Sell your dead or junk car in El Paso

Three ways a car becomes "junked"

Chapter 9.08 is El Paso's junked-vehicle law. Section 9.08.020 gives three tests, and failing any single one is enough:

• the plate has expired or is missing, or there's no valid inspection certificate
• the car is wrecked, dismantled or discarded
• public property: more than 72 consecutive hours without running; private property: more than 30 consecutive days

The zoning code uses its own words. Section 20.02.486 defines a "junk motor vehicle" as one "without current registration (license) or safety inspection sticker and/or unable to travel on public streets or highways legally under its own power."

Junked vehicles and parts are public nuisances under section 9.08.010 once anyone standing in a public place, or on a public right-of-way, can see them. Creating one on another person's lot is unlawful, and so is allowing one on your own.

The fitted-cover exception, and its limits

In El Paso a cover can abate the nuisance, but only on terms set out in section 9.08.010:

1. The cover is "custom-tailored or custom-fitted to the particular model of the vehicle being covered."
2. It is "a canvas of closely woven, coarse cloth of hemp, cotton or linen that is both water and mildew resistant," with no tears or holes.
3. The car is "completely covered, with the exception of the vehicle tires," and the cover is held by a tie-down.

"Placing the junked vehicle behind trees or shrubbery does not abate the public nuisance." Section 9.08.040 leaves out a car kept indoors in a building, invisible from outside, and a dealer's or junkyard's lawful stock. A collector's antique qualifies when a fence, trees or shrubbery screen it; a tarp is not screening.

Remember the zoning rule above, though. A fitted cover answers chapter 9.08. It does not make an inoperable car legal outside a building on a residential lot.

Notice, court and disposal

When the car sits on private property, section 9.08.030 sends certified letters to whoever last registered the car, to a lienholder of record if any, and to the person owning or occupying the premises. The car "must be removed and abated within ten days of the receipt of such notice," unless a hearing is requested before then. If nothing is removed and nobody asks for a hearing, the department may file a complaint in court.

A municipal court judge decides after giving ten or more days of certified-mail notice. The judge begins by presuming the car can't run, and the owner has to show otherwise. "Before any city employee or any other person is authorized to remove a vehicle," a court order must come first. A guilty finding carries a fine capped at $200 along with a removal order.

A scrap yard or demolisher is where a removed car ends up, and it is "unlawful for any person to reconstruct or make operable" one afterward. Inside five days of a removal, El Paso tells the state, which cancels the title.

Streets, tows and the post-impound hearing

Section 12.80.150 presumes a car is being stored once it has stayed at or close to one spot on a street, alley or right-of-way more than five continuous days. Street storage is against the law, and police may tow. They may also tow a legally parked car from public property after it has been left alone more than 48 hours with reasonable grounds to think it was abandoned.

After a tow, section 12.08.220 has the city look up the registered owner and lienholders and mail written notice with the case number and the car's location. Towing and storage charges are a lien on the car and are paid before release. After paying, you have 24 hours to collect it or more storage is charged. Within ten days of the tow you can ask for a "post-deprivation hearing" by posting a bond.

To report a junk vehicle to code officers, dial 3-1-1, go online, or use the EP311 app.

The title, the plates and the county office

El Paso County's tax office is at 301 Manny Martinez Sr. Drive, (915) 273-3430. As the crow flies, it sits about 6 miles south of the center of the city. The buyer takes the title application there. Until a new title is issued, the state's record still names you.

Texas sellers need no notary. You give the buyer:

• your title, signed, showing the sale date and the odometer figure
• Form 130-U, the state's title and registration application, signed by you with the sales price filled in

Then tell TxDMV about the sale before 30 days pass, using the VTN page on TxDMV.gov or a paper VTR-346. Done on time, that notice keeps the new owner's parking tickets and tolls off your record. It doesn't move ownership; a title application is still the buyer's job.

Your plates and sticker are yours to remove. The plates may go onto another vehicle of the same class, sit in a drawer, or be defaced before disposal. The sticker stays behind.

El Paso County is among the 17 counties where emissions inspection is still required. When the buyer registers, a passing record has to be on file, so expect to be asked for your latest Vehicle Inspection Report.

No title in hand? TxDMV replaces it with a certified copy when you file Form VTR-34. A used parts recycler can also take a car without one, provided it's 13 or more years old, is being bought for parts or scrap, and hasn't been registered for seven years or longer.

Getting an offer

Online or at (877) 421-6008, share the make, model, year and miles, whether it runs, and what kind of title you hold. The truck comes to the car: a house, an apartment lot, a shop, or a tow yard. Nearby pages cover Socorro and Horizon City, and Texas has the statewide rules.