Sell your dead or junk car in Midland, Texas

What Midland's code counts as junked

Section 6-6-1 sets the test. A vehicle qualifies if it is self-propelled and has no unexpired license plate or valid inspection certificate, or if it is wrecked, dismantled or discarded, or if it has sat without running:

• on private property, longer than 30 days in a row, or
• on public property, longer than 72 hours in a row.

Section 6-6-2 makes it a public nuisance when the vehicle, "including a part of a junked vehicle," sits within view of public property or a public right-of-way in the city. Failing to remove it once notified is an offense.

The city's Common Violations page sums it up for homeowners: a junked vehicle seen from the right-of-way and out of commission for more than 30 days can be labeled a public nuisance. It suggests a garage or a privacy fence. The code's own exception in Section 6-6-3 is narrower: a car sealed indoors so that neither passersby nor adjoining lots can see it. Car covers go unmentioned.

Two departments, one case

Section 6-6-4 splits the work. Code enforcement finds the car, inspects it and notifies the property owner. The police department notifies the vehicle's owner and lienholders and handles the removal. Under Section 6-6-10, which leans on Transportation Code 683.074, officers from either side may come onto private property to examine and remove a nuisance vehicle without the owner's consent.

How the clock runs

1. Notice. Section 6-6-5 sends a ten-day written notice by certified mail. Police write to the registered owner and lienholders; code enforcement writes to whoever owns or occupies the lot. A letter that bounces back delays the next step until at least 11 days after it returns. With no known address for the owner, the city may post the notice on the car.
2. Ten days to act. A hearing request has to come before the ten days run out. Under Section 6-6-7, letting the city haul it away, in writing and inside those ten days, also settles the hearing requirement.
3. Hearing. Section 6-6-6 puts it between day 11 and day 45 after notice. The city carries the burden of proving a nuisance, while the car is treated as non-running until the owner produces proof that it works.
4. Removal. Disposal is to a scrapyard or demolisher, and after that no one may rebuild it or make it operable.

Section 6-6-9 caps the fine at $500, and a conviction comes with a removal order. If the nuisance is still there after ten days, a complaint goes to municipal court.

Streets, public lots and the impound lot

Section 6-3-1 calls a car "abandoned" in several cases, including an inoperable car "more than eight years old and left unattended on public property for more than 48 hours," and any vehicle sitting illegally on public property past 48 hours. Report one to the police non-emergency line, 432-685-7110, or through SeeClickFix.

A car impounded for illegal parking is held at police headquarters. Section 10-17-9 lets the owner redeem it within five days by paying "the sum of $2.00, together with all other costs of removal and storage." Section 10-17-10 says a car not redeemed in five days is sold.

Code Enforcement takes reports at 432-685-7410. The main police non-emergency number is 432-685-7108.

Midland County or Martin County

The Census lists Midland in two counties, Midland and Martin. Title paperwork in Texas is handled by each county's tax assessor-collector:

• Midland County: 2110 N. A St, #111, (432) 688-4810. As the crow flies, that is roughly 2 miles east of central Midland.
• Martin County: 301 N. St Peter in Stanton, (432) 756-3397, some 20 miles east, again as the crow flies.

Neither county is on the TxDMV list of 17 where emissions testing still applies, and the annual safety inspection for noncommercial vehicles ended January 1, 2025.

Signing over a Texas title

The seller's list is short, and no notary appears anywhere on it:

• Put your signature on the title along with the day you sold it and the mileage showing.
• Fill out Form 130-U with the agreed price, then sign and hand it over.
• Give TxDMV notice of the sale inside a 30-day window, online or with the paper VTR-346 form. Filing in time is what stops the new owner's tolls and parking tickets from following you.
• Unbolt the plates and peel the sticker if you like. The county tax office will transfer those plates to your next car of that class free of charge and print a fresh sticker. Or hold on to them, or deface them.

Lost the title? File Form VTR-34 for a certified copy; in person the fee is $5.45. Without a title at all, the parts-recycler route applies only once the car is at least 13 and has gone seven years or more unregistered. See selling with no title.

Nearby

Odessa is 16.9 miles away in a straight line, and Big Spring is 39.6. For statewide rules, see Texas.

Getting an offer

Open the offer link above or phone (877) 421-6008. We will ask about the year and model, how far it has been driven, if it fires up, and the status of the title. The truck comes to wherever it sits, be it a home driveway, a downtown garage, or a gravel pad behind a shop.