Selling a dead or junk car in The Colony

The junked-vehicle test

Section 6-220 starts with the plate: it applies to a motor vehicle that "displays an expired license plate or does not display a license plate." Wrecked, taken apart or discarded, it counts as junked. It is also junked when it has been out of commission for over 72 consecutive hours on public property, or over 30 consecutive days on private property. Aircraft and watercraft fall under the same definition.

If someone walking or driving by on a public way could see it "at any time of the year," it is a nuisance, and keeping it there is an offense. Every day counts again. A finding of violation is a misdemeanor. A fine up to $200 can follow, and the judge orders the car hauled away.

What protects an owner is four walls and a roof. The exception is an enclosed building that keeps the car entirely out of view. Dealers, junkyards and collectors are exempt only when their vehicles are orderly, screened and not a health hazard.

How removal works

• Notice. The city manager or a designee gives ten days' warning or more. It may be handed over, mailed certified (five-day return), or mailed through USPS with signature confirmation. Those served: each lienholder of record, the last registered owner, plus the lot's owner or tenant. Removal is due inside those ten days.
• Returned mail. If the letter bounces back undelivered, the city cannot act before the 11th day after its return.
• Hearing. Ask inside the ten days. The municipal judge will not hear it before day 11 after service. The judge starts by assuming the car cannot run, and the owner must disprove that.
• After the tow. Section 6-224 says a removed car "shall not be reconstructed or made operable," and by the fifth day the tow company must report it to the Texas Department of Transportation. Shifting the car to another spot in town after the case opens has no effect on it.

Two more rules on private lots

The property-maintenance code, Section 6-79, reaches further: "Except as provided for in other regulations, no inoperative or unlicensed motor vehicle shall be parked, kept or stored on any premises." A car may not sit in major disassembly, or half-stripped, either.

The zoning ordinance has its own line in Section 10. If "an inoperable, partially dismantled, wrecked or junk automobile" stays outside a property for over 24 hours, that property is treated as a junk or salvage yard for zoning purposes.

Streets and police

Anything left alone on a public street, alley, sidewalk or right-of-way past 24 consecutive hours is a nuisance under Section 6-211; a police officer may remove it on the spot. The police FAQ adds two short rules: no parking in your front yard, and no street repairs unless it is an emergency. It lists 972-625-1887 for parking questions.

Police mail notice within ten days of taking an abandoned car. Until day 20 after that notice, the owner or lienholder can pay towing, preservation and storage costs and take the car back. Anything unclaimed before day 21 goes to a public auction.

Denton County title work

Phone (940) 349-3500 for Denton County's tax office, at 1505 E. McKinney in Denton. As the crow flies, it lies about 15 miles northwest of The Colony.

If the title is lost, the fix is Form VTR-34, which asks TxDMV for a certified copy. TxDMV charges $5.45 at the counter, or a $2 mail-in fee by check or money order. Each recorded owner signs, and you must wait 30 days after the last copy before getting another. With the title back, sign it over, writing in the sale date and odometer miles; no notary is involved in Texas. Pull your plates if you want them, and send TxDMV the transfer notice within 30 days. More on selling with no title.

Getting an offer

Go online or call (877) 421-6008. Share its model year, make, model, odometer number, whether it fires up, and the state of the title. We pick it up from a garage, a townhome lot, or the spot where it quit. See also Lewisville, Frisco, Carrollton and Texas.