The criteria for vehicles being tagged on the street is as follows: the vehicle is visibly inoperable (flat tires, severely wrecked, dismantled, etc.) or illegally parked (left wheel to curb, too close to the intersection, too far out from the curb, etc).  At this time, City Council does not allow the Austin Police Department to tag vehicles for expired or missing registration or inspection stickers.  If an officer finds a vehicle to be in violation, an orange sticker will be placed on the vehicle giving the owner 48 hours to fix the problem or remove the vehicle from the street.  After 48 hours, the vehicle is rechecked and if still in violation the vehicle will be impounded.  The owner has 20 days to redeem the vehicle before it is sold at public auction. 

Junked/nuisance vehicles on private property must be visibly inoperable and have expired registration or inspection stickers.  If an officer finds a vehicle to be in violation, a green sticker will be placed on the vehicle along with information as to why the vehicle is in violation.  If a sticker is placed on a vehicle, the owner has 10 days to fix the problem or remove the vehicle from public view.  If after 10 days the owner has not remedied the situation, impoundment action will be taken.  Once a vehicle is impounded as junked/nuisance it is titled as such and the owner cannot redeem the vehicle. 

Contact Information

To report an abandoned or junked vehicle, please call 512-974-8119.

Make an online Report of Abandoned/Junked Car.

Affidavit to have a vehicle towed from your personal property (must be notarized) Word Doc version - PDF version