Sell your junk or non-running car in Tarpon Springs

The rule in Section 40.00

The operative sentence is short: "No abandoned vehicles shall be parked or stored on any residentially zoned or used property other than in a completely enclosed structure."

Three points follow from the wording:

• Condition counts. A car that will not run "by virtue of its current condition" qualifies, whatever the paperwork says.
• Paperwork counts too. A car that runs but has no current plate and registration also qualifies.
• A carport is not enough. The only safe place is "a completely enclosed structure."

The inspection-sticker clause rarely matters for a family car, since Florida stopped emissions testing of private passenger cars when its inspection law was repealed in 2000.

Recreational vehicles get their own section. Under § 42.00, an RV parked as that section allows is not classed as abandoned under § 40.00. But repair of a parked RV may not be done "in a manner which renders a vehicle inoperative."

Streets and breakdowns

No removal clock for a dead car on a street appears in the sections quoted here. Florida's chapter 705 steps in, though the city could still have its own rules. For an ownerless wreck sitting on public land, an officer attaches a notice, and the countdown is 5 days. When it runs out, the car can be taken and disposed of.

Work trucks have a narrow breakdown allowance. Section 18-15 keeps commercial vehicles off streets in commercial districts overnight. It does allow standing after "a mechanical breakdown" while "waiting for a tow operator for period not to exceed six hours."

Title office and Florida paperwork

Title work goes through the Pinellas office in Clearwater:

• 29399 US Highway 19 North
• Suite 100
• (727) 464-7777

It lies around 8 miles south of central Tarpon Springs, as the crow flies.

Hand over the signed title; Florida asks for no notary. The plate comes off before pickup, because it stays with you. Last, send in HSMV 82050 inside 30 days, which unhooks your name from the car.

Without a title, the derelict route in the questions below may fit. A car sold that way may only be dismantled or scrapped.

Getting an offer

Online or at (877) 421-6008, give the car's age, brand, model and odometer figure, and say if it runs and if there is a title. Pickup can be from a garage off a historic-district street or a driveway across town. Not sure about selling it whole? Read part it out or sell it whole, or car doesn't run if it won't start. Dunedin is 7.7 miles away, and the Florida page has statewide rules.