Selling a junk or dead car in Pflugerville

How Chapter 93 decides a car is junked

Three things have to line up:

• it is a self-propelled vehicle;
• it is wrecked, stripped or junked out, or it has sat inoperable longer than 72 hours on public land or longer than 30 days on private land;
• its plate or sticker is expired or missing.

Being seen is what turns it into a public nuisance. If a passerby on the sidewalk or road could glimpse the car, or a piece of it, in any season, it qualifies, and section 93.03 is the nuisance the chapter makes it unlawful to keep. A garage or shed that hides the car completely from the road and from neighboring lots takes it outside the chapter. Nothing in it mentions a tarp or a car cover.

Pulling parts off does not solve it either. A separate section makes open storage of used, discarded or broken auto parts an offense, and open storage means anything in public view, whatever shelters or covers it.

Day ten after the mailing

The Building Official, or a designee, runs this chapter and may come onto private property to examine a car and remove it. The written notice reaches the registered owner, any lienholder, and the landowner or occupant, either by hand or as certified mail. Removal is due by day ten after the mailing. Inside that window you can:

• get it off the lot on your own, or sell it and let the buyer's truck tow it;
• give the city written permission to take it, which the code counts as compliance;
• ask the Municipal Court judge, in writing, for a hearing. It is set no sooner than day eleven, and the car is presumed inoperable unless you prove otherwise.

Skip all three and the code treats your silence as an admission. A conviction brings a fine of up to $200 and an order to remove the car within 10 days, and every day it stays after the nuisance finding is a new violation. If the city hauls it, the net disposal cost is billed to you, and the code bars anyone from ever rebuilding it into a working vehicle.

For questions, the Building Inspections line is 512-990-6300, option 1. Police dispatch answers at 512-990-6700, option 0, at any hour. The on-street parking section limits heavy trucks, vehicles over 24 feet, trailers and motor homes, and puts no clock on a regular passenger car. The 72-hour junked-vehicle limit on public property still applies.

Title offices in a two-county city

Pflugerville spans Travis and Williamson counties. Texas titles go through the county tax assessor-collector, not a state DMV counter. Two county offices from TxDMV's list:

• Travis County, 2433 Ridgepoint Drive, Austin, (512) 854-9473, about 9 miles southwest of town as the crow flies;
• Williamson County, 1848 Texas Trail, Georgetown, (512) 943-1601, about 12 miles north, again in a straight line.

You will not need either office to sell. The buyer files the title application. In Pflugerville, the seller adds the mileage and sale date to the title and signs it, then puts the price on Form 130-U and signs it as well. A notary plays no part here. Inside a month of the sale (30 days), file the Vehicle Transfer Notification, online (TxDMV.gov/VTN) or with paper Form VTR-346. File it in time and the new owner's tolls and parking tickets cannot be pinned on you. Keep the buyer's contact details, the sale date and the VIN.

The plates and the registration sticker are yours to remove. Plates can go onto a replacement of the same class, be held onto, or get defaced ahead of the trash. The sticker will not carry over with kept plates. Lost title? A certified copy on Form VTR-34 costs $5.45 in person. Both Travis and Williamson are on TxDMV's list of 17 emissions counties, which matters to anyone who plans to register the car again. After you sell covers the rest.

Getting an offer

Reach us at (877) 421-6008 or through the form about the car in Pflugerville. We come to it anywhere in Pflugerville, from a driveway on the Travis side or the Williamson side to a shop lot. Round Rock, Manor and Hutto sit 6.5 to 7.3 miles away; for statewide rules, see Texas.