Selling a dead or junk car in College Station

If you would rather not watch either clock run, we buy whole non-running and junk cars. You sell the whole car as it sits, nothing pulled off first, and pickup is free anywhere in the US. Our truck can come to a College Station driveway, a student apartment lot or the shop bay where the car quit.

What turns a car into a junked vehicle here

Section 38-132 has two branches. One covers a car that is wrecked or discarded, or dismantled in whole or in part. The other covers a car left inoperable beyond the time limits. Either branch still needs the plate condition, expired or missing.

College Station's code enforcement page boils all of this down to a single line built on two numbers: 72 hours for public property, 30 days for private.

Being seen is what makes it an offense. Section 38-137 covers junked cars "located in any place where they are visible from a public place or public right-of-way," and keeping one is an offense. The code explains why the city cares: such cars "tend to reduce the value of private property, invite vandalism, create fire hazards."

Two ways out that do not involve selling:

• A building. Under Section 38-136, a car stored indoors in College Station, out of sight of passersby and of nearby lots, is exempt.
• Not the lawn. Section 38-42 bans parking any vehicle on a yard, on a lawn, or on a surface the city hasn't approved for parking. Pushing a dead car onto the grass to clear the driveway breaks a second rule.

From the first notice to the tow

Notice. College Station's notice gives at least ten days. It is hand-delivered or sent certified to three sets of people: the owner on the car's registration, any lender with a lien, and the lot's owner or tenant. The tenth day is the removal deadline printed on it.

Hearing. Anyone who receives the notice may ask the city manager, or a designee, for a public hearing. Under Section 38-139 it is held "no earlier than the 11th day after the date of the service of the notice." There the car "is presumed, unless demonstrated otherwise by the owner, to be inoperable." A nuisance finding brings an order to clear it within ten days.

Court. A car that stays leads to a complaint in municipal court. After a conviction the judge allows ten days, and then the police chief can have it hauled away. The fine reaches $200.

Moving it does not reset anything. Section 38-143 says relocating the car within the city or county after the process starts "has no effect on the proceeding if the junked vehicle constitutes a public nuisance at the new location."

Where it ends up. Section 38-144 says a junked car "may be removed to a scrap yard, a motor vehicle demolisher, or a suitable site operated by the City or County." Section 38-142 adds that, once it is hauled off, College Station forbids rebuilding it or getting it roadworthy again.

Reach College Station Code Enforcement at 979.764.6363, by email at CodeEnforcement@cstx.gov, or through SeeClickFix. For police matters that are not emergencies, the number is 979.764.3600.

Parking tickets, the boot and the impound

A pile of unpaid tickets is a separate path to losing the car. Section 38-77 allows a boot or a tow only after three or more unpaid citations in a calendar year, with a mailed warning at least ten business days ahead. Under Section 38-78, a booted car may be towed if it is not released within 24 hours. The owner then covers towing, impoundment and storage, and can ask for a hearing within ten business days. Our towed or impounded guide covers selling a car the city is holding.

Title work at the Brazos County office

Titles in Texas are not handled at a state DMV counter; the county tax assessor-collector handles them. College Station's is the Brazos County office at 4151 County Park Court in Bryan, phone (979) 775-9930. That is about 5 miles north of central College Station, as the crow flies.

What the seller hands over, per TxDMV:

• the title, signed by you, showing the day you sold and what the odometer read
• Form 130-U, "Application for Texas Title and/or Registration," signed, with your sales price filled in

None of it needs a notary; TxDMV's title manual is explicit that assignments, bills of sale and odometer statements go unnotarized. The buyer brings the paperwork to the county and applies for the new title.

Then cover yourself. Inside 30 days of the College Station sale, tell TxDMV about it with a Vehicle Transfer Notification, through the TxDMV.gov/VTN page, or Form VTR-346 if you prefer paper. Filed by day 30, it keeps a College Station seller clear of the new owner's tolls and parking tickets. It is only a notice; ownership moves when the buyer titles the car.

Lost the title? Ask TxDMV for a certified replacement on Form VTR-34, which every owner of record must sign; it costs $5.45 when you apply in person. More in selling with no title.

The plates are yours. Take them and the sticker off if you like. Move them to your next vehicle of that class, store them, or scratch them up so nobody can reuse them. The sticker never moves with them.

Brazos County is missing from TxDMV's list of 17 counties that still require an emissions test, and the annual safety inspection for passenger cars ended on January 1, 2025.

Nearby towns

Bryan shares the county and the tax office, 7.5 miles away. Farther out are Huntsville at 44.8 miles and Conroe at 51.5. For the statewide picture, see Texas.

Getting an offer

Start online or call (877) 421-6008. Have these ready: model year, make, model, odometer miles, whether the engine cranks, and the state of the title paperwork. If the tags have lapsed and the car has been parked a while, our guide to a car sitting for years covers what to expect.