Selling a dead or junk car in Universal City

The plate decides whether the rule applies

Section 4-1-10 only applies when the plate has expired or is missing altogether. For such a self-propelled car, being wrecked, dismantled, partly dismantled or discarded is enough to make it junked. Simply not running does it too, once that has lasted beyond 72 straight hours on public ground or beyond 30 straight days on private land.

Universal City calls a car a nuisance when people can see it from public property, a right-of-way, or "the property of other individuals." So a view from a neighbor's yard counts just like a view from the street. Universal City exempts just a few cars. One is a car kept in a closed building. Another is inventory at a licensed dealer or junkyard. The last is a collector's antique "screened from ordinary public view and neighboring property by means of fences, trees, shrubbery, or other appropriate means." A tarp or car cover isn't listed.

How a complaint becomes a fine

After a complaint is filed, the Municipal Court Clerk may mail the owner or occupant a notice by certified or registered mail with a five-day return receipt. It says the nuisance "must be removed and abated within ten (10) days from receipt of notice." To contest it, ask for a public hearing before those 10 days end. Your case then goes on the next regular court session at least 10 days after the request.

If the car has not moved and nobody requested a hearing, the owner may face a trial. A guilty finding is a misdemeanor, fined "not less than twenty dollars ($20.00) per day" and up to $200 for each day after the notice. City police "may enter upon private property" to examine and remove a car declared a nuisance. Universal City reports each car it tows to the state within 5 days. That car is barred from ever being rebuilt or put back on the road.

The court line is 210-659-0333, option 1. The court is open Monday to Thursday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and closed Friday.

Front yards, curbs and the impound lot

• Front yard. In single-family zones a vehicle may sit in the front yard only on a concrete surface covering no more than 50 percent of it. A car can stay up to 24 hours for a mechanical defect. The fine is up to $2,000 a day.
• Street. No vehicle may stay at one spot on a public street, alley or public premises more than 72 hours. Repairs at the curb are limited to adding gas or oil or an emergency fix.
• Abandoned. A non-running car older than eight years that sits unattended on public ground for over 48 hours is abandoned under the code. Police notify the owner within 10 days and store it at a bonded Bexar County facility or the city maintenance yard. If nobody claims it, it is auctioned, and any leftover money is held 90 days.

To get an impounded car back, pay the towing, impounding and storage fees. The impounding fee alone is $15. The police non-emergency line is (210) 658-5353.

Bexar and Guadalupe tax offices

Universal City straddles Bexar and Guadalupe, and in Texas each county's tax assessor-collector handles titles. We checked one office in each county:

• Bexar County: office at 233 N Pecos La Trinidad, San Antonio; phone (210) 335-2251. It is about 15 miles southwest as the crow flies.
• Guadalupe County: office at 307 W. Court, Ste 102, Seguin; phone (830) 379-2315. It is about 20 miles east as the crow flies.

Because the buyer is the one who applies for the new title, a seller seldom has reason to visit either.

Your side of a Texas sale

The buyer needs two signed papers from you. Item one is the title, showing the sale date and the odometer reading. The second is Form 130-U, with the sales price filled in. No notary is needed for either.

The one thing you file yourself is the Vehicle Transfer Notification. Universal City sellers get 30 days to file it, online at TxDMV.gov/VTN or on the paper form VTR-346. It does not transfer ownership. What it does, filed in time, is stop the buyer's parking tickets and toll bills from landing on you. You are free to keep the plates. The county tax office moves them to your next car for free and gives you a new sticker, since the old sticker has to stay. See after you sell and the Texas page.

Getting an offer

To get an offer, call (877) 421-6008 or send the form. Tell us its year and model, about how many miles, if the engine starts, and who the title is under. We go to the car, in a Universal City driveway, a garage in Converse or Schertz, or by the road where it broke down.