Junk Cars
To be considered junk, a vehicle must be "stripped, wrecked or otherwise inoperable due to mechanical failure." Expired tags do not make a vehicle junk (the state superior court has ruled that the definition in AMC 15.20.010 is too restrictive.)
A vehicle that has been parked for years in the same spot is not necessarily junk. A property owner is under no obligation to move vehicles stored on his property - unlike vehicles parked on public streets, which must be moved every 24 hours (except on weekends.)
If the drive train is intact and the vehicle is not obviously wrecked, it is extremely difficult for an officer to prove in court that a vehicle is junk. Rusted, mismatched, or dented body panels, broken glass, and flat tires may make a vehicle the world's ugliest lawn ornament, but under municipal and state law they do not make it junk.
Is this a junk vehicle?
Click the photo to enlarge it, and click here to find out.
Land Use Enforcement handles complaints about junk vehicles on private property, and the Police Department handles junk vehicles on streets and alleys.
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