Selling a junk or dead car in Tamarac

The five-day clock in Section 13-8

The code defines abandoned personal property as property "left abandoned and unprotected from the elements," including "wrecked, inoperative or partially dismantled" items. Here is how the steps run:

1. An officer posts a notice on the property.
2. If the owner's address is reasonably available, the officer mails a copy by certified mail "on or before the date of posting."
3. After "five (5) days after posting," if nobody has removed it, the city "may seek an appropriate order from the special magistrate or code enforcement board."
4. The city can then have a towing company remove it, and the property can be destroyed. Any salvage value goes toward the city's costs.

The towing step applies when the owner has not removed it "or shown reasonable cause for failure to do so." If the car is on private land, "the private property owner shall be provided notice and assessed the cost of removal of the abandoned property and any required clean-up." A landlord can end up with the bill for a tenant's dead car.

Where a dead car can and cannot sit

Tamarac's land development code is just as direct:

• Homes: Section 10-4.3 says required off-street parking in residential districts is "to be used solely for the parking of licensed motor vehicles in operating condition." A car that won't start and has a lapsed tag fails on both counts.
• Commercial lots: required parking spaces in nonresidential districts can't be used for "storage, dismantling, or service of any vehicles."
• Industrial land: Section 10-3.4 says "inoperable vehicles shall be stored only in conjunction with an industrial use completely screened from view of a public street."

The title office and the paperwork

The closest Broward service center to Tamarac that we could find is 1800 NW 66th Ave., Suite 101, in Plantation. The number is (954) 765-4697. Measured straight across the map, it is about 4 miles south of central Tamarac. We checked that office, not every one in the county.

Tamarac sellers do most of the work on the title's face: buyer's name and address, odometer, price, sale date. Florida asks for no notary. Holding an electronic title instead? Then both parties meet at a service center with photo ID to reassign it.

Keep the plate, because Florida plates stay with the seller. One exception: if the insurance on it is ending, hand the tag to a service center. After a Tamarac sale, the Notice of Sale (HSMV 82050) must go in within 30 days. Florida demands it of Tamarac sellers, and it unhooks your registration from the car.

Getting an offer

Selling in Tamarac? Call (877) 421-6008 or use the offer form. A driver can collect it from the posted spot. Sunrise and North Lauderdale are each 2.2 miles away. The Florida page has the statewide rules.