Selling a junk or non-running car in Colleyville

The sticker in that rule is gone

Sec. 3.28 still says "state vehicle inspection sticker." Under House Bill 3297, Texas stopped requiring yearly safety checks on noncommercial vehicles as of January 1, 2025. Tarrant County still tests tailpipe emissions, though; it is, one of 17 counties on TxDMV's list. So for a Colleyville homeowner, the 6-foot screen is the half of that rule still in reach.

Colleyville's 45-day test

Sec. 42-30 starts with a car that does not run and has an expired plate (or none) and no good inspection sticker. To that it adds three shapes: wrecked, dismantled in whole or part, or discarded. And one more, a car "that remains inoperable for a continuous period of more than 45 days."

Let that car, or part of it, show from any public spot or right-of-way and Colleyville labels it a public nuisance. The code gives its reasons at length; such a car "invites vandalism, creates fire hazards, constitutes an attractive nuisance creating a hazard to the health and safety of minors." Keeping one is an offense.

The way out short of selling is a building. A car fully enclosed indoors, invisible to the street and the house next door, is not a nuisance under Sec. 42-30.

Notice, hearing, and who decides

• The letter. On a private Colleyville lot, the junked-car notice comes from the police chief or a salaried full-time designee. It travels by certified mail "with a five-day return requested." Copies reach the last registered owner, a lienholder of record if any, and the lot's owner or tenant. An unknown owner address means the notice can simply be stuck on the car.
• Ten days. That is the window to get the car gone, or to request a public hearing in front of the council.
• The hearing. The chief presides unless the council was requested on time. Colleyville assumes the car is dead, and proving it runs falls to you.
• The penalty. Convicted, you face a fine with a $200 ceiling. Every additional day counts again, and the judge also orders the car hauled away.

A car the city removes is finished for good, barred from repair and from the road. The state transportation department hears about the removal within five days.

Front yards, side yards and the street

A second rule, Sec. 94-5, reaches cars before they ever count as junked. In residential areas it bans parking inoperable vehicles on any public roadway, front yard, or side yard off the driveway. It defines them broadly, as cars "that cannot be immediately or readily started or moved under their own power," including "vehicles without current licenses and vehicles with wheels or other major components removed or broken."

The towing clause is short. After the owner is served notice, the chief of police may order the vehicle removed and stored at the owner's expense. "If the owner of the vehicle is not available, the vehicle may be removed and stored 48 hours after ticketed by the police department, at the owner's expense."

Expired tags, then the county office

Lapsed registration is how many Colleyville cars slide into the junked definition. Online renewal through TxDMV remains possible for 12 months after the tags lapse, unless a ticket for the lapse has already been written. Your renewal month does not move. Driving the car is another matter: once five working days have gone by since it expired, that is an offense.

All of Colleyville is in Tarrant County, so a buyer files the title application here:

The seller's share of the paperwork is short. Sign the Texas title, noting mileage and the date of sale. Sign Form 130-U for the buyer, price included. Then report the transfer to TxDMV inside 30 days. Texas keeps your name on the vehicle record until the buyer's title goes through, and that report is your proof you let go of it.

Getting an offer

Begin online, or dial (877) 421-6008. Share the model year, make, model and odometer reading, whether the engine catches, and where the title is. A truck can pull it from a Colleyville driveway, from behind that fence, or from a repair shop. Nearby pages: Bedford, Hurst, Southlake and North Richland Hills. See Texas for statewide rules.