Selling a dead or junk car in Powder Springs

Two rules, one dead car

Section 10-24 is the broad one. It lists furniture, appliances, machinery, boats and trailers alongside "motor vehicles" that are rusted, wrecked, junked, dismantled or inoperative. A second sentence in the same section sets a 30-day limit on leaving indoor furniture, appliances, machinery, equipment or other personal property outside in public view. It carves out "operable motor vehicles, trailers, boats and other watercraft" from that limit.

Section 4-185 turns on sight lines. Only permitted junk or salvage yards and wrecked-vehicle compounds are exempt. Everyone else may not keep "abandoned, wrecked, junked or inoperable vehicles" where the street or the house next door can see them.

Downtown and towing

The City Square and the city lot at the corner of Marietta Street and Lewis Road have a three-hour limit between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, under Section 17-31. That is not a place to leave a car that died on the way to lunch.

When a city-approved wrecker tows a car, Section 17-65 says its impound lot must sit within ten miles of the city limits, and its gate stays locked "during the hours of darkness." The company must hand the owner or driver business cards and receipts "with twenty-four-hour phone numbers listed thereon," so keep that card.

Under Georgia rules, the tow firm then has 15 calendar days to mail or hand-deliver a notice to every owner. When the owner can't be located, the firm must advertise in a newspaper within 60 days, running the ad weekly for two straight weeks.

The Cobb County tag office we checked

We checked Cobb's tag office on Lower Roswell Rd in Marietta (number 4400; phone (770) 528-8600). In a straight line it is about 16 miles northeast of downtown Powder Springs. We did not check Cobb's other locations. Cobb belongs to the emissions zone, so a gas car from model years 2002 through 2023 registered in it needs a test before its 2026 registration.

Selling it the Georgia way from Powder Springs

Turn the title over and complete the seller's assignment on the back. Every owner listed prints and signs, and the mileage goes in whole miles. Photograph or copy the signed title and bill of sale before your Powder Springs buyer leaves with the original.

Next comes the registration. Powder Springs sellers end it on DRIVES e-Services or by bringing an MV-18J to the Cobb tag office. Keep the insurance until then. Getting the order backwards can bring penalties. Should a pending-suspension letter arrive once the car is gone, the state says to ignore it. Unbolt the plates and hold on to them.

Lost the title on a Powder Springs car aged 12 or more model years? Your signed owner's affidavit is enough for a Powder Springs salvage dealer, metals recycler or scrap processor to buy it. They then file it with the state electronically. Our junk car with no title page covers the other routes.

Getting an offer

Powder Springs owners can ring (877) 421-6008 or send the offer form. We collect it on a side street off Marietta Street, at your job or from a repair shop. Close by: Mableton, Douglasville, Smyrna and Marietta. For the whole state, see Georgia.