Selling a junk or dead car in Bryan

We buy whole non-running and junk cars, and that is often simpler than a garage you don't have. Sell the whole car as it sits; pickup is free anywhere in the US, Bryan included.

The 24-hour street rule

Bryan is stricter at the curb than its own junked-vehicle clock. Section 38-22 makes it unlawful to leave an inoperable motor vehicle "on any public street, alley, sidewalk, highway or public property within the city for a period of more than 24 continuous hours." A car that dies at your curb has one day.

The yard is no fallback. Bryan's code page bars parking or storing a vehicle on a front or side yard in public view in residential districts. Parking there has to be on asphalt, concrete or gravel.

Notice, hearing and removal

Under Sections 38-107 and 38-108, a junked vehicle in ordinary public view is a public nuisance year-round, and an owner or occupant may not keep one. What happens next in Bryan:

• Certified mail, ten days or more. Bryan's letter goes to whoever is registered as owner, any lender holding a lien, and the Bryan property owner or tenant; it sets the tenth day for removal.
• A bright notice on the windshield too. Section 38-112 has a brightly colored notice fixed to the vehicle itself.
• Hearing request in writing. Send it to the municipal court clerk while the ten-day window is still open.
• Five days after an order. The municipal court judge hears the case, and "it is presumed, unless demonstrated otherwise by the owner, that the vehicle is inoperable." A judge who finds it junked orders removal "within five days from the date of the order."
• City removal. With no hearing and the order ignored, the city manager's designee has the car hauled off. The fine reaches $200.

Shifting the car to another Bryan address does not end the case; Section 38-121 says so in nearly those words. An impounded junked car is disposed of under state law and "shall not be reconstructed or made operable."

A fence, trees or shrubs can screen a collector's or dealer's vehicle. A tarp, again, does not count. The one clean exemption in Section 38-119 is a closed building, such as a garage, that hides the car from view.

Bryan Code Enforcement is at 1111 Waco St., 979-209-5900, weekdays 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. For police, the non-emergency line is 979-361-3888.

Abandoned cars and impound fees

Bryan adopts state Transportation Code chapters 683 and 685 for abandoned and stored vehicles. Before an impound, a Bryan officer posts a dated, brightly colored warning on the car at least 48 hours ahead, on public or private land. Fees are set by council resolution and are paid on redemption, or taken from the sale money if nobody claims it.

Title and plates

The Brazos County tax office is at 4151 County Park Court, (979) 775-9930. As the crow flies it sits about 5 miles east of central Bryan, and it handles titles for the whole county.

Sign the Bryan title over, adding the date you sold and the mileage, and give whoever buys it Form 130-U, signed by you, with the sale price. No notary is involved in Texas. Then, inside 30 days of the sale, file TxDMV's transfer notice through TxDMV.gov/VTN or Form VTR-346, which keeps a Bryan seller off the hook for the buyer's tolls and parking tickets. Pull the plates if you like; Texas lets you reuse them on a replacement of that vehicle type, keep them as a souvenir, or deface them. After you sell walks through it.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or fill in the form online: year, make, model, mileage and title status. If it simply won't start, see car doesn't run. College Station is 7.5 miles off; statewide rules are on Texas.