Town guide · Utah
Selling a dead or junk car in Hurricane
A car that dies on a Hurricane street gets no grace period. Section 6-1-6 makes it a violation to leave "any inoperable vehicle parked, placed, stored, abandoned, or otherwise left on any public street, alley, sidewalk, park strip, or right-of-way at any time." The yard is not a free pass either. Section 10-37-3 caps a car left "in an abandoned condition" at 72 hours, and that clock runs on private lots and driveways too. We buy whole non-running and junk cars here. You sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US.
Updated · 9 sources
Hurricane, the short version
- Population
- 25,745 (Census estimate, July 2025)
- County
- Washington
- Junk-vehicle rule
- City Code 10-37-3
- Abandoned-condition limit
- 72 hours, public or private property
- Inoperable car on the street
- Not allowed at any time (6-1-6)
- Exception
- Stored indoors, or fully screened by a 6-foot solid fence
- DMV office we checked
- In Hurricane, about 3 miles
- Plates
- Seller removes them
The 72-hour yard rule
Section 10-37-3 is titled "Abandoned, wrecked, or junk vehicles." It makes it unlawful to park or allow "any licensed or unlicensed motor vehicle or parts thereof in an abandoned condition upon any public or private property within the City for longer than 72 hours."
Licensed or not makes no difference, and private property is covered as well as public. The way out the code names: the car or parts are "stored within a building or are completely screened by a six foot high, opaque, sight obscuring fence." A chain-link fence you can see through does not meet that.
Going over the permitted number of vehicles or parts outside those exceptions "shall constitute a nuisance." And the code says whose job the fix is: the owner of the vehicle, "or lessee, or other person in possession of private property" where it sits. Renters are not off the hook.
Street impounds
Section 6-1-5 authorizes the Hurricane City Police Department to impound "Any vehicle left stopped, standing, or parked in violation of any provision of this chapter." That includes the inoperable-car ban in 6-1-6. Cars that block city road maintenance or a construction job can be towed too.
State law then takes over. If a towed Hurricane car is eight model years old or more on impound day (the VIN gives the model year), the owner or lender who waits 30 days past the first notice can lose it, since the Motor Vehicle Division may give the tow operator a certificate of sale. Towed or impounded covers getting a car back.
A DMV office right in town
Title business can stay in town. We checked the Utah Motor Vehicle Division office on 5300 West at 100 South, phone 1-800-DMV-UTAH (800-368-8824), around 3 miles as the crow flies, northwest of the center of Hurricane. Utah titles are state-issued, so this is where title questions go, not a county clerk.
The seller signs the title with no notary. A title naming owners with AND needs every signature; OR needs just one. Hand it over within 48 hours of the sale, with the current registration. Under 20 years old? Add Form TC-891 for the mileage. A replacement title is $6.00 through the Motor Vehicle Portal or Form TC-123. No emissions certificate is involved, since Washington County is not a testing county.
Pull the plate unless the buyer is paying for it as well; a plate left behind can tie you to someone else's parking and traffic tickets. Then file the sold notice: the portal, form TC-502, a signed letter to the DMV Contact Center, or a phone call.
Nearby
Washington is about 7 miles away and St. George 13. Utah has the statewide rules.
Getting an offer
Call (877) 421-6008 or use the form to sell your Hurricane car. We collect it from a fenced side yard, a carport or a shop lot.
Questions people ask
- Is there a time limit for leaving my dead car parked on a Hurricane street?
- No time at all. Section 6-1-6 makes it a violation to leave any inoperable vehicle on a public street, alley, sidewalk, park strip or right-of-way at any time, and Section 6-1-5 lets the police impound a vehicle left in violation of that chapter.
- Is a junk car in a Hurricane backyard legal?
- Past 72 hours, only if it is kept in a building or fully hidden behind a six-foot-high opaque fence. Without that, Section 10-37-3 bars leaving a vehicle or its parts in an abandoned condition anywhere in the city, your own lot included, beyond 72 hours.
- Who has to remove the car, me or my landlord?
- Section 10-37-3 puts the duty on the vehicle's owner, or the lessee or other person in possession of the property where it sits.
- Is there a DMV office in Hurricane?
- Yes. We looked up a Utah Motor Vehicle Division office at 100 South 5300 West in Hurricane. In a straight line, it lies roughly 3 miles northwest of central Hurricane. Its phone is 1-800-DMV-UTAH.
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from one of these. Checked October 11, 2026.
- Hurricane City Code 10-37-3, Abandoned, wrecked, or junk vehicles library.municode.com
- Hurricane City Code 6-1-6, Vehicles left on streets library.municode.com
- Hurricane City Code 6-1-5, Impounding vehicles library.municode.com
- Utah DMV: Office locations dmv.utah.gov
- Utah DMV: Buying and selling, seller responsibilities dmv.utah.gov
- Utah DMV: Replace a title dmv.utah.gov
- Utah DMV: Inspections and emissions dmv.utah.gov
- Utah Code Title 41 Chapter 1a Part 11 (impounded vehicles) le.utah.gov
- U.S. Census Bureau city population estimates, 2020-2025 www2.census.gov