Selling a junk or dead car in Plano

Plano borrows the state's junk-car test

Plano writes no junked-vehicle definition of its own. Section 12-205 says any vehicle that counts as junked under Transportation Code chapter 683 "is hereby declared junked and a public nuisance." That chapter's test has two branches. A car qualifies through damage (wrecked, dismantled, discarded) or through time spent not running beyond what the state allows: 72 straight hours parked on public land, 30 straight days on your own lot.

Keeping one anywhere in public view, or on a public right-of-way, is an offense under section 12-206. The fine runs up to $200, every day counts as a new offense, and judges who convict also order the car hauled away.

The property maintenance code goes further. Section 6-52 says an "inoperable or unlicensed motor vehicle shall not be parked, kept or stored in public view," and that no vehicle may sit in a state of "major disassembly." Body work and big repairs are fine inside a structure built and approved for that work.

Notice, hearing and what happens to the car

Plano's notice simply follows chapter 683, and the state floor is 10 days' warning plus a hearing before any tow. In Plano you must ask for a hearing by the date the car has to be gone. If you do, it is held "not earlier than the 11th day after the date of the service of notice," and at the hearing the car counts as broken down until you demonstrate it works.

Three more rules under sections 12-207 and 12-208:

• You can ask the city to haul it, but first you sign an authorization and indemnification agreement: the city may enter, and you hold it harmless.
• Moving the car to another spot inside Plano does not end the case.
• A car the city removes "may not be reconstructed or made operable." It goes to a scrapyard or demolisher.

On the street, section 12-121 allows no more than 15 consecutive calendar days in one place unless the car is driven at least 100 feet.

Title paperwork through Collin or Denton County

Plano spans both counties. Texas has no state title counter; each county's tax assessor-collector handles the filing. For Plano that means Suite 2302 at 2300 Bloomdale Rd in McKinney, roughly 15 miles northeast of central Plano as the crow flies, or the Denton County branch at 1505 E. McKinney in Denton, roughly 24 miles to the northwest.

Skip the notary; Texas does not ask for one. Sign the title, then write in the mileage and the sale date. Your 30-day job is the Vehicle Transfer Notification, filed online or on paper VTR-346. Beat that deadline and the new owner's tolls and tickets stay theirs. Plates and the registration sticker may come off with you; Texas leaves that call to the seller. Collin and Denton are both on the list of counties that still test emissions. Read after you sell for the rest, and see Texas for statewide rules.

Selling from Plano

Call (877) 421-6008 or use the offer form. We will ask what the car is (year, make, model), roughly how far it has gone, whether it cranks, and the name printed on the title. Pickup can happen in a parking garage near Legacy West, at your curb, or at the repair shop holding it. If it simply won't run, that is fine. Neighbors in Allen, Richardson and Frisco sell the same way.