Selling a dead or junk car in Haltom City

The definitions that matter

For a car, junked starts with an expired plate or none. Then it must be wrecked, discarded, or partly or wholly taken apart. Or it has been out of service on public land for over 72 consecutive hours, or on private property beyond 30 consecutive days.

"Wrecked" carries its own clock. It means a car that cannot be legally or safely driven "for thirty (30) days or more due to damage that is consistent with a motor vehicle accident, incomplete repair, salvage or restoration." "Inoperable" covers a car that "cannot be started, driven, operated, steered, drawn, or stopped as designed."

A junked car that people can spot from a road or public place is a public nuisance. It is a misdemeanor to keep one there, and $200 is the most the fine can be. Every day is a separate offense, and a conviction ends with a removal order.

Ignoring the notice gives up the car

Section 50-34 calls for "not less than ten (10) days' notice." The registered owner shown on the title, any lienholder of record and the tenant or owner of the property each get one. Delivery is by hand, by certified mail requesting a five-day return, or by USPS with signature confirmation. A copy goes on the front windshield. Ten days after notice, the car must be off the lot.

Ask for a hearing in writing, through the municipal court clerk, before the ten days are up. The judge sits on day 11 or later. The starting presumption: the car is inoperable unless you show it works.

Skip that step and the code is blunt. Failing to abate, to request a hearing or to attend one "constitutes a waiver by the owner and lienholders of all right, title and interest in the vehicle." Once removed, the car "may not be reconstructed or made operable." The city may dispose of it only as scrap or salvage, and the Texas Department of Transportation hears about it by the fifth day.

The abatement rules do not reach a car titled to someone on active duty with the U.S. armed forces and stationed outside the continental U.S.

Home lots, repairs and streets

• Screening. In every residential zoning district, cars or trailers "without current license plates shall not be parked or stored on any property unless" fully screened up to eight feet by an approved device. Tarps and car covers do not qualify as screening, per the city's code enforcement page.
• Repairs. Minor work on your own car is fine on your lot. Major repair belongs inside a fully enclosed accessory building.
• Lawns. Parking on the front lawn, or over sidewalks or curbs, is prohibited.
• Streets. Section 90-76 sets no hour count. It bars parking on a street to store an inoperable, unregistered car, to repair it outside an emergency, or to show it for sale.

Police may tow an inoperable, unregistered car off a highway and charge a reasonable removal and storage fee.

Code Enforcement is at 4801 Haltom Rd., open Monday to Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Police non-emergency: 817-281-1000.

Tarrant County title and plates

Tarrant County's tax office is close, about 6 miles southwest as the crow flies. Its street address is 100 E Weatherford St, Fort Worth; the phone is (817) 884-1100.

A crash-damaged car may carry a branded title. Texas calls a car "salvage" when the cost of repairs would exceed what the car was worth just before the damage, and "nonrepairable" when its only value is parts or scrap. Either way, the title gets signed over with the date and mileage; Texas wants no notary. Take your plates if you like; a plate transfer to another car is free, and the county office gives you a new sticker. File a transfer notification within 30 days.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or go online. We need the year, make, model and mileage, a word on whether it starts, and what the title says. The truck goes where the car is, behind a screening fence, in a carport or at a repair shop off the main road. Close by: Watauga, North Richland Hills, Fort Worth. See missing parts and Texas for more.