Junk and dead cars in Iowa City: the rules and a way out

If you would rather sell it than find a garage for it, we buy whole non-running and junk cars. You sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US.

What Iowa City treats as inoperable

Section 6-1-1 gives two ways a car qualifies. One is the registration test above. The other is physical: "Any vehicle lacking an engine or one or more wheels or other structural parts which renders such vehicle totally inoperable."

The 48-hour rule has two exceptions. It "shall not apply to any vehicle enclosed within a building on private property", and it skips cars held by a junkyard or auto use run under the zoning code. A carport or a tarp is not named as an exception.

Two zoning rules add to it:

• Required parking spaces. Section 14-5A-2 bans "the storage of merchandise, materials, equipment, refuse containers, obsolete or junk vehicles" in required off-street parking. The same section says "motor vehicles must be parked on an improved surface".
• Form-based zones. Section 14-2H-4 is blunt: vehicles "without current plates or inoperable, shall be only parked within completely enclosed buildings."

Out on the street, the clocks stack up

Moving the car to the curb only trades one clock for another. Section 9-4-4 says no vehicle may stay at the same spot on a street, alley or public ground "for a period longer than forty eight (48) hours".

After that, Section 9-9-1 lets the city post a towing notice on an abandoned car. Leave it past 72 hours from that posting and the department may haul it away. The notice gives the date and time it went up, the reason, and a warning that all removal, notice and storage costs must be paid before you get the car back. A car that is an immediate hazard on a street or alley can go with no notice at all. In a city-owned parking lot the wait after a notice is just 24 hours.

Iowa Code 321.89 adds its own yardstick. A plateless car, or one stripped of two or more wheels or parts, becomes abandoned once it has sat a full day on public ground.

Snow emergencies and a car that cannot move

A declared snow emergency turns on alternate-side parking under Section 9-4-9. Where both curbs allow parking, even dates mean the even-numbered side and odd dates the odd side, starting each morning at eight. A dead battery means the car stays put on the wrong side. Any vehicle in the wrong place gets a parking ticket and is towed to the impound lot.

The rule does not cover metered spaces, loading zones, or the central business district bounded by Iowa Avenue, Capitol Street, Burlington Street and Gilbert Street.

If the car was already towed

Section 9-9-11 lays out the cost of getting it back. You show identification and your right to possess it, sign for its return, and pay "the costs of towing, preservation, storage, outstanding parking tickets, notification and preliminary costs of sale". The deadline is ten days. If nobody reclaims the car in that time, they are "deemed to have waived any right, title, claim or interest in or to the vehicle." For a car that was not abandoned, a written request and extra storage charges, made before day ten, add up to 14 calendar days. See towed or impounded for when letting it go makes more sense.

Johnson County paperwork

Here the Johnson County treasurer is the office for titles, plates and junking certificates. Per Iowa DOT, an Iowa City seller signs the back and fills in the buyer's name, their address, the sale date, the county of last registration, and when that registration expired. Newer cars carry extra forms: mileage for anything up to nine model years old, damage for anything up to seven. Two owners linked by "and" both sign; "or" lets either sign alone.

Unscrew the plates; they stay with you. For your own records Iowa DOT accepts any one of three things: the buyer's signed receipt, a photocopy of the title's reverse after signing, or form 411107 sent to the county where the car is registered.

A lost title can be replaced for $35.00, but only after a mandatory five-day hold once the treasurer has your application. With a lost or faulty title, an owner can use Iowa Code 321.90 to seek police authority approval to sell the car to a demolisher. Our guide to a junk car with no title covers both routes, and after you sell covers the last steps.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or start online with our form. We pick up Iowa City cars from driveways, city lots and garages. Coralville is 4.5 miles away and North Liberty 7.4, both covered the same way. For the statewide rules, see Iowa.