Selling a dead or junk car in New Braunfels

What Section 82-6 says

Nobody may keep a motor vehicle, or its parts, on private property inside city limits for over 30 days when it is wrecked, junked, partly dismantled, inoperative or abandoned. The code does not write a separate junk-car definition; that list of conditions is the test.

Keeping one or more such vehicles is a nuisance. The duty to deal with it falls on the vehicle's owner, the property owner, or a tenant or anyone else in possession. Each must remove it or house it in a building.

The exceptions are narrow:

• the vehicle is completely enclosed in a building, or housed where it will not be visible from the street or other private property, or
• it sits at a lawfully zoned used car or junk area meeting Section 50-89, which requires a permanent solid screening fence or wall at least seven feet high.

Covers and ordinary fences are not mentioned. The city's Code Compliance page says the same thing in plain words: inoperable, wrecked or dismantled vehicles cannot be openly parked or stored where the public can see them and must be in a garage or other permitted structure. Its code guide adds that every vehicle belongs in a designated vehicle storage area on the property, such as a driveway.

The fine adds up by the day

Every violation counts as a misdemeanor, and $200 is the most the court can fine. The section says each day "or portion thereof" is a separate offense, so a car left in the side yard for a month is not one violation.

Streets belong to the police

Code Compliance does not handle cars on public streets or right-of-way; those go to the Police Department Traffic Unit. Leave a vehicle unattended in a public place, such as a street, alley, sidewalk or park, for over 48 continuous hours, and it becomes a nuisance the police may tow to the pound.

Getting it back:

• From the city pound. Under Section 50-78, the owner can pay the police chief the impounding fee plus what the city actually spent, as long as the car has not been sold. Once it has gone at auction, the owner has 30 days to buy it back from the winning bidder at double the bid, plus that bidder's keeping costs.
• After a parking tow. Section 126-358.6 says to call the tow company on the tow-away sign, show ID and ownership or right to possession, and pay the fines and fees.

A car not redeemed within 30 days of impounding goes to a state records check, with mailed notice to the owner and lienholders.

Police non-emergency: (830) 221-4100. Code Compliance Services: 830-221-4031 ext. 6.

Comal or Guadalupe County title office

New Braunfels lies in both counties, and each has a tax assessor-collector:

• Comal County: 205 N. Seguin Ave, (830) 221-1353. As the crow flies, it sits under a mile northwest of downtown New Braunfels.
• Guadalupe County: 307 W. Court, Ste 102 in Seguin, (830) 379-2315, roughly 13 miles southeast if you measure as the crow flies.

Selling it the Texas way

You need no notary. The title gets your signature, the date sold and the mileage; Form 130-U needs the price plus your signature; both papers go to the buyer. A transfer notice to TxDMV, filed online or on paper VTR-346 within 30 days, keeps later tolls and tickets off your record, though it does not itself move the title. Pull your plates. They can move to a like vehicle, go in storage, or be defaced. Jot down who bought the car, when, and its VIN. See after you sell and the Texas page.

Nearby

Cibolo is 11.1 miles off in a straight line, Seguin 11.6 and San Marcos 16.1.

Getting an offer

Use the offer link above or call (877) 421-6008. Expect questions about the car's make and year, its mileage, whether it runs, and if the title is handy. Pickup is wherever it rests: a driveway, a carport near the river, or a shop lot.