Sell your junk or dead car in Eagle Pass

How Eagle Pass defines a junked vehicle

The city checks a car two ways, and "and/or" joins them. On paperwork: is the plate expired or missing, or is the inspection certificate invalid? On condition, the question is whether it's been wrecked, partly or fully taken apart, or junked outright, or whether it has sat unable to run past a deadline. That deadline is 48 consecutive hours on public property. For private land it's 30 consecutive days, counted only when the car shows from public property or a right-of-way.

"Ordinary public view" stretches past the curb. It takes in what's visible from a public right-of-way, from adjacent land, or from the first-floor level of a building standing on that land.

A junked car visible that way counts as a public nuisance. Eagle Pass also adopts Texas Transportation Code chapter 683 in its entirety. The code makes it unlawful to cause such a nuisance on another person's property "or to suffer, permit or allow the same to be placed, located, maintained or exist upon his or their own real property."

The cover rule, and the other ways out

A cover only works if it checks every box in section 16-31:

• made for that particular model, custom-tailored or custom-fitted
• closely woven canvas, cotton or linen that resists water and mildew
• no rips or holes
• held down with a tie-down
• all four tires aired up and touching the ground

Tucking the car behind a hedge or a row of trees won't count. A car locked inside a building, hidden from the street, from ordinary public view and from other lots, falls outside the rule. A collector may also keep an antique or special interest car, but only one per 2,000 square feet of unroofed yard.

From notice to court order

When the car is on private property, the code enforcement division tells three parties: whoever last registered the car, a lienholder of record if there is one, and the property's owner or occupant. The notice arrives by hand or certified mail. It says the car "must be removed and abated within ten (10) days," unless a hearing is requested first. If the ten days pass with neither, the division may file a complaint in court.

Municipal court sets the hearing after giving ten or more days' warning by certified mail. Going in, the court assumes the car can't run, and it's up to the owner to prove it does. The code is firm on one point: "Before any city employee or any other person is authorized to remove a vehicle or vehicle part that is in violation of this chapter, he shall first obtain from the appropriate court an order for the removal." A guilty finding brings a fine or administrative penalty of no more than $200, plus the removal order.

After removal, the car's only destinations are a scrap yard or a demolisher; rebuilding it or making it run again is off the table. "Not later than the fifth day after the removal," the city tells the state "so that the department may cancel the certificate of title."

Street limits, downtown and out

Section 22-3 makes it unlawful to leave "any worn out or inoperative or salvaged vehicle" on a public street or walkway, along with "any motor vehicle bearing outdated or obsolete license plates or no license plates whatever." Section 22-4 sets two clocks for when a car on public ground counts as abandoned:

Police also tow an inoperative or abandoned car that is still on a street 24 hours after a written notice is attached to it.

After a tow, section 26-129 has police tell the owner in writing about the removal, the reason and where the car is kept. The owner pays "reasonable costs incurred in removing the vehicle" and reasonable storage on top of any fine.

The Police Department is at 489 A South Monroe Street, with a non-emergency number of 830-773-9044. Code Enforcement sits under the police and is listed at 1951 Taft St.

Title and plates through Maverick County

Maverick County's tax office is at 1823 S. Veterans Street, (830) 773-9273, less than a mile south of downtown's center as the crow flies. Buyers submit their title applications at that office.

Texas takes no notary for a title assignment. Fill in the sale date and odometer figure, sign the title, and pass along the buyer's 130-U application after you've signed it and entered the price. Next, send TxDMV a transfer notice inside 30 days, through the VTN page at TxDMV.gov or on VTR-346. It doesn't shift ownership by itself. What it does, if you file on time, is keep the buyer's parking tickets and toll violations off your record.

When you sell, both the plates and the registration sticker can come off with you. Bolt the plates onto your next vehicle of the same kind and the county tax office moves them free, issuing a new sticker; the old sticker never travels. Emissions testing doesn't apply here; Maverick is missing from the state's list of 17 testing counties.

A lost title is replaced through Form VTR-34, with every recorded owner signing. And once a car is 13 or more years old and seven years past its last registration, a parts recycler can buy it with no title.

Getting an offer

Start online or call (877) 421-6008. Tell us the model, year and miles on it, whether the engine cranks, and who holds the title. Pickup is wherever it's parked: a yard off Veterans Street, a downtown lot, or the shop where it quit. Del Rio, 52.5 miles away, is the closest city with its own page; statewide rules are on Texas.