Selling a dead or junk car in Belton

How Belton defines junked

Sec. 10-16 offers two routes. One is a car that "is inoperative and which does not have lawfully affixed thereto both an unexpired license plate or plates and a valid motor vehicle safety inspection certificate and which is wrecked, dismantled, partially dismantled or discarded." The other is plain time: inoperable for over 120 continuous days.

Sec. 10-20 makes such a car a nuisance once it can be spotted from Belton streets, rights-of-way or other public places. The homeowner exemption in Sec. 10-17 is narrow: the car must be fully indoors, unseen from the street and neighboring lots. None of the sections read say anything about covers or tarps.

Abandonment is a separate idea in the same section: a car more than eight years old that will not run, left on public property with nobody attending it for more than 48 hours.

The letter, ten days and a judge

Belton's inspection department enforces the article, and its officer may walk onto private property to look at a car. Under Sec. 10-36 that officer sends written notice "by certified mail with a five-day return requested" to the car's registered owner, any lienholder, and the Belton property's owner or occupant.

The notice says the nuisance must be cleared "within ten (10) days after the delivery date of the notice," and that a hearing must be asked for before then. A letter the post office sends back pushes the city's action out at least ten days from the return.

Hearings under Sec. 10-37 go before the municipal court judge. If nobody asks for one and the car stays put, Sec. 10-19 sends a complaint to municipal court, where guilt is a misdemeanor plus an order to remove the car. Belton's junked-vehicle article sets no fine itself; Sec. 1-9 covers it: $500 at most, or $2,000 where sanitation, health, zoning or fire safety is involved, with every day its own violation.

If the city has to take the car under Sec. 10-38, Belton can send it for scrap to a yard or demolisher, the state hears about it within five days, and Sec. 10-39 makes rebuilding it unlawful.

Tows and the 20-day window

Police can tow from a street or public place when a car is abandoned under state law or is a hazard (Sec. 10-44). If yours went to storage without your consent, a written request within six days of being notified gets you a hearing on whether the tow had probable cause.

The storage facility sends notice within 10 days. Claiming the car by the 20th day after it means paying for the tow, the storage and the notice, and bringing ownership papers and "proof of financial responsibility," which is insurance. Unclaimed cars can be auctioned. Our towed or impounded guide covers the next steps.

Police and junk-car reports share one Belton number: 254-933-5840. Two full-time, cross-trained employees make up the Code Compliance Unit, which handles animal calls as well as code cases.

Selling the car the Texas way

Give the buyer the title, signed over, dated, with the odometer reading, and Form 130-U carrying your signature and the sale price. Nobody needs a notary. Within 30 days, report the sale through TxDMV's Vehicle Transfer Notification; Belton sellers can do it online or mail in VTR-346. Plates and sticker can leave with you, though the sticker can never go on another car.

Lost the title? Every recorded owner signs Form VTR-34; at the counter the copy is $5.45, and another cannot be ordered until 30 days after the last one. See selling with no title.

Belton owners with lapsed tags can still renew online for a year (12 months) after they expire, if no ticket for it has been written.

Getting an offer

Online or at (877) 421-6008, give the year, make, model and odometer reading, whether it cranks, and the Belton street where it sits. Temple is 6.5 miles off, Harker Heights 9.8, Killeen 15.0 and Copperas Cove 26.1. More on the Texas page.