Sell your dead or junk car in Waco

Waco borrows the state's junked-vehicle test

Waco's article on junked vehicles, Chapter 25, Article X, does not write its own definition. It points to Texas Transportation Code chapter 683, and every procedure the city uses must follow that chapter. The Code Compliance page spells the test out. A junked vehicle is self-propelled, has expired or missing plates or is wrecked or dismantled, can be seen from a public place, and has sat dead beyond 30 consecutive days.

Sec. 25-241 then declares "a junked vehicle, including any part of a junked vehicle, that is visible from a public place or public right-of-way" a public nuisance, and makes keeping one an offense. A car kept in a fully enclosed garage or storage building is not a junked vehicle on the city's page.

How the case runs:

• Notice. Sec. 25-243 leaves the steps to city staff, but their procedures "must comply with Chapter 683." Those procedures decide how Waco writes to the registered owner, to lienholders, and to whoever owns or lives on the lot where the car sits.
• Hearing. A municipal court judge holds junked-vehicle hearings, using chapter 683 procedures.
• Penalty. Keeping one is a misdemeanor. Fines run as high as $200, and a conviction brings a court order to remove the vehicle.
• Disposal. Sec. 25-245 says the car or any part of it "may be removed to a scrap-yard, a motor vehicle demolisher, or to a suitable site operated by the city."

Loose parts are their own violation. Waco does not allow open storage of auto parts, tires, appliances and similar items at a home.

The 72-hour street rule and the impound lot

Sec. 25-182 makes it unlawful to let a vehicle "remain standing or parked on any street, alley, avenue or public way within the city for more than 72 hours continuously." Junked vehicles in a street, on public right-of-way or on other public land are police business on the city's page, not Code Compliance's.

Once police impound a car, the steps are set in Article IX:

1. Police mail certified notice to the registered owner and lienholders by the tenth day.
2. From that notice, the owner gets until day 20 to claim the car and pay the fees.
3. To claim it, bring proof of ownership and proof of financial responsibility.
4. Pay the towing, storage and notice fees. The car leaves only "upon written order of release from the impounding department," hauled by a licensed tow operator.

Miss the window and every ownership right in the car is forfeited, along with consent to an auction sale. Selling the car before that point is often the cleaner way out; towed or impounded explains how.

One more spot catches people. At a city airport, Sec. 3-60 lets the owner of a car disabled by a collision or other cause call a wrecker. If the owner does not remove it, it "shall be impounded at the direction of the director of aviation," and every impound expense becomes a lien on the car.

Who to call in Waco

• Code Compliance: (254) 750-5970, 311code@wacotx.gov, Dr. Mae Jackson Development Center, 401 Franklin Ave. This covers dead cars on private property.
• Waco Police non-emergency: (254) 750-7500, for cars on streets and public land.
• Illegal dumping: report it through the MyWaco app or at (254) 299-CITY (2489).

McLennan County title office and Texas rules

The McLennan County tax assessor-collector is at 215 N 5th, about 3 miles east of central Waco as the crow flies; the phone is (254) 757-5151.

Texas leaves the title application to the buyer, filed with the county. Texas keeps listing you on the title record until the county prints the buyer a new one. The buyer must get the title in their name within 30 days of the sale. If they do not, you can be left answering for tickets, tolls or crimes committed with the car. Your protection is the Vehicle Transfer Notification. Get it to TxDMV within 30 days; paper filers use Form VTR-346.

After a crash, Texas calls a car a salvage motor vehicle when fixing it would cost more than the car was actually worth right before the damage, leaving out repainting and sales tax. Wrecked or totaled covers what that means for a sale.

Take the plates and sticker if you like. The plates may move to another vehicle of that class or sit in a drawer; ones you are discarding should be defaced first. The Texas page has the rest of the state rules.

Towns near Waco

The nearest towns with pages are Temple at 33.4 miles, Belton at 38.9, Harker Heights at 43.8 and Killeen at 46.1, all straight-line.

Getting an offer

Send the details online or call (877) 421-6008. Tell us about your Waco car on the form. Our Waco tows come from houses, apartment parking lots, and repair shops that couldn't get the car going.