Selling a dead or junk car in Dublin

The checklist in Section 153.076

"Operable" in Dublin means a car can be started and driven from the spot where it sits. A car fails if any one of these is true:

• a wheel or tire is missing
• a tire is flat
• a window or the windshield is missing or broken
• parts it needs are missing
• it does not display a license for the current year

On a residential lot the section asks more of every car: it must run, and its registration and license must be valid within the current 12 months. Vehicles go on a hard surface, never in the required side or rear yards, and none may sit on a lot that has no principal building.

When a car is called abandoned

The traffic code has a second test in Section 76.12, and it sets the value line far below the state's $1,500. An abandoned motor vehicle in Dublin must meet all five conditions:

• out of an enclosed garage on private land for over 72 hours, or on a street for 48
• at least three years old
• extensively damaged
• apparently inoperable
• worth $200 or less

After investigating, Dublin's Chief of Police has written notice served by certified mail on the owner, lessee, agent or tenant who controls the land. From service, Dublin allows 72 hours for removal. If the car is still there, the Chief has it removed, photographed and sent to a junk yard or scrap processor, with any money going to the city's General Fund. Leaving it is a minor misdemeanor, and the city's disposal costs, less whatever the car brought, are added. Two cars escape the section: one kept in an enclosed garage, and a wreck waiting at a body shop or service garage to be fixed.

A separate cleanup order under Section 95.08 can reach junk vehicles too. It gives at least seven days from receipt; after that the city can do the work and put the cost on the property as a lien.

Streets and towing

Section 76.11 caps a stay on any Dublin street at 48 continuous hours. The code says the point is to stop long-term parking and the storage of vehicles on city streets. Section 76.42 adds the tow list: a car on someone else's land for over 72 hours without their OK, one on a street past 48 hours, a wreck that can't run sitting on a public street, and any car in a no-parking spot. To recover it, the owner shows up at Dublin's Police Division carrying identification and evidence of ownership, and pays the Clerk. The code text lists a $5 service charge, $2.50 a day in storage with a $75 ceiling, and a $20 tow, figures that may not match what the towing contractor charges today. The non-emergency number is 614.889.1112.

Three counties, one title rule

Dublin spreads across Delaware, Franklin and Union counties, but Ohio doesn't tie a title to your home county's clerk; any of them works. Union County's office sits inside Dublin at 7020 St. Rt. 161, Suites A and B, about 2.1 miles west of Dublin's center point as the crow flies. Call it at (937) 645-2001. Franklin's Campus View office in Columbus is about 7.2 miles east, and Delaware County's office up Columbus Pike in Lewis Center about 7.6 miles northeast.

Whichever county you pick, a notary has to witness you signing the assignment on the title. The car's registration also expires when a Dublin sale closes, so unscrew the plates and keep them.

Getting an offer

Start online or call (877) 421-6008 with what the car is, its miles, whether it will start, and the name printed on its title. You sell the whole car as it sits. Neighbors: Hilliard and Columbus; state rules are on Ohio.