's TL-11, the seller's lines on the title just take the sale date and price, the miles on the odometer, and the buyer, with an address.

Electronic titles work differently: the two of you meet at a motor vehicle service center, each with photo ID, and the title is reassigned there along with the mileage statement. Any loan has to be settled, with the lender's release on file, first.

The plate stays out of the deal. Pull it and keep it for a new or replacement vehicle, or hand it in if you leave Florida or end the policy on it.

Within 30 days, Statute 319.22 has you report the sale on HSMV 82050. The notice carries the VIN and the full name and address of whoever bought the car.

Missing title? A duplicate comes from form HSMV 82101. When the car is under $1,000 in value and carries a model year at least 10 years gone, Florida offers the derelict certificate (HSMV 82137), filed at the local tax collector. The buyer then has to be a salvage dealer or secondary metals recycler, and the car never gets another title. If the title is in a relative's name, see car not in your name.

Private cars in Florida face no emissions or safety inspection; that program ended in 2000.

Far from the next city

Tallahassee is a long way from the other cities on this site. Panama City is 77.6 miles away in a straight line, Lynn Haven 84.0, Panama City Beach 98.1 and Gainesville 125.9. Pickup comes to you all the same. State rules are on the Florida page.

Getting an offer

Online or at (877) 421-6008, describe the car, its mileage, if it runs, and which parts are already off it. Pickup can be from a home driveway, an apartment lot, or the garage where the work stopped. See missing parts for cars that are partly stripped.