Selling a dead or junk car in McKinney

The 7 p.m. rule in the front yard

Most owners know about the 30-day junk test. Fewer know section 70-230. Between the house and the street, only working passenger cars may stay overnight: the code bars anything "other than operational passenger vehicles" there "between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m." Trailers, boats, RVs and other non-passenger vehicles go to the side or back of the lot, hidden by an opaque fence or wall. The city also wants cars parked on a paved part of the front yard.

What makes a car junked

Section 62-620 gives three tests. One: no valid proof the car is registered for the current period. Two: wreck damage, dismantling, or being discarded. Three: it has sat unable to run beyond a limit, 72 hours for a car on public property, and a month (30 days) for one on private property. The code's word for that condition, inoperable, covers a car that cannot be used "due to legal or mechanical incapability."

If any of that, even one part, shows from a street or other public place, section 62-621 calls it a public nuisance, and section 62-622 makes keeping it an offense.

Section 62-624 settles the tarp question: tarps and car blankets do not count, and neither does any similar covering. Exempt are cars stored out of sight inside a building, plus collectors' antique or special-interest cars screened by a fence, by fast-growing trees, or by shrubbery.

How removal works

McKinney's development services director, or a full-time city employee picked as designee, is in charge and can walk onto private property to look the car over. Section 62-623 requires a certified letter to three parties: whoever is on the registration, any lienholders, and the people who own or occupy the lot. It states the car "must be abated and removed not later than the tenth day after the date on which the notice was mailed."

The municipal court judge hears the case "not earlier than the 11th day after the date of service of notice," and the court will take the car for dead until you demonstrate it runs. An order to remove it also forbids rebuilding it, and the state cancels the certificate of title once told of the removal.

Leave a car illegally on public property past 48 hours and the code calls it abandoned. Police-towed cars go to the wrecker's pound or a police-designated lot, and one with a police hold "shall not be returned to the owner" until a police supervisor approves.

Code questions go to Code Services at 972-547-7445. The police non-emergency line is 972-547-2700.

The tax office is in town

McKinney sellers have a short trip. Collin County's tax office, reachable at (972) 547-5014, sits on Bloomdale Rd (number 2300, Ste 2302), roughly 3 miles northeast of central McKinney as the crow flies.

You may never set foot there, since the title application is the buyer's job. What you owe the buyer: the title, signed, with the odometer figure and date of sale, and a signed Form 130-U that lists what the buyer paid. Texas wants no notary. Then report the sale within 30 days. A nonrepairable title limits a car to parts or scrap metal duty; see salvage title. Statewide rules are on the Texas page.

Getting an offer in McKinney

Use the form or call (877) 421-6008. Tell us the model year and name, the odometer number, whether it starts, and the title status (clean, lost, someone else's). Rust or a repair bill bigger than the car is no problem; see failed inspection or rust. The truck can meet it near the downtown square, at a house, or at a garage. Allen, Prosper and Frisco are nearby.