Junk and dead cars in Macon-Bibb County

Fifteen days, county-wide

The duty falls on "any person in charge or control of any property," and the code spells out who that means: owner, tenant, occupant, lessee or agent. Renting the house does not take you out of it. Neither does owning a lot you never visit.

Section 15-13 adds a second hook. It makes it unlawful for an owner or occupant to permit "the harborage of inoperable motor vehicles" on a lot. The same section handles weeds, which are a nuisance on a lot with a home once they reach "twelve (12) inches or more in height." Code staff looking at an overgrown yard may well notice the car in it.

What Macon-Bibb calls inoperable

Section 15-12 defines an inoperable motor vehicle as one "in a state of disrepair, wrecked, dismantled, inoperative, abandoned or discarded." Then it adds the line that matters most to a seller: the term "shall include a motor vehicle that is incapable of being moved under its own power."

So a clean-looking sedan with a seized engine or a dead transmission qualifies. Appearance is not the test. Movement is. See car doesn't run for what usually goes wrong and what it means for selling.

The definition of motor vehicle is wide, too. The list includes automobiles, buses, motorbikes, motorcycles, trucks and tractors, plus "go carts, golf carts, campers and trailers." So a camper sitting on flat tires out back counts just like a car.

Off the street, and not left behind

Two more sections cover public space. Section 15-52 says it is unlawful "to leave any partially dismantled, nonoperating, wrecked or junked vehicle on any street, lane or highway within Macon-Bibb County." The excerpt we read gives no grace period, so a car that dies on a downtown street such as Mulberry needs to come off it.

Section 15-51 bans abandoning a vehicle anywhere in the county. It also bans leaving one "for such time and under such circumstances as to cause the vehicle reasonably to appear to have been abandoned." That covers the car you meant to come back for.

If a wrecker already has it

State law takes it from there. A storage lot holding a towed Macon car owes every owner a letter, mailed certified or hand-delivered, no later than 15 calendar days after the tow. The Macon lot has to write that after ten calendar days it may take its lien to court, where a judge can order a sale of the car. If a Macon lot can't find the owner, it runs a newspaper notice within 60 days, once a week for two weeks. Separately, 30 days unclaimed at a garage or wrecker yard makes a car "abandoned" in Georgia's eyes. Our towed or impounded car guide has more.

Title and tag work on Third Street

The Department of Revenue is in charge of Georgia titles. You do the paperwork in person at a county tag office. In Macon-Bibb we looked at 188 Third Street, Macon, GA 31201 (478.621.6500). In a straight line, it is roughly 4 miles northeast of downtown. Other offices may exist.

The state frames a Macon sale as two jobs: sign ownership over on the title, and cancel the registration.

1. In Macon, you transfer the car by signing the assignment block on the reverse of the original title. Your printed name and signature go in the Seller spot; a co-owner adds theirs too.
2. Record the odometer in whole miles. Altering the purchase date can bring a $10 penalty. Any erasure can make the title void.
3. Your Macon buyer gets the title. You hang on to copies of the title, the transfer and any bill of sale.
4. Unbolt your plate. Georgia leaves it with the person selling.
5. Shut the registration down on Form MV-18J or the DRIVES e-Services website, then end the insurance.

A Macon buyer has 7 days after the purchase date to handle title and registration. A Notice of Pending Suspension that arrives after the car is gone can be disregarded, according to the state.

No title in hand? Once every lien is paid off, a Macon owner can replace it with Form MV-1 for $8.00. Models from 1985 and earlier do not require a Georgia title, so a bill of sale covers them. For a vehicle 12 or more model years old, scrap processors, secondary metals recyclers and salvage dealers are allowed, but not required, to accept an owner's affidavit instead of a title. Our junk car with no title guide covers the options, and after you sell covers the last steps.

Around Macon

Warner Robins is 14.8 miles away and Perry 23.2, both in a straight line. Griffin is 44.9 miles north. Statewide rules live on the Georgia page.

Getting an offer

Macon owners can call (877) 421-6008 or send the offer form for a dead car. In Macon-Bibb we load from driveways, rented lots, shop bays, or the curb where it died.