Springfield junk cars: the 7-day rule and the sale

Section 106-35, piece by piece

The city's main junk-car rule has four parts.

Public property and streets. Springfield bars leaving a dismantled, nonoperable, wrecked or junked car on city-owned ground that isn't set aside for parking, and the same section covers city streets. A car left on a street, right-of-way or sidewalk "for a continuous period of 48 hours or more without being moved" may be towed on police order and impounded.

Private property. Seven days, as above, whether you own the land, rent it or just live there.

Businesses. A licensed business may hold up to 15 inoperable vehicles at one location, if it has no ownership interest in them and its zoning district allows the use.

Court order. After a municipal court conviction, the court "shall order the vehicle removed to a lawful place within ten days," on top of the penalties in section 1-7.

The city has a second route as well. Section 74-389 lets it treat an inoperable vehicle as a nuisance through administrative proceedings, "in addition to the proceedings set forth in section 106-35." Section 74-388 adds that stock cars and drag cars follow their own storage rule, section 106-36. If a notice has already come, notice to remove a car covers how to respond.

Garages, lots and the airport

Springfield's parking system runs its own clocks. Under Section 106-441, a vehicle left in a city parking facility for more than 30 consecutive days without use, relocation or payment counts as abandoned, and on a surface lot in the system the limit is 48 consecutive hours. Section 106-431 sets the same 30-day and 48-hour limits in the Jordan Valley Park district, including the Jordan Valley Ice Park lot. Abandoned cars in either place are impounded until claimed or disposed of.

At the airport, Section 22-116 calls a vehicle abandoned when it lacks a proper license, is junked, can't move on its own power, or stays parked an unreasonable time without the director's consent.

One odd rule sits in the land development code. Under Section 36-454, "any inoperable vehicle" parked mainly to advertise is treated as a sign.

Getting an impounded car back

Notice comes under Section 118-176. It can be handed to someone entitled to the car, or mailed to the registered owner's address as the title record shows it. When neither works, it is published at least three times in a paid-circulation newspaper before any sale. Notice takes effect on delivery, or three days after mailing or publication.

Section 118-177 gives three ways to get the car released:

• pay the tow and storage liens to the towing permittee
• request a post-storage hearing with the police department and post a bond that covers the liens
• request the hearing and win a finding that there was no probable cause to impound

If the hearing officer finds no probable cause, any bond comes back and the car is released without payment. If the car is not worth the liens, towed or impounded explains your choices.

Missouri title and plate rules

Springfield sellers can file with any Missouri license office, or with the capital's Motor Vehicle Bureau.

• Notary: none. Missouri doesn't require one for the title signatures.
• Your entries: odometer miles and the sale date, written once. Correction fluid and erasures are out.
• Plates: the seller keeps them. Off they come, current or not, before the buyer takes over.
• Telling Revenue: within 30 days, on form DOR-5049 or form DOR-1957.
• Lien: if one was ever recorded, Form 4809, notarized.
• Safety check: a certificate no more than 60 days old at sale. Exempt are cars under 150,000 miles still within a decade of their model year.

Greene and Christian counties fall outside the zone where Missouri wants an emissions test from sellers.

Badly damaged cars and salvage

Two state rules matter for a wreck. Springfield cars turn into salvage under Missouri rules when the damage came within six years of the model year and repairs would run over 80 percent of fair market value. A Springfield car can also be branded salvage when its owner, a secured party or an insurer declares it so. Previously Damaged, Flood Damaged, Rebuilt Salvage, Rebuilt, Damaged and Salvage are all brands a Missouri title can carry.

The buyer handles the paperwork when a Springfield car is salvaged or dismantled. A Springfield buyer has ten days to mail the Director the title plus the $8.50 salvage certificate application. With a junking certificate, the holder may possess, transport or assign the car only as parts, scrap or junk. More at salvage title.

Registering a car again later takes the previous year's county tangible property tax receipt, with any delinquent prior-year taxes paid. The statute lists no separate back-registration fee.

Getting an offer

Use the form or call (877) 421-6008. The Springfield offer form is short and covers what matters. Our truck collects Springfield cars in place, whether that's a driveway, a level of a city garage, or a repair shop's lot. Nearby pages cover Republic, Nixa and Ozark, and Missouri has the state rules.