Dead and junk cars in Cedar Rapids

Two codes, one result

Cedar Rapids covers a dead car in two places.

The housing code, Section 29.36 (302.8). Besides the ban on inoperative or unlicensed cars, it says no vehicle may be "in a state of major disassembly, disrepair, or in the process of being stripped or dismantled." Loose parts are out too: "The open storage of vehicle parts including, but not limited to, bumpers, engines, exhaust pipes, doors, fenders, hoods, mufflers, tires" is prohibited. Body work and major overhauls must happen "inside a structure or similarly enclosed area designed and approved for such purposes." Cars must park on permitted hard surfaces.

The junk vehicle chapter, Chapter 25. Section 25.04 brands junk and abandoned cars anywhere in city limits, public land or private, "a nuisance." Under 25.03, a junk vehicle is one that does not display current plates or stickers, or that lacks "an engine or one or more wheels or other structural parts" so that it is "totally inoperable." An inoperable car left unattended for 48 hours is treated as abandoned.

The notice and the 7-weekday clock

When police find a junk vehicle on private property, Section 25.07 has the Chief of Police or a representative notify the property owner and the car's owner in writing. The car "must be removed" or repaired with current plates or stickers "within 7 weekdays." If the deadline passes, the city may remove it.

Parking tickets can end in a tow

Stacked-up parking tickets are a separate road to a Cedar Rapids tow lot. Section 61.137 allows a tow only for a car "on a public street or in a public parking lot" that is breaking a parking rule. Before that, the owner gets a notice with "a right to request an administrative hearing" within 10 calendar days of its mailing date.

After a tow, the city mails notice of impoundment by certified mail "within 72 hours of the impoundment, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays." The owner then has a "21 calendar day reclaiming period." Miss that window and the abandoned-car rules in Section 61.103 take over.

Snow routes and alternate-side days

During a declared snow emergency, no car may stay on a posted snow route. Under 61.095, "Each consecutive hour during one calendar day" a car stays there is a separate offense. Owners pay the towing and storage.

Residential streets have their own rule under 61.095A. The morning after a declaration, from eight until four in the afternoon, Cedar Rapids houses with even numbers host the parking on even-numbered days, and odd-numbered houses on odd days. On the second day the sides swap. A car that will not start cannot change sides.

When the city takes custody

Section 61.103 covers abandoned cars. The police or a private entity must send notice by certified mail "within 20 days" to the registered owner and lienholders. The notice gives "10 days after the effective date of the notice" to pay the tow, preservation and storage charges and get the car back. If a sale does not cover the city's costs, they "are the obligation of the last owner or owners, jointly and severally."

The same section gives an owner whose title is "faulty, lost, or destroyed" a way to hand the car to a demolisher as junk, with no title, in the situations it lists.

Title, plates and Linn County

In Cedar Rapids the paperwork runs through the Linn County treasurer, the office Iowa uses for titles, plates and junking certificates. Your part of the title is on the reverse: your seller's signature, then who is buying, their address, and the day it sold. Add the county that last registered the car and the expiration date of that registration. A missing title can be replaced for $35.00 after a mandatory 5-day wait.

Unbolt the plates, because Linn County sellers keep them. Three things prove the car left your hands: a receipt the buyer signs, a photocopy of the signed title back, or Iowa's notice-of-sale form, 411107, filed with the county where the car was registered.

If an insurer wrote the car off, check the title for a salvage brand. Iowa applies one once the repair bill would top 70 percent of what the car was worth, for cars valued at $500 or more.

Nearby

Marion sits 7.3 miles from Cedar Rapids as the crow flies. North Liberty is 15.6 miles, Coralville 18.8 and Iowa City 22.6. Statewide rules are on the Iowa page.

Getting an offer

Have a car to sell in Cedar Rapids? Phone (877) 421-6008 or send the offer form. In Cedar Rapids we can get it from a curb on a snow route, a duplex driveway, or a shop lot that needs the room.