Selling a junk or dead car in Forest Park

If the job is never getting finished, we buy whole non-running and junk cars. Sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US.

The storage rule: 72 hours, then ten days

Under Section 96.72, no junk, abandoned, inoperable or unlicensed car may be "left outside of a garage or other suitable structure, for more than 72 hours," and having the landowner's blessing changes nothing. Section 96.71 calls keeping such cars outside a building a public nuisance.

A junk motor vehicle, under the city's definitions, has a broken windshield or windows, is missing tires, wheels, a motor or a transmission, or looks inoperable or partly taken apart. Any one of those is enough.

After the city serves written notice, the car has to be removed or covered within ten days. The notice can be handed over, left at the property or sent by certified mail, and it stands for 365 days. A repeat of the same or a similar problem within that year needs no fresh notice.

For a junk or abandoned car, the order must give the owner 168 hours to remove it or ask in writing for a hearing, and it cannot take effect sooner. If the car stays:

• every 30 days it remains uncovered after the notice adds a new offense;
• offense number one is a minor misdemeanor, number two is fourth-degree, and anything after that is third-degree;
• the city adds its costs for disposing of the car.

What a "proper cover" means here

Forest Park defines a cover as a product designed and made to cover and protect a motor vehicle. A garage or other suitable structure works, and so does a cover in good shape, free of rips and wear. But a car is not properly covered if anything that shows it is junk, inoperable or abandoned is still visible. A cover over the body with a flat tire showing underneath does not pass.

A junk car on the street

Parking a junk or inoperable car on any street, highway or right-of-way in the city is unlawful under Section 73.21. Police place a notice on the car giving 48 hours to move it. After that a citation can follow, and if the car is still there 24 hours after the citation, the city can haul it away and send the owner the bill.

To redeem a towed car under Section 75.29, you first pay the towing company and storage lot their reasonable charges. If the City Manager finds the city towed a car in error, the city can pay back some or all of those charges.

The Property Maintenance Division drives the neighborhoods looking for problems. Its page says nearly 90% of homeowners fix a problem once they know about it, without a formal citation. Complaints go through the city's online Property Complaint form, which has a Vehicle category; the main office is (513) 595-5200.

Title offices and plates

Hamilton County's title office at 10964 Hamilton Ave. is about 2.1 miles west of the center of Forest Park, as the crow flies; the phone is (513) 946-8161. Since any Ohio county's Clerk of Courts title office can process a title, two Butler County offices are options as well: 530 Wessel Dr., Suite H, in Fairfield, about 3.9 miles northwest, and the Union Centre Pavillion Dr. office (No. 4872) in Westchester, about 5.2 miles northeast. Hamilton County's Evendale office, 10400 Reading Rd., Suite 105, is about 6 miles east.

A notary has to be present when you, the seller, sign the back of the title. Pull the plates before the car goes; Ohio cancels the registration at the sale and leaves the plates with the person who sold. Hamilton County is not an E-Check county.

Getting an offer

Online or at (877) 421-6008, run through the car for us: year and model, rough mileage, whether it starts, how many tires are flat, and whether the title is on hand. Cincinnati, Fairfield, Hamilton and Mason are all close.