Parma, Ohio: what to do with a car that won't run

If yours already fits that list, we buy whole non-running and junk cars. You can sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US, Parma included.

The checklist in Section 660.31

The city's vehicle section names three kinds of problem car:

• Inoperable: a missing wheel or tire, two or more flat tires, a missing or broken window, a shattered windshield, or missing parts needed to run.
• Junk: wrecked, dismantled, disabled, or so damaged it does not appear safe to drive.
• Unlicensed: no current license plate and validation sticker.

All three have to be kept out of sight, inside a garage or similar building the Building Commissioner approves. Section 351.12 repeats the point for collector cars, junk cars and anything unregistered or inoperable.

Ten days, then a hearing officer

Notices come from the Police Chief and go to the person entitled to the lot where the car sits. The zoning code, Section 1707.15, gives the Building Commissioner the same power. The notice has to say how to appeal.

From the day you receive it, you have ten days to garage the car or remove it. A car still sitting in the open after that is taken as evidence that you willfully ignored the notice, unless you can show otherwise.

If you think the notice is wrong, a hearing officer takes the case on or after the tenth business day after the notice date. Defenses written into the code include:

• the car is gone, or it is in an approved garage
• you are not the car's owner
• you are not the property's owner

If the owner still does not comply, the Police Chief may order the car towed off the property. Most violations are minor misdemeanors; by the fourth, it becomes first-degree. Every day the car stays counts again.

Where a car may sit at all

Even a car that runs has rules here. Nothing may be parked between the front setback line and the public right-of-way except on the approved driveway or turnabout. On private property, cars belong on concrete or another approved hard surface.

Under Section 351.12, two straight days parked on a public street, without the Police Chief knowing why, makes a car abandoned. Police can tow a car that breaks the storage rule, a car parked in violation of 351.12 or 351.175, and any car wrecked so badly it can't run.

Snow on Ridge, State and Broadview

Under Section 351.16, two inches of snow in a day or less sets off an emergency on Parma's main roads: Ridge, State, Broadview, York, Brookpark, Pearl, Snow and Pleasant Valley among them, plus others the city adds as needed. For as long as it lasts, nothing may be parked or left on them. The ban can begin, at the earliest, an hour after the first announcement.

Getting a towed car back

Your first stop is the Police Department. Show ID and your ownership papers, and pay Parma's release fee. Take the release form to the impound lot and pay the towing and storage there. The police number is (440) 885-1234.

Title and plates in Parma

Parma has its own Cuyahoga County title office on Snow Road (No. 12100, Suite 15). Measured as the crow flies from Parma's Census center, it's about 2.6 miles northwest. Downtown Cleveland's office on East 9th Street is about 8.3 miles north, and North Olmsted's on Brookpark Road Extension is about 10.1 miles west.

Ohio wants your signature on the assignment notarized. By state law the registration ends with the sale, and the plates come home with you. One more Cuyahoga wrinkle: E-Check. Without a pass, waiver, exemption or extension, a car that is due won't be re-registered.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or ask online. We need to know what it is (year, make, model), its odometer reading, and which items on Parma's list it has. Tell us whether it is in a garage, on the driveway or still at a shop. Nothing needs fixing first.