Selling a dead or junk car in Abilene

When a parked car turns into junk here

Abilene did not write its own definition. Section 19-2 adopts Texas Transportation Code chapter 683 on junked motor vehicles "in its entirety herein, and as amended," and says it "shall serve as the City's ordinance for said vehicles."

Code Compliance boils that down to three marks. The car moves under its own power when it works. Its plate has lapsed or is gone. And it is wrecked, taken apart, thrown away, or has sat broken on private land past 30 days in a row.

Section 19-15 adds a rule for houses that reaches cars that still run. It lists as a nuisance "Vehicles in the yard of any residence excluding improved parking surfaces, or areas screened from the public view by an opaque fence." The Code Compliance page puts it as a ban on parking on an unimproved surface of a residential lot.

Citation first, then a hearing officer

Abilene enforces with a citation or notice, not a surprise tow. Section 19-34 sets the steps:

• You may ask for a hearing within 10 days of the citation.
• The hearing is held within 21 calendar days of your request, "but not earlier than the eleventh day after the date of citation or notice."
• Fail to appear and you are considered to admit liability.

A finding against you can mean the city removes the car and bills the penalties, costs and towing. After that, "a vehicle is prohibited from being reconstructed or made operable." Dragging it to another lot in town does not end the case if it is still a nuisance there.

Section 19-35 caps the civil penalty at $500 for each offense, set by the hearing officer. The floors are $50 for a first failure to abate, $75 for a second within six months, and $100 for every one after that, plus towing. An appeal is a petition in municipal court filed before the 31st day after the determination. It does not pause enforcement unless a bond is posted first.

The 48-hour street rule

Section 18-194 makes it unlawful to "park, place or allow an inoperable motor vehicle to remain on any public street, alley, sidewalk, highway or public property within the City for a period of more than forty-eight (48) continuous hours." For this rule, inoperable includes a car with no unexpired plate, so lapsed tags alone can qualify. It also covers a car that cannot be started, driven, steered and stopped under its own power because of a breakdown or damage.

If a car is towed from a tow-away zone, every towing, impoundment and daily storage fee set by City Council must be paid before it comes back.

Code Compliance sits in City Hall at 555 Walnut Street, northeast entrance, open weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., (325) 676-6241. The police non-emergency number is (325) 673-8331.

Two county tax offices

Abilene sits in two counties, Taylor and Jones. Title paperwork in Texas runs through each county's tax assessor-collector, not a state counter run by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.

• Taylor County: 400 Oak Street, Ste 105, under a mile from the center of town, southeast as the crow flies; call (325) 674-1224.
• Jones County: 100 Courthouse Square in Anson, roughly 23 miles off to the northwest, as the crow flies; (325) 823-2437.

Signing the car over in Texas

• No notary. Texas skips the stamp: per TxDMV, nothing in the sale (assignment, bill of sale, odometer statement) has to be notarized.
• What the buyer gets. The title with your signature, the day you sold it and the odometer number filled in, and Form 130-U (the title application) signed by you, listing what the car sold for.
• Your protection. Tell TxDMV the car is gone. The Vehicle Transfer Notification (filed on TxDMV's site or mailed as VTR-346) has a 30-day window, and meeting it means nothing a buyer racks up in parking tickets or tolls comes back to you.
• The plates. They leave with you. Move them to a later vehicle in the same class, stash them, or mark them up so nobody can reuse them before they hit the trash. The sticker stays behind.

Title gone missing? Apply on Form VTR-34; the certified copy costs $5.45 at the counter; see selling with no title. Taylor and Jones sit outside the 17-county emissions zone. As for safety stickers, House Bill 3297 did away with them for noncommercial vehicles starting January 1, 2025.

Towns farther out

Abilene stands on its own in this part of the state. The nearest towns we cover are San Angelo at 81.5 miles, Stephenville at 90.2 and Big Spring at 103.1, all straight-line distances. For rules that apply across the state, open the Texas page.

Getting an offer

Start online or call (877) 421-6008. We will want to know what it is, roughly what the odometer shows, whether it still cranks, and whose name the title carries. Then the truck heads to wherever it is parked: behind a fence, under a carport, or on the curb out front.