Selling a junk or dead car in Weston

What Weston calls an abandoned vehicle

Section 96.10 is titled "Storage of Abandoned Vehicles and Vessels." Its definition reaches past the plate rule. It also lists "Any 'Inoperative Vehicle,' as defined herein," and 96.10(B)(1) names "All wrecked, junked, dismantled or partially dismantled vehicles." So a car can qualify three ways: no valid plate, no longer running, or partly taken apart.

The five-day notice

Section 96.11 sets out the removal procedure and prints the notice wording in capital letters. The vehicle "MUST BE REMOVED WITHIN FIVE DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS NOTICE." The same notice warns that "THE OWNER WILL BE LIABLE FOR THE COSTS OF REMOVAL, STORAGE, DESTRUCTION, AND PUBLICATION OF NOTICE."

Two details matter for households. The code defines the owner as the last known record title holder in state motor vehicle records. And if a car is in two names, "notice to one Owner shall be considered for the purposes herein as notice to all multiple or joint Owners." One spouse finding the notice is enough to start the five days.

If the city has already taken the car, Section 96.04 lets an owner redeem it by paying "all costs of removal, plus storage charges of said property while in possession of the City."

Title office for Weston sellers

One FLHSMV-listed service center near Weston is in Plantation (1800 NW 66th Ave., Suite 101; call (954) 765-4697). It sits about 11 miles east of the middle of Weston as the crow flies.

Florida paperwork when the car goes

• No notary. Weston sellers sign on the front of the title without a stamp. Blanks there take the buyer and where they live, the odometer figure, the amount and the date.
• Keep the plate. Unscrew it before the truck rolls away; it can be bolted to your next car. Cancelling its insurance? Then return that plate to a service center counter.
• Notice of Sale. HSMV 82050 has to reach the state within 30 days of the sale. Filing it pulls your registration off that car and lowers your exposure to civil claims tied to it later.
• No title? The derelict certificate (HSMV 82137) fits a cheap car, valued under $1,000, once it reaches 10 model years. Whoever buys on it must be licensed for salvage dealing or registered as a metals recycler, and no new title can ever issue for that car. Lost the paper title instead? Order a duplicate before selling; see junk car with no title.
• A loan on it. The title will not move until the lender gets its money and records that the loan is paid. See still owe on the loan.

Private cars in Florida face no emissions test, so a failed test is never the reason a Weston car is stuck.

Getting an offer

Reach us online or at (877) 421-6008 with the year, brand, model and odometer reading, and say if it fires up and if the title is with you. A Weston driveway, a community lot or the shop where it quit all work as meeting points. Nearby, see Pembroke Pines, Davie and Plantation, or the Florida page for statewide rules.