Selling a dead or wrecked car in University Park

The crash-scene rule in full

The ban reaches "the streets or sidewalks of the city," and it covers offers to buy or trade, not only tow pitches. The code also shifts the burden. "Proof of the unauthorized presence of a person engaged in the business of towing, repairing, wrecking, storing, or offering to purchase or trade for a wreck or disabled motor vehicle" near the scene "is prima facie evidence of solicitation." Anyone in that line of work who turns up uninvited starts out presumed to be soliciting.

Police can still clear a wreck. The impound section lets officers remove a disabled vehicle whose owner is incapacitated or absent, one left unattended in the way of traffic, or one blocking a driveway.

When a parked car becomes "junked"

Article 8.07 borrows the state's test. Picture a self-propelled car with an expired plate, or none, and no valid inspection certificate either. Add a wreck, a teardown or abandonment, or else plain idleness past a set clock. In the code's own words, that clock is "72 consecutive hours, if the vehicle is on public property; or" "30 consecutive days, if the vehicle is on private property." If a University Park neighbor walking a public street could see it, University Park calls the car a public nuisance; leaving it in place is an offense.

The city's Code Enforcement page puts the same idea in two plain rules. Junked or inoperative vehicles may not be stored in public view, and vehicles have to be parked on a paved surface.

The ten days, and the shortcut inside them

University Park sends the notice certified, "with a five-day return requested." It is addressed to the car's last known registered owner, a recorded lienholder if one exists, plus whoever owns or rents the lot. Lacking an address, the city may tape it to the car or deliver it by hand. It requires "that the public nuisance be removed and abated within ten (10) days, and that a request for a hearing must be made before expiration of the ten-day period." Ask for a hearing and a municipal court judge takes the case, presuming from the outset that the car will not run.

There is a quieter way to settle it, and few codes spell it out this plainly. Sec. 8.07.006: "If the owner or occupant of the premises or the owner of the junked motor vehicle or vehicle part shall give written permission to the chief of police for removal of the junked motor vehicle or vehicle part, the giving of such permission shall be considered compliance with the provisions of this article if given within the ten (10) days after receipt of the notice." The notice itself asks for the car to be "removed and abated within ten (10) days." A sale with pickup before day ten removes it, and the car leaves on your terms.

Some other points from the article:

• City staff "may enter private property" to examine a vehicle, identify it, and remove one that is a nuisance.
• Once hauled, a University Park junker is processed for scrap or salvage, whether by a demolisher, a yard, or the city itself. From then on it is barred from repair. University Park files word with the state inside five days.
• A car "completely enclosed within a building in a lawful manner where it is not visible from the street" sits outside these procedures.
• The fine comes from the city's general penalty section. The text we read does not state the amount, so we will not guess it. Every day of violation is its own offense. Convicted owners also get a judge's order to clear the car out.

Towed cars and the 30-day window

Police may move an unattended vehicle from a street to a storage facility when officers believe it has been abandoned longer than 48 hours. If nobody collects it within 24 hours, the storage facility mails a certified or registered letter to the owner of record and any lienholders. The owner, or anyone else entitled to it, then has until the thirtieth day after mailing before the operator may dispose of it.

Questions go to Code Enforcement at 214-987-5411, which also takes property complaints online, or to the police non-emergency line, 214-363-3000. The city sends temporary parking pass requests to that same police number.

Paperwork at the Dallas County office

University Park covers just 3.689 square miles, all inside Dallas County. The county tax office is about 5 miles south, straight-line:

In Texas the buyer takes the title application there. The seller's homework is different: endorse the title, adding the date and odometer figure, add your signature to Form 130-U with the price entered, and send TxDMV the transfer notice before 30 days run out, which keeps a stranger's tolls and parking fines off your name.

A car totaled in a crash may carry a brand. Texas applies the salvage label when the repair bill, leaving out repainting and sales tax, tops the car's cash value from just before the crash. One worth only its parts or scrap gets a nonrepairable title. Our wrecked or totaled guide explains what that means for a sale.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or start online. We want to hear what the car is, what got damaged, whether the wheels still turn, and whose name the title carries. A flatbed can collect it from your driveway, at a body shop, or at the storage lot where the tow left it. Nearby: Dallas, Farmers Branch, Richardson and Irving. For statewide rules, see Texas.