Selling a dead car in Leander

What makes a car junked in Leander

Leander borrows the state's junked-vehicle law, chapter 683 of the Transportation Code, by reference. Under section 8.05.002, the test has two halves. First, the self-propelled car has no current plate or inspection certificate. Second, it is a wreck, partly taken apart or abandoned as trash, or it has sat dead longer than 72 hours on a street or other public spot, or past 30 days on private property such as a driveway.

Council findings make any junked car that is readily visible from public space a nuisance. Owners and occupants "shall keep such property free of" them. Section 8.05.064 leaves out a car kept fully indoors, invisible from the road and the neighbors.

The letter and the hearing

Leander mails the notice certified, or delivers it by hand, with copies for the car's registered owner, its lienholder if one exists, and the person who owns or rents the place. Leander's judge presumes the car inoperable, so it falls to you to show it runs. A nuisance finding means an order to remove it within ten more days.

If nobody asks for a hearing and nothing changes in ten days, the city may take the car once the municipal judge signs an order. Whatever the city removes stays dead; it may not be rebuilt. Section 8.05.065 sends such cars "to a scrap yard or demolisher or to any suitable site operated by a city or county for processing as scrap or salvage."

Fines, fees and abandoned cars

In the code, the general penalty covers this nuisance: a fine of no more than $500, and a new offense for every day it continues. The city's own Code Enforcement page says ordinance fines run up to $2000 per day, and that in some cases it may tow inoperable vehicles immediately.

An abandoned car also has its own clocks:

• more than 48 hours on public property illegally, or an inoperative car over five years old left there unattended over 48 hours;
• left on someone's private land over 48 hours when the owner, or whoever controls it, never agreed.

An impounded abandoned car can be reclaimed by the 20th day after the certified-mail notice by paying towing, preservation, storage and garagekeeper charges. After that the right is waived.

Code Enforcement is at 101 E Sonny Drive, 512-528-2884, Monday to Friday 8 am to 5 pm, or use the See It! Report It! form. Police non-emergency: 512-528-2800.

Titles from Leander

The Williamson County office on Texas Trail in Georgetown, number 1848, lies about 13 miles east as the crow flies; call (512) 943-1601. For Travis County, head to 2433 Ridgepoint Drive in Austin, about 20 miles southeast, or call (512) 854-9473. Titles move under the rules of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.

Here is what a Leander seller hands over and keeps:

• Hand over: the title (signed, dated, mileage written in) and a 130-U application bearing your signature and the amount paid. Texas wants no notary for any of it.
• Keep: the plates. They can move to another car of the same type, or be marked up so they cannot be used before you throw them out, and your own notes: who bought it, when, and the VIN.
• File: a transfer notice with TxDMV in the first 30 days after the sale. That way any toll or ticket the new owner earns is theirs alone.

Title missing? Every owner on record signs Form VTR-34, and a certified copy runs $5.45 at the county counter; selling with no title covers the rest.

Nearby

Cedar Park is 5.1 miles away, Georgetown 11.7, Round Rock 12.3 and Austin 20.1, all straight-line. See Texas for statewide rules.

Getting an offer

Ask online or ring (877) 421-6008. Tell us what it is (model year, make, model), the miles, whether it fires up, and the title's whereabouts. Then the truck goes to it, in a garage, on a side driveway or at a relative's place across town.