Selling a dead or junk car in Coppell

Two Coppell rules, one car

Article 9-4, junked vehicles. Section 9-4-1 describes a car that runs under its own power when working, does not run now, and also lacks a current plate or inspection sticker, is wrecked, dismantled or discarded, or has gone 45 consecutive days without running. Under section 9-4-2, that car, or even a piece of it, becomes a public nuisance once people can see it from a street, sidewalk or other public spot. Section 9-4-3 puts the duty to remove it on anyone who controls the property, owner and tenant alike.

Section 15-14-2, property maintenance. This one is broader. It bans keeping an inoperable or unlicensed car anywhere on a lot. It also forbids a car in "major disassembly" or partway through being stripped.

A third rule decides where a car may park at all. Under section 8-3-8, the front and side yards are for an "operable motor vehicle with valid state registration and inspection" on an approved surface. A car that fails that test goes in the rear yard.

How the 9-4 process runs

Section 9-4-4 calls for notice giving at least 10 days. Coppell mails it certified with a five-day return. Three parties are on the list: the car's last registered owner, each lienholder, and the property owner or the occupant. When no address turns up, the notice may be posted on the car.

Within those 10 days you can ask the municipal judge for a hearing under section 9-4-5. While that request is pending, the city "shall not remove the junked vehicle" until the judge orders it. In court the car is treated as dead by default, and the job of showing otherwise is yours. If the judge finds a nuisance, the order gives you 10 more days. Miss that and the judge can let the city haul the car off itself.

A car the city hauls off can never be rebuilt or driven again, and Coppell has five days to report the removal to the Texas Department of Transportation.

Abandoned on the street

Chapter 4 handles cars left in public. Section 4-3-1 sets a 48-hour line: past it, a car sitting unlawfully on public property, or on private land without the owner's say-so, is abandoned. Police tow through a contracted wrecker to a city-designated storage lot. Within 10 days they mail a certified notice. Counting from that notice, you get 20 days to settle towing, preservation and storage and drive or tow it away. Miss it and the car goes to auction. City-approved storage fees start on the day police take the car. Coppell police take non-emergency calls at 469-289-3270, or *247 from a cell phone.

Coppell's Code Compliance team is three officers, each with an area of the city. Reach them at 972-304-3500 or at 265 E Parkway Boulevard.

Two counties, two tax offices

Coppell lies partly in Dallas County and partly in Denton County. Use the office for the county your address falls in. In Texas, the county tax assessor-collector is where titles get processed:

• Dallas County (Suite 1200 at 500 Elm Street in Dallas, phone (214) 653-7811): about 16 miles southeast, as the crow flies.
• Denton County (1505 E. McKinney in Denton, phone (940) 349-3500): about 19 miles north, as the crow flies.

Neither trip is on you as the seller. The buyer files the title application. Yours is to sign the title over, filling in the date and odometer reading, and to sign the buyer's Form 130-U, price included. Notaries play no part. Within 30 days of the sale, tell TxDMV with a Vehicle Transfer Notification. You can file it online or on paper (Form VTR-346), and filing on time shields you from the buyer's tolls and parking tickets. Pull your plates if you want them; the sticker will not transfer with them. Dallas and Denton both remain emissions counties. Missing the title? See selling with no title.

Asking for an offer

Start online, or phone (877) 421-6008. We will want the year, make and model, the mileage, if it starts, and whether you hold the title. The truck can take the car from a Coppell rear yard, a garage, or a shop lot in Carrollton or Irving. For more on the state's rules, go to Texas.