Selling a dead or junk car in Columbus, GA

The six-part test

Section 13-167.1 says a car is junked if it:

• "is no longer operative"
• "has no current license tag or state certificate of registration"
• "is missing some critical part such as, but not limited to, wheels, engine, transmission, chassis, windshields or headlights"
• "has flat tires"
• is "overgrown with vegetation"
• has "unknown ownership"

A car does not need all six. Any one of them, such as flat tires or no current tag, is enough.

The same section treats a car on public property differently. An "abandoned motorized vehicle" is any car "left on public property for seven or more days."

Thirty days, or seven

Section 13-167.7 lays out the notice. An official chosen by the city manager mails it to the owner or person in charge of the property, "with an additional notice posted on the vehicle." It gives the owner time "to remove, store or dispose of the vehicle within 30 calendar days from the date of the notice for private property and seven calendar days for public property."

Once a junked car is removed, it goes to an impounding area for "not less than 30 calendar days," which the code calls the "holding period." The city must try to notify the owner of the removal and the right to reclaim it, with the VIN, plate, make, year and model, where it was taken from and where it is held.

For other junk on a property, the same section gives ten days from the mailing date. After that, public works or code enforcement can haul the material off and charge a fee plus a service charge.

Police impounds

Section 17-6 covers property the police hold, including cars impounded for a traffic violation, once it has gone unclaimed for 60 days. If a car of yours is sitting in a police lot, call before that window closes.

One small rule is worth knowing if a car breaks down near a city course: Section 20-9.41 bans parking or stopping on any unpaved road beside the municipal golf links between sunset and sunrise.

Leaving it at a shop

The development code has its own limit for repair businesses. Under Section 3.2.6, a major repair shop that keeps vehicles "for longer than 30 days without documented repair activity" is treated as a storage yard or junkyard instead of a repair shop. Shops must also screen junk or inoperable vehicles from public view with an opaque wall or fence.

Owners face a parallel state clock: after 30 days uncollected at a shop, dealer or wrecker yard, Georgia calls the car abandoned. If you approved a big repair estimate and then changed your mind, settle what happens to the car before that month runs out.

Title offices and emissions

Emissions testing stops well north of here. Muscogee is not on Georgia's 13-county list, so no Columbus car needs a test.

Georgia titles run through each county's tag office, and Muscogee has its own. Every office we noted for this page is in another county. Distances are straight-line from downtown:

• Troup County: LaGrange office, 100 Ridley Ave; call (706) 883-1620; roughly 38 miles north
• Peach County: Fort Valley office, 902 Campus Drive; call 478-825-3161; roughly 57 miles east
• Coweta County: Newnan office, 87 Newnan Station Drive; call 770-254-2670; roughly 62 miles north

Georgia title and plate rules in Columbus

Columbus sits in a metro area that crosses into Alabama, but a car titled in Georgia follows Georgia's rules. On the back of the original title, the seller completes the assignment, prints and signs under Seller, and writes the odometer reading in whole miles. Each joint owner does the same. Erasing or writing over anything there can void the title.

Next, cancel the registration. The state's DRIVES e-Services portal takes care of it online; in person, the form is MV-18J. Cancel it before the insurance, since doing it the other way round can bring penalties. If a suspension notice arrives after your Columbus car is sold, the state says you can disregard it.

Georgia plates stay with the seller. A wrecked car that an insurer has paid out as a total loss is different: its owner and insurer must surrender the plates. Replacing a lost title costs $8.00 (Form MV-1), and the lender must release any lien before that. If the car is a 1985 model or older, a bill of sale does the title's job. See wrecked or totaled and junk car with no title.

Getting an offer

For an offer, phone (877) 421-6008 or send the form. Use the form for your Columbus car. Our truck reaches it anywhere in the city limits, backyard or shop lot. Other Georgia pages within reach: LaGrange, Newnan, Griffin and Perry. For statewide rules, see Georgia.