Selling a junk or dead car in Beavercreek

Six ways a car becomes junk in Beavercreek

Under Section 153.20, any one of these is enough:

1. no valid current registration or license plate
2. tires not fully inflated, or any kind of support under the car
3. a windshield, door, motor, transmission or similar major part badly damaged or missing
4. an engine, but no means of moving itself
5. abandoned
6. used mainly for storage

The first catches a car that still runs but has lapsed tags. The last catches the old sedan that turned into a shed.

Homes and businesses follow different rules

At a home. Section 153.30 says nobody in a residential district may store, keep, repair or collect a junk vehicle on a lot they control unless it sits within a completely enclosed building. The only carve-out is routine maintenance: oil changes, cleaning, a flat-tire change, minor rust repair and similar jobs. It covers upkeep, not parking a dead car for months.

At a business. In commercial districts a junk vehicle must stay out of ordinary public view and out of sight of adjoining properties, either in an enclosed building or behind opaque screening at least six feet high. Vehicle covers do not satisfy the rule.

The property sections we read set out no notice procedure, compliance period or penalty for these two rules, so we cannot tell you how many days a Beavercreek letter gives.

Abandoned cars and the 48-hour street limit

Chapter 90 of the city code has a separate rule for an abandoned junk car: one at least three years old that looks unable to run, carries heavy damage such as a missing wheel, motor or transmission, and has a fair market value of $1,500 or under. Section 90.05 makes it a minor misdemeanor to willfully dump one on somebody else's land for more than three days without their say-so. On a street the line is two days, unless the Police Chief has been given a reason. Whoever left it also gets the disposal bill, minus anything the city recovers from the car.

Section 70.11 also lets police impound a car that has sat two full days running on private land without the owner's consent, or on a public street for the same stretch with no word to the chief, and any car too wrecked to run. When police take an abandoned junk car, an officer photographs it first, and the chief then sends it straight to a scrap or salvage business holding a city contract.

To get an impounded car back, go to the police division with ID and something showing the car is yours. Fines, or a bond if the court sets one, come first; the release form then goes to the pound, which hands the car over once its tow and storage bill is settled.

Reporting a junk car

Use the city's online RequestTracker, under Private Property Maintenance. City offices answer at (937) 427-5500 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Crimes do not go through RequestTracker; for those, police take calls at 937-426-1225 or reports through Coplogic.

The closest title office is across the county line

All of Beavercreek is in Greene County, and Greene's lone title counter (Suite B, 601 Ledbetter Rd., Xenia; (937) 562-6055) sits roughly 7.7 miles southeast as the crow flies. Montgomery County's downtown Dayton office, 451 W. Third St., is a shade closer at about 7.6 miles west. Ohio lets you title a car at whichever county's Clerk of Courts office suits you, so either one works.

At either one, the seller's part is short. Complete the ownership assignment on the title's reverse side and sign it in a notary's presence. Then unscrew the plates. Under Ohio law the registration expires with the sale, and the plates go home with you. See after you sell, and get a duplicate title first if yours is missing.

Getting an offer

Ring (877) 421-6008 or start online. We ask what the car is, how far it has been driven, whether it fires up, and whether it waits at a home or at a business lot. Nearby, see Fairborn and Xenia.