Selling a dead or junk car in Centerville

An expired sticker is enough

Section 660.07 forbids depositing, storing, keeping or collecting an unlicensed, inoperative, abandoned or junked car in unenclosed areas of premises you control. Its definition opens with "any vehicle not capable of legal operation on public streets," and it says a car not displaying a valid license plate and validation sticker meets that test on its own. A car partially dismantled, wrecked, or deteriorating enough to hurt property values or blight the neighborhood counts too.

"Unenclosed" is just as strict: any area not enclosed by a building with walls you cannot see through. A carport with open sides does not meet that wording, and a car cover is no building.

The property maintenance code repeats the point in its own terms. Outside storage of an inoperative or unlicensed car is banned on every premises, and so is leaving any vehicle half taken apart or stripped for parts. Major overhaul, body work included, is allowed only inside a structure designed and approved for it.

How notice reaches you

Section 660.07 allows three routes:

• regular mail to the property owner at the current tax mailing address
• personal service by a Code Official or a city police officer, valid if given to an adult at the property
• posting in a prominent place on the property

The third means the 72 hours can start with a notice on the door rather than in the mailbox.

Penalties that climb

• A first offense is a minor misdemeanor.
• Every later offense is a third-degree misdemeanor.
• Each day the violation goes on is a separate offense.
• The City Manager, or anyone the Manager designates, may haul the car off; it then stays impounded until lawfully claimed or disposed of under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 737 or Section 4513.60.

The property maintenance code tightens repeats as well. A second violation of the same kind, at least 20 days and no more than two years after the first, can skip the usual notice and come with one requiring a fix within twenty-four hours of service.

Streets and other people's driveways

Section 452.05 sets two-day limits for the road. Any motor vehicle sitting two days or more on a public street, or within a highway right-of-way, is covered, as is an abandoned junk car parked there that long with no explanation given to the Police Chief. On another person's residential lot, a car left without the owner's permission gets only four hours. Breaking the section is a minor misdemeanor, and if the car is abandoned junk, Centerville also bills what it spent disposing of it.

A towed car is redeemed at the Police Division. Bring ID and proof of ownership, clear any fines or court-set bond, and the pound operator releases the car once its towing and storage charges are covered.

Spring Valley Road: title office and code office

Montgomery County's Clerk of Courts keeps a title office at 108 W. Spring Valley Rd. Measured from the Census Bureau's map point for Centerville, it is about 1.7 miles southwest as the crow flies. Phone (937) 225-4480 and ask for ext. 5212. Centerville's Code Enforcement office is just along the same road at 100 W. Spring Valley Rd., (937) 433-7151, and the police department's main line is 937-433-7661. The county's Moraine office, 5552 N. Springboro Pike, is about 5.0 miles northwest, and its downtown Dayton office about 9.0 miles north.

Part of Centerville lies in Greene County. That changes nothing, because an Ohio title can be transferred at a Clerk of Courts office in any county. The seller's part, the assignment of ownership, is on the reverse of the title. Complete it, and sign only with a notary present. Unscrew the plates before the tow truck pulls away, since Ohio cancels the registration at the sale; see after you sell. A missing title means a duplicate first.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or start online. Let us know the model year and model, how many miles it shows, if it can still start, and where it is now: a garage, the driveway or the curb. Nearby, see Kettering and Dayton.