Selling a junk or dead car in Socorro

If the car is not worth a garage bay, we buy whole non-running and junk cars. You sell the whole car as it sits, flat tires and all, with free pickup anywhere in the US.

The test on the city's web page

Socorro's Code Enforcement page, rather than the code book, is where the junked-vehicle test appears. Two things together make a car junked there. Step one: its plate has run out, or it never had one, and it has no valid inspection either. Second, the car is wrecked, dismantled, or broken down past a deadline. On a street or other public land, that deadline passes after 72 hours in a row. Private land stretches that to a full 30 days.

The city has also taken on Transportation Code chapter 683 "regarding abandoned vehicles", to the extent it applies inside Socorro.

Notice, seven days, then a bill

Socorro's nuisance chapter lists things nobody may leave on public or private land, and "Abandoned vehicles or equipment" is one of them. That list is open-ended.

When code staff act, a copy reaches the landowner and anyone renting or living there, handed over or sent certified. From then you have seven days. Miss that and the city may clean it up at its own cost and bill the owner. Section 28-23 names three money figures: an administrative fee capped at $200 per charge, a $150 fine per offense plus a $50 dismissal fee, and a civil penalty as high as $1,000 a day if the city attorney sues. Thirty days unpaid, and the charges sit on the property as a lien.

These rules reach 5,000 feet past the city limits, into the extraterritorial jurisdiction. Code Compliance is at 670 Poona Rd, (915) 872-8673, weekdays 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

When police call a wrecker

Section 24-32 lets an officer order a vehicle impounded "when the owner or occupant of the vehicle is unable or fails to have such vehicle removed", among other cases. Fees may not exceed the article's caps or state law. For light-duty trucks those caps are $150 for a private property tow, $150 for incident management, a $75 drop fee and $125 for each hour of stand-by past the first. Socorro police take non-emergency calls at (915) 858-9237. Our towed or impounded guide covers what comes next.

Title work in El Paso

Socorro sellers deal with El Paso County for title matters. For Socorro that is 301 Manny Martinez Sr. Drive in El Paso, roughly 12 miles northwest of central Socorro as the crow flies. Call (915) 273-3430.

Skip the notary. Sign the Texas title over, filling in the date of the sale and today's mileage. Fill in the sale price on Form 130-U, sign it, and pass it to the buyer too. Then, before a month is out (the limit is 30 days), file a Vehicle Transfer Notification, through TxDMV.gov/VTN or on paper as Form VTR-346. Title gone missing? The replacement is a certified copy, requested on Form VTR-34 and priced at $5.45 in person; see junk car with no title. The Texas page has more state rules.

Getting an offer

Phone (877) 421-6008 or fill in the form online. We will ask what you are driving (or not driving), the mileage as best you know it, whether the starter even clicks, and if you hold a title. A driver can meet it at a residential lot, a repair shop, or the spot where it quit. Horizon City is 4.8 miles away and El Paso 17.7 miles.