Selling a dead or junk car in Birmingham

Four inches, one hour

Birmingham does not always wait for an announcement. A ban can be declared when the weather service warns that streets will need plowing, but Section 110-140 also makes it automatic on any street with "an accumulation of snow and ice of four inches or more for any one hour or more."

When a ban is on, police may tow "any vehicle that obstructs or otherwise impedes traffic." To get it back you need ID, proof you own the car, a signed receipt, and the money for the tow and storage. A daily storage fee is added for each day past the first 24 hours.

Homes without driveways get a break. Residents there do not have to move a car for a snow emergency, but they must park "as close to the curb as possible." The exemption covers moving the car, not where it sits.

Alleys and old tickets

Some city alleys are posted tow-away zones. Under Section 110-136, police and parking enforcement "may immediately remove" a car parked illegally in one. Whoever owns it covers the tow bill, the storage bill and a city impound fee on top. The steps after that:

• within 24 hours, the car is entered into the "law enforcement information network"
• a certified letter reaches the owner and any lender inside seven days, weekends and legal holidays excluded
• the letter warns that failing to redeem or contest "within 15 days after the date of this notice may result in the sale of the vehicle"
• with no hearing requested, the police department can put it up at public sale once "not less than 15 days" have passed since the notice

Section 110-139 opens a second road to the tow lot. A car parked illegally with "more than six parking violation notices or citations which remain unpaid" can be taken into custody.

If the dead car sits on a trailer, Section 110-162 has its own rules: no trailer may be parked overnight on a street, and it must be "licensed by the state for operation during the current year or the year preceding."

A dead car on your own lot

In Birmingham, MCL 257.252a, the state's abandoned car law, covers a car left two days or more on public ground, or parked on someone else's land without their OK. Your own driveway falls under local ordinance instead. The Birmingham sections we reviewed speak to streets, alleys, trailers and snow, so the city may have rules for private yards that are not quoted here. Ask before a car sits for months.

Selling it under Michigan rules

In Birmingham, the Michigan Department of State issues titles through Secretary of State branches. Oakland County doesn't. Your job as seller: the original certificate (a photocopy will not do), the odometer reading, the seller's block, and your signature. Two names on the title means two signatures. A notary is absent from the state's seller checklist.

Unscrew the plate before the buyer drives off. A plate left behind can pin the new owner's parking tickets on you. Michigan gives that buyer three days to get the car home.

Michigan offers no release-of-liability form. Under MCL 257.240, a Birmingham seller is covered by visiting a branch with the buyer, or by keeping a sale record at least 18 months. A Birmingham seller who does neither risks a $15 civil infraction. If the car gets abandoned later, the law assumes that seller owes towing and storage. After you sell walks through the paperwork.

Close by

Measured straight across the map, Royal Oak lies 4.1 miles off, Troy 4.5 and Southfield 5.3. The Michigan page has the statewide picture.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or use the form. Put your Birmingham car in our offer form and we handle the rest. Our tow driver can collect it from a Birmingham garage, a curb or a parking structure.