Clearing a dead or junk car out of Jackson

How Jackson decides a car is junked

Section 13-203 applies to "a vehicle of any age." A car qualifies if damage or defects make it immediately inoperable, or keep it from being driven safely under its own power. The code gives examples, and two of them catch cars that look fine from the street.

Missing parts. The code lists missing or disassembled parts "essential to the starting or running of the vehicle under its own power, including, but not limited to, starter, generator or alternator, battery, distributor, gas tank, carburetor or fuel injection system, spark plugs, or radiator." Pull the battery to keep it from draining and the car can count as junked.

Where it sits. The code also looks at the "General environment in which the vehicle sits." That includes weeds growing up around or through the car, pools of water inside it, and garbage piling up nearby. By the time a car has sat that long, anyone can tell.

The same section adds that boats, campers, recreational vehicles and storage trailers in that condition count too.

Business lots

Section 13-205 gives businesses the same five days, with two ways out. One is to keep the car entirely inside a building. The other is a storage area that meets both of these conditions:

• enclosed by a solid masonry wall or sight-proof fence at least six feet high
• covering no more than 20 percent of the lot, and not in any required yard

The ordinance also exempts a business "lawfully situated, licensed, and operating as required in § 13-213."

Street parking and tickets

Under Section 15-114, police may tow "Any vehicle left in any parking space on the streets of the city for a period of ten (10) days without being moved," and also a broken-down car in the way of traffic if whoever is in charge of it can't handle it. When the registration names the Jackson owner, the officer writes to say the car was towed, why, and where it's stored. When no owner turns up and nobody reclaims the car in three days, the officer writes up a report.

Before a dead car at the curb gets towed, it may collect tickets. Under Section 15-112, if nobody answers a ticket on the windshield within 48 hours, the city recorder sends the owner a letter. The letter warns that ignoring the ticket for 30 days starts "all legal efforts by the city to enforce the citation," and that can include a collection agency. See tickets or registration hold.

Madison County title and plates

Tennessee's county clerks handle titles, which puts a sale in Jackson with the Madison County clerk. Here is what the seller does:

• Sign the assignment area and print your name spelled just as it is on the front. No notary.
• Owners joined by "and" each have to sign. With "or" between them, one signature does it.
• Pull the plates off. They're yours, and putting them on another vehicle costs $1.
• Jackson owners pay $14 plus any county fees for a lost title, with proof that each lien is cleared.

We found no state release form to file afterward. After you sell covers the last steps.

Nearby

Bartlett is 62.6 miles from Jackson as the crow flies, Collierville 64.2, Germantown 66.5 and Memphis 74.2. The Tennessee page has the statewide rules.

Getting an offer

From Jackson, call (877) 421-6008 or use the form and note missing parts like a battery, radiator or wheels. We'll pick it up from the spot it's been parked, weeds and all.