Junk and dead cars in Grand Prairie

The longer junked-vehicle track

Next to that fast rule, Grand Prairie keeps the state's slower one. It reaches wrecks, dismantled cars and discarded ones, plus a car left non-running beyond the clock: 72 consecutive hours where the public owns the ground, 30 consecutive days where you do. For cars, it bites only if the plate is expired or gone.

Two things make a car presumed inoperable: flat tires, and an owner who refuses to start and run it when an authorized city agent asks. The city's own page adds expired registration, an invalid inspection certificate and jacks to its picture of an inoperable car.

Section 29-130 makes it unlawful to let a junked or inoperable car stay on a lot you own, occupy or control. Where passers-by can spot it, it turns into a nuisance; convicted, you pay as much as $200 and must abate it.

The city says "tarps, bamboo shades and similar materials" are not acceptable screening. For a homeowner, the plain way out is a building that hides the car completely. The other exemptions cover a dealer, a junkyard or an antique kept orderly and screened by a fence or trees.

Notice, the appeals board, and scrap only

Notice comes from the code compliance manager, at least ten days ahead, delivered by hand or sent certified or registered. It gives you ten days to clear the car and the same ten days to ask for a hearing. A hearing goes to the building advisory and appeals board, not a judge, if you ask within ten days after service.

Once removed, the car is finished as a car. Section 29-136 limits disposal to scrap or salvage, through a scrap yard or demolisher, and adds that the car "shall not be reconstructed or made operable."

The city says a code officer inspects within 48 hours of a citizen complaint. Code Compliance is at 300 W. Main St., 972-237-8296, alternate 972-237-8049, or codecomplaints@gptx.org. The police non-emergency line is 972-237-8790.

Curbs, the right-of-way and plates

• 48 hours on the street. Under section 25-59, nobody may leave a car unattended on a public street or alley, or any other public place, beyond 48 hours in a row.
• The strip by the curb. Section 29-89.1 calls any vehicle, "operable or inoperable," stored between the roadway and the property line a nuisance; after 48 hours it is towed to the city impound.
• Expired tags. Under section 25-59.5 a car on a public right-of-way needs a valid plate, unless the registration has been expired for less than 15 calendar days.
• Boots. A booted car can be towed after 24 hours. The notice allows a hearing request within ten business days, and the owner pays towing, impoundment and storage. See towed or impounded.

Three tax offices, four counties

Grand Prairie reaches into Dallas, Tarrant, Ellis and Johnson counties, and all four still require emissions testing. Distances below run as the crow flies from central Grand Prairie:

• Dallas County: Elm Street in Dallas (500 Elm, Suite 1200), about 14 miles northeast
• Tarrant County: Fort Worth, 100 E Weatherford St, about 19 miles west
• Ellis County: Waxahachie, 302 N Monroe St, about 22 miles southeast

A lapsed registration stays renewable online for 12 months past expiration, TxDMV says, provided you were never cited for it, and the expiration month stays the same. Driving on it is illegal once five working days have passed. For selling, no notary is needed, and the transfer notice is due within 30 days. More is on the Texas page.

Selling a Grand Prairie car

Online or by phone at (877) 421-6008, describe the car: model year, name, odometer, does it run, and is the title in hand. A car that is wrecked or missing a wheel is fine. The truck meets it at the house, a lot near Market Square, or the shop. Arlington and Duncanville border the city.