Selling a dead or junk car in Cleburne

Junked, disabled, or both

Cleburne's ordinance names two kinds of problem car.

A junked vehicle is one built to drive itself that is now a wreck, partly taken apart or abandoned, or it has gone 30 days without running on private land. On public land the limit is 72 hours. Once it meets that test, the only legal spot for it is inside a building. A cover or tarp does nothing under the code.

A disabled vehicle is a broader net. It catches a car with no current registration, license or inspection, a wrecked or dismantled car, or one that just can't be driven safely or legally on a public road. On private property it can be removed after 30 days outside an enclosed building, unless it is repaired and registered, moved under a roof, or hauled off by the owner. Disabled vehicles appear on the city's own list of common code violations.

Exemptions are narrow. Dealer, storage-yard and junkyard stock is fine on a paved, orderly, fenced lot. A collector's special-interest car may stay on his own land if the spot is improved, orderly, fenced and set 36 inches back from the property line.

The notice and the clock

Cleburne must warn you before acting. The notice may be handed to you, sent certified, or posted with a signature-confirmation receipt. Three parties get it: the registered owner, any lienholder, and the property's owner or resident. If no address can be found for the owner, it gets fixed to the car.

You then have ten days. Either the car is gone, or a written hearing request is at the municipal court. If the window closes with nothing filed, the code says the car is "conclusively presumed" to be junked. A hearing, if you ask for one, comes no sooner than day eleven, and the court assumes the car does not run unless the owner proves it does.

Moving it across town after the case starts is pointless. Under section 96.53 the case simply follows the car to its new spot.

Each day you keep a junked vehicle is a separate Class C misdemeanor, and a conviction includes a removal order. Cars the city removes go to scrap or a demolisher under section 96.54, can never be rebuilt, and are reported to TxDOT no later than the fifth day.

Street parking and the impound lot

Anything left unattended on a Cleburne street, alley or sidewalk for over 48 hours is declared a nuisance, and a disabled car on public property past 48 hours can be towed with no warning. A car blocking a road or sidewalk can go immediately.

For an illegally parked car taken to the city impound lot, getting it back costs $100 plus the removal and storage charges. A car police take as abandoned works differently. They mail a certified notice within ten days, and the owner or a lienholder then gets twenty days, counted from the notice, to pay for the tow, its preservation and storage. If nobody does, it heads to public auction. Police non-emergency: 817-645-0972. Code Compliance takes reports at 817-645-0977 or through SeeClickFix. Our towed or impounded page explains the options.

Johnson County title work, two miles off

The Johnson County tax assessor-collector is at 2 North Mill Street, roughly 2 miles east of the town's center as the crow flies; call (817) 558-0122. The buyer files the new title there, not you.

At the sale, sign the title and fill in the odometer number and the date, and add your signature to the buyer's Form 130-U, which shows what they paid. Texas does not use a notary for this. Within 30 days, let TxDMV know the car is sold, either with the online Vehicle Transfer Notification or paper Form VTR-346. Plates are optional to keep; the registration sticker is not transferable. No title in hand? Start with selling with no title.

Emissions testing still applies in Johnson County.

Pricing your car

To get a number, use the form or ring (877) 421-6008. Describe the car: its year and model, the odometer figure, whether the engine still turns over, and the title's status. A tow truck can collect it from behind a Cleburne house, a shed, or a garage near Burleson. The Texas page gathers the statewide rules.