Selling a dead car in Big Spring

Selling it first leaves the choice with you. We buy whole non-running and junk cars, so you can sell the whole car as it sits and skip the hearing. We provide free pickup anywhere in the US.

What Big Spring calls a junked vehicle

Big Spring's article follows Texas Transportation Code chapter 683. A car qualifies when it is self-propelled, visible from a public place at any time of year, and either a wreck, dismantled, discarded, or left inoperable for longer than Big Spring allows: 72 hours straight on a public street or lot, 30 days straight in a private yard. One more line in Section 36-115 narrows it: "A motor vehicle that displays an expired license plate or does not display a license plate."

A car kept wholly indoors, invisible from the street, sits outside the article. Big Spring excuses dealer, junkyard and collector vehicles on three conditions: tidy storage, no health hazard, and a screen of fencing, trees or shrubs.

Notice, hearing, appeal

The written notice is handed over in person, sent certified with a five-day return, or mailed with USPS signature confirmation. Big Spring addresses it to the registered owner, each lienholder, and every owner or occupant of the lot, and allows 10 days to get the car out.

Ask for a hearing inside those 10 days. The city council or a court hears it, on day 11 at the soonest. If the ruling goes against you, you have 10 days to appeal to a court, and the city cannot remove the car while the appeal is pending. A removed car goes to a motor vehicle demolisher or another business that can legally demolish or recycle it.

The article sets no fine of its own. Instead the general penalty in Section 1-8 applies: as much as $500, rising to $2,000 on fire-safety, zoning, health and sanitation rules, and each day the problem lasts is another offense. The city's FAQ lays out the order in practice: a certified letter, a reinspection, then a citation for every day the violation continues.

Front yards and the impound lot

On a residential lot, parking any vehicle on an unpaved surface in the front or street yard is unlawful. A first offense costs $50 to $100, and each day counts again.

Police can take a car off a street when it is disabled and the person in charge cannot arrange its removal, when it is parked illegally as a hazard or obstruction, or when it is parked in violation of the article. Section 48-157 sets the city lot's fees: an administrative fee of "$250.00" before release, plus "$20.00 per day for each day, or part of a day."

Code Enforcement is at 217 East 3rd Street, (432) 264-2504, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The police switchboard, 432-264-2550, is the non-emergency number.

Howard County paperwork

The Howard County tax office is at 315 S. Main, phone (432) 264-2232, about 1 mile northeast of downtown Big Spring, as the crow flies. Texas title applications go to Howard County's tax assessor-collector rather than any state office.

Online renewal stays open for 12 months past the expiration date, provided you have not been ticketed for the lapse. Driving on expired tags, though, is an offense after the fifth working day past expiration.

A missing title has two routes. One is a certified copy, ordered on Form VTR-34 with signatures from all owners on record; TxDMV will not issue another within 30 days of the previous one. The other suits an old car: a used automotive parts recycler can take it with no title once it is 13 or older, has had no registration for seven years, and is being bought solely to dismantle or scrap. More in selling with no title.

Signatures on the title need no notary in Texas. Send TxDMV the Vehicle Transfer Notification before 30 days pass, and take your plates if you plan to reuse them.

Request an offer

At (877) 421-6008 or online, describe the car: year, make, model, miles, running or not, title or no title. We send the truck out to it, in town or on a ranch road. Midland and Odessa are the nearest cities with pages; see Texas for statewide rules.