Selling a dead or junk car in Reynoldsburg

What "inoperative" means here

The definition is wide. A car is an inoperative automobile if any one of these is true:

• it isn't in operating condition
• it has no value except as salvage or junk
• it has no registration and plate valid for the current year
• it doesn't display that plate and registration

So a car that starts but has lapsed tags qualifies. Only an enclosed garage takes it outside the one-day rule. No premises and no street in the city may be used for keeping such cars.

There is no notice step written into Section 351.15. A police officer may, at the officer's own direction, have the car taken to a pound or other storage. To get it back you pay its tow and storage first, and the car may be disposed of under Ohio R.C. 737.32. Zoning and Code Compliance, which names inoperable vehicles among the problems it enforces, is at 614-322-6814.

The property maintenance rules

Reynoldsburg's version of the property maintenance code, in Section 1711.02, adds its own line, rule 302.8: an inoperative or unlicensed car has no place on any Reynoldsburg premises. Tearing a car down or stripping it is out, painting calls for an approved spray booth, and heavy overhauls or body work go inside an approved structure.

Cars also stay off the lawn. On a residential lot, no vehicle or trailer may sit on a part of the yard that isn't driveway or parking. The parking surface must be improved and hard, such as concrete or asphalt, and must cover the whole vehicle. A car in a driveway or parking area needs current registration or plates. When the city fixes a violation itself, the owner receives a cost report and has 14 days to pay; unpaid costs go to Council and can be sent on to the county.

Streets, tows and snow

A vehicle may stay parked on a street for 48 continuous hours at most (Section 351.13). Police may also remove any vehicle left on public property 48 hours or longer without the Division of Police's permission. Within 72 hours of the tow, the Division mails the registered owner the reason, the tow location and how to contest it at a hearing.

Section 303.08 adds two more tows: a car sitting more than 72 consecutive hours on land whose possessor never agreed, and a wreck that can't run on a public street. Redeeming one means a trip to the Police Division at 7240 E. Main Street (614-866-6622). You'll need ID plus proof you own the car or may possess it, and the fines paid or the court-set bond posted. The pound operator hands the car over for the release form and the tow and storage money.

Snow: once two inches has fallen and more is on the way, cars may not park on the listed streets, and the Mayor can declare an emergency for others. Owners get two hours from the announcement to move, and a car still on the street after that can be towed at its owner's expense, with a fine of $15 to $50 besides.

Three counties' title offices within reach

Reynoldsburg reaches into Fairfield, Franklin and Licking counties, and a Reynoldsburg seller may use the title office of any county's Clerk of Courts, not just the home county's. The closest to the city's center point is Fairfield County's at 12945 Stonecreek Dr. in Pickerington, about 2.6 miles south as the crow flies; (614) 835-2610. Licking County's office at 316 South Township Road in Pataskala is about 6.6 miles east, and Franklin County's at 1583 Alum Creek Drive about 8.3 miles west.

The seller's signature in the title's assignment block must be notarized. Registration ends when the car is sold, so unbolt the plates; they go home with you.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or start online, and give us the car's year and make, its mileage, whether it fires up, and where the title stands. You sell the whole car as it sits. Nearby: Columbus and Lancaster, or Ohio for statewide rules.