Selling a junk or dead car in Boerne

What "screened" means in Boerne

Section 12-130 defines it: hidden behind a permanent barrier of stone, brick, block or uniformly colored wood, at least 6 feet high. A car cover is none of those.

Yard rules add a second limit. Section 12-141 keeps cars off unimproved or landscaped ground in a home's front or side yard. The rear yard is allowed. A car left up to 24 hours because "a mechanical defect" makes it unsafe to move is excepted.

When a car counts as junked

Boerne's nuisance list in Section 14-1 sets several conditions for a junked vehicle. Among them, it "is inoperative, wrecked, dismantled, partially dismantled, abandoned or discarded" and that "remains inoperative for a continuous period of more than forty-five (45) days." The junked-vehicle article, Section 14-110, also points to the state meaning in Transportation Code 683.071.

Section 14-111 exempts licensed dealer or junkyard stock and any car shut away in a building, hidden from the street and other public property.

Ten days, then a removal order

The city manager, or someone the manager designates, writes to the lienholder of record, the last registered owner, and the people who own and occupy the lot. The notice orders the car "removed or abated within ten (10) days after the receipt of such notice." Delivery is certified mail, five-day return receipt requested, or is placed on the car or handed over if no address is known. The city may charge its costs against the vehicle.

To contest it, Section 14-6 lets you ask the city council for a public hearing "within seven (7) days after receipt of such notice," in person or in writing to the city manager, with no bond. If the council finds a nuisance, the order runs 10 days, or 30 where it finds hardship.

If nobody asks for a hearing and the car stays, the city manager may write a removal order or file charges in municipal court. The city manager, the police chief, any officer, or a wrecker they designate may step onto private land in Boerne to inspect the car and have it hauled off. It is then disabled for good and taken to a private scrap yard, a demolisher or a city salvage site; the state is told within 5 days. Boerne's general penalty clause allows fines to $500, rising to $2,000 when the case involves fire safety, zoning, or health and sanitation, with each day a separate offense.

Permitting and Code Compliance is at 447 N. Main Street, (830) 248-1529, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; its incident form lists Junk Vehicle as a complaint type. The police non-emergency line, (830) 249-8645, also takes parking and ordinance complaints.

Abandoned and towed cars

Boerne uses the state meaning of an abandoned motor vehicle. Section 14-108 has police put a notice on the windshield that the car may be impounded if not moved within 48 hours. Once towed, owners and lienholders get certified mail within 10 days and get 20 days, counted from the notice, to pay towing, preservation and storage and take it back, or lose their rights to a public auction.

Kendall County title office

Kendall County's is at 201 E. San Antonio, Ste 105, (830) 249-9343, less than a mile north of central Boerne as the crow flies. Buyers take the title application to that counter.

From you, Texas wants the title signed over to the buyer, carrying the date and the odometer figure, plus Form 130-U signed beside the sale price. No notary stamp. The state also wants to hear from you: a Vehicle Transfer Notification, due in 30 days. Plates and the registration sticker come off with you; the plates can go on your next car. Every owner on record must sign Form VTR-34 to replace a lost Texas title.

Request an offer

Go online or call (877) 421-6008. Tell us whether the car starts, and whether it sits in a garage, the rear yard or the driveway. The truck meets it there, from Boerne out toward San Antonio and Kerrville. Statewide rules are on the Texas page.