A dead car in Florissant, and the name still on its title

Plates or walls: Florissant's main rule

Section 395.020 reaches far. No owner or occupant may permit parking or storing any automobile, "whether or not in a usable condition," on public or private property, streets included, unless it is "legally registered with properly displayed license plates." Registration that lapsed while the car sat puts it in violation, engine or no engine.

Section 395.030 adds: "The open storage of abandoned property constitutes a public safety hazard and is prohibited." Its escape hatch is hiding the car completely, inside a building or locked fence where nobody next door or on the street can see it. Licensed salvage, swap, junk, towing and storage businesses are also outside the rule.

Florissant's inoperable test

Section 395.010 lists four signs, any one of which is enough: no engine, a missing wheel, a flat tire, or missing body parts needed to drive. A sedan parked since last spring with one flat front tire meets that test.

Who can order a tow off private land

Under Section 395.050, officers including the Highway Patrol and sheriff may approve towing property abandoned on land owned by someone else without consent. An owner, lessee or manager can call a tower directly only while standing there, and only with a posted sign at each entrance measuring no less than seventeen by twenty-two inches, lettered an inch tall or more. They must also sign an abandoned property report, which carries criminal penalties if false. If yours has already been hauled off, see towed or impounded.

Closing out the sale with Revenue

Section 210.570 is the reason this step matters most in Florissant. Within 30 days, report the sale to Missouri's Department of Revenue on DOR-5049, the Notice of Sale; DOR-1957, the Bill of Sale, works too. Pull your plates first, expired or current. Missouri needs no notary on the title signatures, just a correct mileage figure and date with no erasures. Keep your own bill of sale copy too.

Because Florissant lies in St. Louis County, Revenue also lists an emissions report, under 60 days old, among a seller's papers, alongside a safety certificate.

Close by

• Hazelwood: 3.7 miles, straight line
• University City: 9.3
• Maryland Heights: 9.7
• St. Charles: 10.1

The Missouri page holds the statewide rules.

Getting an offer

For an offer on a Florissant car, dial (877) 421-6008 or fill out our short form. Whether it sits behind a locked fence, in a garage or under leaves after years parked, our driver comes to it.