A dead car in Bowling Green: what the code says

If the car isn't worth fixing, there is a simpler way out. We buy whole non-running and junk cars, you sell the whole car as it sits, and there is free pickup anywhere in the US.

Two ways a car becomes "inoperable"

Section 70.40 offers two tests, and meeting either one is enough:

1. The car shows no valid license plate and is in a "wrecked, partially wrecked, dismantled, partially dismantled, or discarded condition, or is incapable of being driven."
2. Plates or not, the car has stayed wrecked, dismantled, discarded or undrivable for a continuous 14 days.

The second test is the one people miss. A properly plated car that broke down two weeks ago already qualifies.

The notice, and who gets it

The zoning inspector runs this section. The notice and order goes to the record owner of the land, sent first class to the address the Wood County Treasurer has on file, and a copy is posted on the property if service is refused. If you rent, your landlord is the one who hears first.

The notice gives 14 days to remove the car, and it warns that the property owner will be charged what the city spends removing and storing it. When the 14 days run out with nothing done, the zoning inspector removes the car. Within that same window, a landowner can report the car as abandoned on the land without consent and ask for removal under state abandoned-vehicle law instead. Keeping an inoperable car in violation is a third-degree misdemeanor.

Streets, plates and towing

• A 24-hour cap on streets. Section 76.10 bars leaving a vehicle parked on any public street or alley in the city continuously beyond that.
• Expired plates. Section 70.33 lets police officers and parking enforcement staff impound a car with improper or expired plates, one left more than an hour past its time limit, or one missing equipment the law requires.
• Someone else's land. Under Section 70.30, the police chief can order a car stored, on a complaint, after it has been on private residential property for four hours or more without permission.
• Public property. For a car towed off public property as abandoned, the owner is warned it "will be declared a nuisance and disposed of if not claimed within ten days of the date of the sending of the notice" (Section 70.31).

Getting a towed car back starts with the Police Division. The city's FAQ says you need a release from them, and that unpaid tickets, parking fines or court sanctions can be conditions on it. Section 70.33 adds that the towing and storage charges, owed to the business that towed the car, come first, along with any traffic-code fines. Dispatch answers at 419-352-1131 or 419-352-2571.

Title work in Wood County

The Wood County title office is at 1616 E. Wooster Street, Unit 16, about 1.4 miles east, as the crow flies, from the middle of Bowling Green. Phone (419) 354-9180. Lucas County's office on Heatherdowns Boulevard in Toledo is about 15 miles north, and Ohio lets you use any county's office.

A notary must witness the seller's signature on a Bowling Green title, as on any Ohio title. If the title is missing, a duplicate costs $18, or $23 in counties that chose the higher fee. The plates stay behind with you when the car leaves, because under Ohio law the registration expires once ownership transfers.

Getting an offer

Start online or call (877) 421-6008. Tell us the model year, the miles, whether it runs, and what the title situation is. The truck collects it from a garage, a driveway or a parking lot. Nearby: Toledo and Perrysburg.