Selling a junk or dead car in Flint

The 15-day limit and the posted notice

The 15 days is the standing rule. Enforcement runs through Chapter 30. When an enforcement officer finds junk property on private premises, Section 30-29 has a notice posted on site, a copy mailed to whoever the City Assessor lists as the land's owner, and another to the item's owner if that person can be traced.

The notice gives you "two business days" to remove it or file for a hearing. You can ask the Chief Administrative Officer for more time, for good cause, of "up to five additional days." Miss the deadline and the officer may clear the property, and the "costs of such removal, storage and/or other disposition will be charged to these premises." On a rental, that charge lands on the property.

On the street: 24 hours, then 48

Section 28-86 bars parking any vehicle on a street "for a period of time longer than twenty-four (24) hours." A car parked against the chapter's rules is a nuisance under Section 28-114 and "may be impounded pursuant to Michigan law."

Once police tag a car, Section 28-31 calls it abandoned when it stays on public or private property "for a period of forty-eight (48) hours after" the written notice goes on.

Where a towed scrap car goes

Flint's abandoned scrap vehicle procedure, Section 28-36, moves fast. Flint police pass the car to the tower, a used-parts dealer or a scrap processor inside 24 hours of custody, leaving out weekends and legal holidays. The business then applies for a title or a certificate of scrapping.

Within seven days, notice goes to the registered owner and lender by first-class mail or in person. The notice warns that failing to redeem or request a hearing "within twenty (20) days after the date of the notice may result in the termination of all rights of the owner." At the hearing you may fight the abandonment or the fees for towing and storage, and paying those fees can stand in for a bond. Should the court rule the abandonment label was wrong, the police agency pays those fees back.

Junk on public land

Items left on public property get 48 hours. Under Section 30-27 the officer posts a notice that the item "must be removed within 48 hours." Past that point Flint can haul it off, get rid of it and hold onto whatever salvage it brings. If salvage brings in more than disposal cost, the extra is held 30 days for a former owner who proves ownership.

Cars stuck at a filling station

Section 12-147 bars filling-station owners from letting junk pile up, and it says "Nonrepairable automobiles or any automobile parts which are no longer suitable for repair operations are hereby declared to be JUNK." If your car died in a station's bay and the repair is not worth it, the station has its own reason to want it moved.

Michigan's scrap title

Michigan sorts badly damaged late model cars by repair cost. Damage costing 75% up to just below 91% of the car's pre-crash worth earns a salvage brand. At 91% and above, the brand is scrap. An owner can also decide a car is scrap or salvage without working out its value.

In Flint, a scrap certificate of title application runs $15. With one, a Flint car can be hauled but never driven. After that, the Flint car belongs to whichever foreign salvage dealer, parts dealer, recycler or scrap metal processor took it. Michigan will not title it again. Hand an older car to a dealer and the dealer needs your assigned title. A scrap processor turns that title in no later than 30 days after destroying the car. Salvage title has more on the brands.

Plates and the title

Genesee County plays no part in titles; Michigan's Secretary of State branches handle them. State law has the plates removed and kept by you, ready for whatever you drive next. Photocopy both faces of the completed title, SOS advises, and file that copy away for a year and a half or more. If the title is gone, selling with no title lays out the options.

Burton and beyond

From Flint, Burton sits 4.1 miles off in a straight line. Saginaw is 30.2 miles and Pontiac 33.0. Statewide rules are on the Michigan page.

Getting an offer

Online or at (877) 421-6008, describe the car: what it is, its odometer reading, whether it runs, and any title trouble. We load cars from Flint backyards, curbs, or the shop where the car quit.