Your dead or junk car in Amarillo

Amarillo's definition, and the two clocks

Section 8-4-21 uses three tests. The vehicle is self-propelled, whether a car, truck or recreational vehicle. It has no current registration sticker or plate. And it is wrecked, dismantled, discarded, or sits inoperable longer than the code allows. On a street or other public ground the limit is 72 hours; on private land it is 30 days in a row.

Two kinds of storage fall outside the rules in section 8-4-22:

• A vehicle kept wholly indoors, out of view of passersby and adjoining lots.
• An antique or special interest vehicle kept by a collector, if the outdoor vehicles are kept orderly, are not a health hazard, and are hidden from ordinary public view behind a fence, trees, shrubbery or something similar.

The yard-trash rule in section 4-3-2 is a second route to the same driveway. It lists vehicle frames, parts or accessories and wheels as Trash, and makes it unlawful to let Trash pile up on a lot. So loose parts and spare wheels left in the yard count too, even once the car itself is gone.

Notice by mail, then a judge

Under section 8-4-23, a junked car on private property gets written notice of "not less than ten (10) days." It states that the car "must be removed and abated within ten (10) days" and "that a request for a hearing must be made before the expiration of the ten-day period." The city mails it "by certified or registered mail with a five-day return requested" to:

• the last registered owner,
• any lienholder of record,
• the owner or occupant of the property.

No mailing address on file for the owner? Then the city may leave the notice on the car itself, or give it to the owner in person once found. Ask in time, and section 8-4-23 says "A public hearing must be held prior to the removal of the vehicle," before the Judge of the Municipal Court. Then the presumption works against you: the car is taken to be inoperable, and you carry the job of showing otherwise.

A car the city takes away is finished: the code bars rebuilding it or getting it running, and the state hears about the removal within five days.

The junked-vehicle sections name no fine. That falls to section 1-1-5, which allows as much as $500 a day, every day counted again, and the cap climbs to $2,000 where the broken rule is one of the Code's fire safety, zoning, public health or sanitation provisions.

Broken down on a street

A vehicle on a public highway that is too disabled to run can be removed after the owner gets at least 48 hours' notice, in person or on the windshield, under section 8-4-2. Police may also remove one they have reasonable grounds to believe is abandoned. When they can find the owner in registration records, section 8-4-3 has them send written notice of the removal, the reasons and where the car is held.

To get it back, apply at the place the Chief of Police picks. Section 8-4-4 releases it "upon payment of fines and costs of removal and storage that may have accrued thereon." Towed or impounded covers a car that is already at the lot.

You will find the City Marshal in Suite 104 of the Simms Municipal Building, weekdays from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Potter or Randall County

Amarillo lies in two counties, and each has its own tax assessor-collector. That office, not the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, is where a Texas title is filed.

Paperwork for a Texas sale

Texas asks no notary of a seller; TxDMV accepts every sale paper unstamped. Your title needs the sale date and the current odometer figure before your signature goes on it. Hand over Form 130-U too, signed, showing what you were paid.

Your buyer gets 30 days to retitle the car at the county office. Until then, the state's file on the car still carries your name. Close that gap yourself: report the sale to TxDMV on its online transfer form or paper VTR-346 within the month. Do it on time and any parking ticket or toll bill the buyer racks up stays the buyer's problem.

Take the plates and the registration sticker off before the truck leaves. The plates can go onto another vehicle of the same classification, stay in a drawer, or be defaced before you toss them. If there is no title at all, Texas lets a used parts recycler take a car 13-plus years old whose registration lapsed at least seven years ago, strictly for parts or scrap; selling with no title explains the other routes.

Potter and Randall are not among the counties where Texas still requires an emissions test.

The nearest towns we cover

The Panhandle is spread out. Lubbock is 113.2 miles away in a straight line, and Big Spring and Wichita Falls are both past 200. Statewide rules live on the Texas page.

Getting an offer

Get an offer online or by calling (877) 421-6008. Describe the car: the model year, who made it and which model, an estimate of the miles, if it runs, and the state of the paperwork. Our truck will come to the yard, the repair shop, or the spot where it gave out.