Selling a dead or junk car in Knoxville

A third choice is to sell it. We buy whole non-running and junk cars. You sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US.

When Knoxville treats a car as a nuisance

Section 17-122 is blunt. "The presence of an abandoned, dismantled or inoperable motor vehicle on private or public property is hereby declared a nuisance." The same section defines an inoperable car through a list of conditions, and a car that meets "two (2) or more" of them qualifies.

Two defenses are written in. The first one is for a car hidden from the street or other property because it is "completely enclosed within a permanent or portable building consisting of four (4) walls and a roof" built to city codes. A carport has no four walls, so it does not count. The second covers vehicles kept by a properly licensed and zoned business that needs them to operate.

Collectors get a definition of their own. An antique is a car over twenty-five years old, owned only as a collector's item, used for club events, shows and parades, and registered as an antique. A car that only happens to be old does not qualify.

The five-day notice, step by step

Under Section 17-124, the city can serve notice on the owner, renter, occupant or anyone else in control of the property. One accepted method is posting the notice on the car itself or on the property. An owner who does not live there is not liable for the penalty unless served in person or by certified mail.

From service, the clock is five days. The board then hears any appeal "as promptly as practicable but within thirty (30) calendar days." If the board rules against you and the car is still there after its deadline, the city may take it.

A separate rule covers cars someone else leaves on your land. The city can haul off and get rid of a vehicle left on private property without the owner's okay "for more than forty-eight (48) hours."

After the city takes the car

Section 17-123 sets the sequence. Within 15 days of removal, the city notifies the last registered owner and every lienholder by registered mail, return receipt requested. The Knoxville notice describes the car, gives its serial number, and says where it's stored. Owners then have ten days after the notice to reclaim it by paying all towing, preservation and storage charges. If nobody answers, one newspaper notice follows, and the car can go to auction, with the money paying for the sale, the tow, storage and the notices.

There is a shortcut. The city may dispose of a car found on public or private property "without title and without the notification procedures" if it is over five years old "and has no engine or is otherwise totally inoperable."

Street parking and the impound lot

A car cannot be stored on a Knoxville street. Section 17-98 allows impoundment of a vehicle stored on a roadway longer than twenty-four hours. The officer marks a tire first and leaves a windshield sticker with the date, time and violation, and if the car still has not moved after the second twenty-four-hour period it can be towed. Two or more unpaid parking tickets also make a parked car subject to impoundment, once the court clerk has mailed notice to the owner.

At time-limited spaces (Section 17-301) and meters (Section 17-331), the third ticket is the trigger. Tickets come an hour apart, and a tow warning goes on the car with the second one.

To get a car out, Section 17-101 asks for proof of ownership and payment of the impoundment fee and other charges. If you ask for a hearing, a cash deposit or bond can take the place of paying first.

A dead car left at a Knoxville repair shop

The zoning code limits how long shops can hold cars outside. Under Section 9.3, repair and service shops "may not store the same vehicles outdoors on the lot for a total of 30 days," and that count includes time after the repair is done. The same section bars keeping wrecked cars, or cars "that sit on one or more flat tires," outdoors on the lot. A repair shop keeping your dead car behind the building has reasons of its own to want the space back. See stuck at a repair shop.

Knox County title, plates and salvage rules

The Knox County clerk issues titles for Knoxville. No notary is needed on a Knoxville title. Sign and print in the assignment area, written exactly as the front shows. Your Knoxville plate is yours to keep, and moving it onto your next car costs $1.

Say a Knoxville car is totaled by a crash, fire or water and the insurer pays. Tennessee then makes that insurer apply for a nonrepairable certificate, or else a salvage or flood title. In Knoxville, a car aged ten years or more with a $1,500-or-less value is exempt. If a Knoxville car's repair bill would go over 75% of its retail value, Tennessee calls it salvage. A Salvage or Non-repairable Certificate is free. More in insurer totaled it.

Registration that has run out does not stop a sale. A staggered registration that gets renewed inside 90 days of running out holds on to its old date. One renewed 91 or more days late lasts a year from the day it is issued.

Nearby towns

In a straight line, Farragut sits 14.5 miles off, Maryville 15.5 miles and Oak Ridge 19.1 miles. The Tennessee page covers rules for the whole state.

Getting an offer

Use the form or call (877) 421-6008. Knoxville sellers can start with a call or the short form, and we'll go from there. Around Knoxville we haul from driveways, apartment lots, or a repair shop lot nearing the end of its 30 days.