Selling a junk or dead car in Round Rock

When Round Rock calls a car junked

Round Rock's Section 14-303 calls a car junked when it (or a part of it) is self-propelled, it "Displays an expired or invalid license plate or expired or invalid motor vehicle registration insignia or does not display" one, and it is wrecked, dismantled or discarded or has been dead for a set time. That time is 72 straight hours on public property and 30 straight days at a home or other private place.

Owners and occupants must keep their property free of them. Once found, the car gets a brightly colored notice "of a color different from that used for notices of abandonment." The city also mails a written order, certified, to the registered owner, to every lienholder of record, and to whoever owns or occupies the property. It sets these terms:

• 10 days to remove the car.
• Want a hearing? Ask the municipal court clerk within the same 10 days. Show up or send a letter; there is no bond.
• No request, and the car is conclusively presumed junked.

A judge will presume the car does not work unless you can show it does. Lose, and you have 10 days to remove it before the judge can order the city to take it. A car the city hauls away may not be rebuilt, and it can be sold to a scrap yard or demolisher.

The city can also skip the letters. Maintaining a junked vehicle is a criminal offense, each day or part of a day separate, and no prior notice is needed to file the case. After a conviction, the judge gives you 48 hours to have it gone. Where no specific fine is set, the general penalty is up to $500 per offense.

Yards and streets

• Yard parking. No vehicle may sit on an unimproved surface in the street yard or side yard of a home. A rear-yard car must be screened unless it is on an improved driveway. A violation gets a notice to remove it within 72 hours.
• Fixing it at the curb. Repairing a car on a public street is banned except to move it off right away. A 24-hour notice goes on the car, and after that the city removes it and bills the owner for removal and storage.
• Older dead cars. Police can take an inoperable car more than five years old once it has sat unattended on public property for over 48 hours; the code calls it abandoned.

For a car removed after a street repair, the city tells the registered owner within 48 hours where it is stored, and you redeem it with proof of ownership and the removal and storage costs.

Report junked cars or yard parking to police at 512-218-5500, or 512-218-5515 after hours. Code Enforcement is at 221 East Main Street, 512-341-3329.

Title work for a Round Rock car

One county tax office that handles titles is Williamson County's, at 1848 Texas Trail in Georgetown, about 6 miles north as the crow flies, (512) 943-1601. The Travis County office, 2433 Ridgepoint Drive in Austin, is about 14 miles south, (512) 854-9473. Both work under rules set by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.

Selling in Texas is light on paperwork. There is no notary step. Write the date and mileage on the Round Rock car's title, then sign it. Round Rock sellers also sign Form 130-U with the price and give it to the buyer. Keep the plates out of the deal and put them on your next car. Last step: tell TxDMV about the sale through its transfer notice, online or on paper, before 30 days pass. Then tolls and tickets run up after the sale are not charged to you.

Next door

Pflugerville is 6.5 miles away, Hutto 7.2, Cedar Park 9.3 and Georgetown 10.0, all straight-line. For the statewide rules, see Texas.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or ask online about the car you want gone from Round Rock. We can get it from your house, your office lot, or the shop holding it for a repair you chose to skip.