Selling a dead or junk car in Roswell

Off the street, Roswell allows no grace period

Many nearby cities give a dead car 30 days on private land. Roswell's Section 22.4.4 does not. It makes it unlawful "to park or cause to be parked any inoperable motor vehicle on public property or any private lot," occupied or empty, and declares any such car "a public nuisance." Only two exceptions are written in:

• a car inside an enclosed building
• a car on property used for repair work in line with the city's Unified Development Code

Section 22.4.3 lists what makes a car inoperable. The city's nuisance chapter, Section 8.8.2, also counts "all inoperable vehicles or parts thereof, including tires" as junk.

Warning notice, then 72 hours

Under Section 22.4.6, when the police chief, a sworn officer or a code enforcement officer finds a junked car to be a nuisance, he issues a warning notice to remove it. "If the junked motor vehicle is not removed within seventy-two (72) hours," the car's owner, or the landowner, can be found guilty of an offense, and the cost of hauling it away is "added to the court costs."

Section 22.4.5 gives the police chief and sworn officers the right to come onto property, public or private, to inspect a junked car, find out whose it is, and have it hauled off.

Two counties, two title offices we checked

Roswell crosses the Fulton and Cobb line, and each county runs its own tag office for the Georgia Department of Revenue.

• Cobb County, 4400 Lower Roswell Rd, Marietta, (770) 528-8600. Roughly 7 miles to the southwest, measured as the crow flies from central Roswell.
• Fulton County, 141 Pryor Street SW, Atlanta, 404-613-6100. A longer haul: roughly 20 miles to the south, measured in a straight line from central Roswell.

Each county may have other offices.

After a Roswell sale

The plate is yours to keep; it does not go with the car. End the registration first (DRIVES online, or paper Form MV-18J at a tag counter) and drop the insurance second. Reverse that order and a lapse letter can follow: an unpaid lapse fee can lead to suspension once 30 days pass after the Notice of Pending Suspension. Georgia's Department of Revenue tells sellers that such a notice, if it concerns a car already sold, may be ignored. More on this in after you sell.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or go online. Share the car's model, make and year, its rough mileage, if it will start, and which title papers you have. Pickup can be from the garage, the driveway, or a repair shop. Neighbors: Alpharetta and Sandy Springs. Statewide: Georgia.