Selling a dead or junk car in Hinesville

What the city calls junked

Section 11-75 starts with a car that "cannot be operated lawfully on a public street or highway within the State for any reason other than the lack of current vehicle registration, or which cannot be moved under its own power." That carve-out matters. A car that runs and is road-legal except for an expired registration is not junked under this definition by that fact alone. A car that cannot move is.

The definition of motor vehicle is wide: cars, trucks, motorcycles, campers and trailers, along with golf carts and go-carts. The owner is whoever is named on the title or holds a security interest in it.

Ten days, or a hearing

Section 11-83 sets a "ten-day period of compliance" after the notice. You can instead file a timely request for a hearing. Should the problem remain after ten days, or the Municipal Court uphold it at the hearing, "the City or its designee shall have the right to take possession of the junked or inoperable motor vehicle and remove it from the premises." Blocking that removal is a separate offense. The car is then handled under Georgia's abandoned-vehicle law, O.C.G.A. § 40-11-1 and following.

A second rule sits in the solid-waste chapter. Section 13-8 makes it unlawful to leave a "junked motor vehicle" outside unless it is "completely enclosed within a building or dwelling." Anything still there 30 days after notice is "presumed to be abandoned and subject to being removed from the property by the City without further notice."

The four-car limit

Section 16-107 caps a single-family or two-family home at four unenclosed motor vehicles. Unenclosed means parked "outdoors, outside a garage or carport." Guests' cars kept less than ten days don't count against it. A dead car that takes one of the four spaces can push a household over the line once a new car arrives.

The same section requires an RV or commercial vehicle stored more than 72 hours to sit in a side or rear yard, screened from neighbors.

On the street

Section 11-41 makes it unlawful to leave "any partially dismantled, nonoperating, wrecked or junked vehicle on any street or highway within the City," with no grace period written in. Hinesville's Section 11-40 presumes a car abandoned, and open to impound, when it stays put on a city street for "at least five days or more" and nobody seems to be coming back for it.

Towing and the police pound

Section 11-43 lets police remove a car that looks abandoned, lost, stolen or unclaimed and hold it "in a garage or other place of safety." Section 16-3 sets up the city pound. To reclaim a car, you show the Chief of Police "evidence of his identity and ownership or right of possession" and pay the pound operator the removal and storage fees set by the City Council. A car "not claimed within 60 days" is sold; storage charges come out of the proceeds and any balance goes to the City Treasurer.

If you are at the scene of a breakdown or wreck, Section 9-101 recognizes your right to choose your own wrecker company, as long as you are sober and capable and the car is not blocking the road or endangering traffic.

The Liberty County tag office we checked

Our notes list 112 N. Main St., Hinesville, phone (912) 876-3389, roughly 2 miles northeast of central Hinesville, as the crow flies. Other Liberty County offices may exist; this is the one we checked. No emissions test applies, because Liberty sits outside Georgia's testing area.

Georgia paperwork for a Hinesville sale

The back of the original title carries the seller's assignment. Print your name, sign under Seller, and enter the odometer in whole miles; a co-owner prints and signs too. Leave no erasures. Keep copies of both the signed title and any bill of sale before the buyer leaves with the original.

Then shut off the registration. The online way is DRIVES e-Services; the counter way is an MV-18J at the Main Street office. Only then call the insurer. The plates come off and stay with you. When a lender is still on the title, Georgia will not issue anything new until that lien is cleared. More on that at still owe on the loan. Duplicates cost $8.00 through Form MV-1. Georgia also lets a Hinesville car with no title, if it is 12 or more model years old, go to a scrap processor or salvage yard on an owner's affidavit.

Getting an offer

Got a dead car in Hinesville? Call (877) 421-6008 or start with the offer form. We can collect it from a driveway near Main Street, an apartment lot or a repair shop. Nearby Georgia pages: Richmond Hill, Savannah, Pooler and Statesboro. Statewide rules are on Georgia.