Lake Charles junk cars: the cover rule and selling

Section 23-6: cars on city lots

The section makes it "unlawful for any person to allow storage of any junk vehicle or inoperable motorized vehicle on any city lot." The only exception it lists is a licensed dismantler, junk or salvage yard, dealer or repair shop fenced the way the code requires. The yard rules then read:

• "No parking or storage of junk vehicles is allowed."
• "Parking is permitted in an enclosed structure (garage)."
• "Only one parked may be covered with a cover designed for the vehicle."
• "An inoperable vehicle stored in the side or rear yard shall be covered with cover designed for the vehicle."

So a garage is the safe place for a car that will not run. Out in the open, the code expects a fitted cover, and a junk car is not allowed at all.

Section 13-15.5: public property

Section 13-15.5 sets the city's procedure for removing junk and inoperable vehicles. Its definition of vehicle is wide: cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, four wheelers, campers, travel trailers, boat trailers and utility trailers among them. It is "unlawful for any person or business to allow storage of any junk or inoperable vehicle on any public property in the City of Lake Charles." After notice, "if the vehicle is not removed by the given date and no hearing is requested, or the hearing finds in favor of the violation charge, the vehicle may be removed immediately by an approved towing service at the owner's expense."

If police tow it

Under Section 20-132, an illegally parked car that blocks traffic, a driveway or emergency vehicles can be removed and held. Police then send a certified letter to the last known owner "within one day," stating the towing and storage charges. Release comes with payment plus proof you own the car, or with an appearance bond of "1¼ times the amount of towing and storage charges." Cars presumed abandoned fall under a different section of the code. See towed or impounded.

Totaled or flooded

Under Louisiana law, damage worth 75% or more of the car's market value in the current NADA handbook makes it a total loss. Once an insurer settles, the OMV must receive the title and a salvage title application inside 30 days. A car whose power train, computer or electrical system was ruined by flooding, and that is a total loss after a governor-declared disaster or emergency, gets a certificate of destruction instead. For more, see flood damage and insurer totaled it.

Title and plate in Calcasieu Parish

No Louisiana parish titles cars, Calcasieu included; the state OMV handles it at OMV locations and Public Tag Agents, or through the mail. When you sell, sign the title assignment before a notary; if the price is not on it, a notarized bill of sale has to show it. The plate is yours to remove. You can cancel it on the OMV website, by mail or in person, or move it to another car; cancel before the liability insurance ends. Report the sale to the OMV within fifteen days.

Nearby

As the crow flies: Sulphur 8.9 miles, Lafayette 70.6, New Iberia 84.2 and Alexandria 87.5. Statewide rules: Louisiana.

Getting an offer

Online or at (877) 421-6008, describe the car: year, make, model, odometer, title, and whether the engine fires. Pickup can be from beneath its cover in the side yard, out of a garage, or off a street downtown.