Selling your junk car in San Benito

What makes a car junked in San Benito

Section 8.05.001 of the city code sets the test. To count in San Benito, a car must be inoperative, carry no lawful unexpired plate and no valid inspection certificate, and be discarded, wrecked, or dismantled in whole or in part. Under Section 8.05.061, San Benito calls a car a public nuisance if people can see it from any public property or right-of-way.

Two places are outside the article. One is a car "completely enclosed within a building in a lawful manner and which is not visible from the street or other public or private property." The other is a car kept lawfully on the lot of a licensed vehicle dealer or junk dealer.

The letter, the hearing, the order

When a San Benito police officer, building inspector or city sanitarian finds a junked car, "the city shall notify the last known registered owner of such junked vehicle and all lienholders of record" using registered or certified mail, return receipt requested. From that notice:

• 10 days to move the car to a demolisher or lawful junkyard. If it is still there, the city removes it.
• 10 days for a hearing request. Either the owner or the occupant "may request a hearing by the building inspector of the city" to argue the car is not junked.
• 5 days after the inspector issues a written removal order. Then city officials dispose of it.

Once San Benito tows it, the car can end up at a scrap yard, with a demolisher or on a city site, and it "may not be reconstructed or made operable." A violation is a misdemeanor heard in municipal court, and section 1.01.009 of the code sets the fine.

Code Enforcement works from 400 N. Travis St., 956-361-3804, ext. 402. The city says an officer facing an unfixed violation can turn to citations, a city clean-up or a lien.

A dead car on a San Benito street

For a car parked on a public street, the city's own advice is to call the Police Department, not Code Enforcement. The non-emergency line is (956) 361-3880. A car left parked illegally on public land for two days, or 48 hours, counts as abandoned under the code. The same 48-hour line applies to a dead car older than five years sitting there with nobody tending it.

Under Section 8.05.031, police who take an abandoned car mail the owner and lienholders a notice within 10 days. The owner then has the right to reclaim it "within 20 days after the date of the notice upon payment of all towing, preservation, and storage charges." Under Section 8.05.033 an unclaimed car may be auctioned or kept for police use, and anything left from a sale is held for the owner for 90 days. See towed or impounded if that has already happened.

Title and plates out of Cameron County

The state does not run a title counter for this in Texas. The county tax assessor-collector takes care of it. The Cameron County office we checked is at 835 East Levee in Brownsville, (956) 544-0800, about 18 miles southeast of the middle of San Benito as the crow flies.

The buyer files that application, not you. TxDMV has San Benito sellers give the buyer a signed title showing the mileage and date of sale. The buyer also gets a signed Form 130-U listing the price. Texas needs no notary for any of it. Next, file a Vehicle Transfer Notification with TxDMV within 30 days, online or on Form VTR-346. If you file in time, tolls and parking tickets the buyer racks up are not billed to you.

The plates and sticker are yours to take off. You can put them on a new car of the same class, keep them, or deface them and throw them out. The sticker stays with the old car. If the title is lost, Form VTR-34 gets a certified copy for $5.45 in person. More in junk car with no title. Texas still calls for an emissions test in 17 counties, and Cameron County is not on that list.

Getting an offer

Reach us online or at (877) 421-6008 about your San Benito car. We pick up from yards in town or repair bays in Harlingen, 5.4 miles away. Brownsville and Weslaco have pages too, and Texas covers the state rules.