Sell your car in Tallahassee: before you leave town, or after a limb lands on it
Graduation, a job in another city or a fallen limb: whatever has you selling a car in Tallahassee, plan around the Leon County Tax Collector, which serves by appointment only. Our buying partner quotes cars that run and cars that don't, free and with no obligation, and pickup happens at your address.
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A move-out checklist for the car
- Order a paper title a month ahead. An electronic title with no lien can be converted to paper through FLHSMV's MyDMV Portal for $4.50, and FLHSMV says paper titles generally arrive in 3 to 4 weeks. Short on time? At an appointment, the Tax Collector's fast title is issued when you apply, for $10 on top of the title fee, with some restrictions.
- Swap the campus permit to the next plate. FSU's virtual permits are read from your license plate, FSU cites a failure to update the vehicle within seven working days, and a permit bought for the year or semester isn't refunded because you sold the car, only if you withdraw or leave your job. FAMU's permits work off the plate too (FAMU Parking Services).
- Don't leave it parked on campus. At Tallahassee State College, a car left longer than a week counts as abandoned and can be towed. FAMU tows an abandoned car 10 days after notifying the owner.
- Keep the plate receipt. Surrender any plate you aren't moving to another car; the Tax Collector says failing to do it within 30 days ends in a license suspension. The "Surrender Registration" receipt you get can waive the $225 initial registration fee on your next car.
Where we pick up around Tallahassee
Pickup covers all of Leon County, in town or out past the canopy roads, at a time that fits your move-out date.
Three offices, appointments only. Leon County's Tax Collector handles FLHSMV title and plate work at Metropolitan, Lake Jackson and Southside, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and every service needs an appointment. Plates can also go by mail to FLHSMV at 2900 Apalachee Parkway with a written request to cancel and recycle them.
When a storm drops a tree on the car
The National Weather Service's Tallahassee storm reports keep coming back to trees on cars. On May 10, 2024, a line of storms brought at least five tornadoes, and by one City of Tallahassee count, broken power poles, the damage matched or beat Hermine, Michael and Idalia combined (NWS Tallahassee). East of Lake Talquin, one of them uprooted trees that fell on two cars. In January 2021 a tornado crossing Tallahassee International Airport dropped a hardwood onto two cars in the employee lot.
What happens next depends on the insurer. Florida counts a car as a total loss when the insurer pays to replace it, or, with no insurance, when repairs would cost 80% or more of replacing it; an insurer and owner who agree to repair instead aren't a total loss (s. 319.30). If you keep the car in a total-loss settlement, FLHSMV issues the salvage title, or a certificate of destruction, to you, and the car can't be disposed of until it has one. Selling a totaled car weighs the payout against buying the car back, and selling a damaged car covers one the insurer chose to fix.
Cash for your car in Tallahassee
City code gives a dead car three days. A vehicle counts as junked or nonoperating if it lacks a current-year tag or has had a part it needs to run removed for at least three days, and none may sit on a property anywhere in the city longer than 72 hours, unless it is kept in an enclosed building. On a city street there is no grace period at all (Sec. 20-133), and the city may remove one that appears to break the rule.
Tallahassee junk cars get quoted whether or not the engine turns over, and the truck hauls the car from the yard; our junk car page covers a missing title or keys, and fix it or junk it helps when the choice is close.
When a dealer or a private sale makes more sense
If the car runs well and you aren't leaving next week, a private buyer usually pays more than an instant offer. Two rules shape that sale. FLHSMV says a car with a lien can't legally be sold in a private sale, so a loan has to be satisfied first; a dealer trade-in is the exception, which can make a dealer the simpler route. And city code won't let a For Sale car sit on a street for the purpose of being shown (Sec. 20-74).
An instant offer comes with no charge and a week to accept it. You're paid by check, and the driver hands it over once the car proves to be the one you described.
Orchard Pond Parkway and the city's parking rule
- •Orchard Pond Parkway is a privately built 5.2-mile toll road north of Tallahassee (FHWA)
- •Florida's Turnpike toll map lists it, and on toll roads a plate photo becomes an invoice to the registered owner when no transponder is read; a SunPass Mini can't be moved, so delete the sold car from your SunPass account (Florida's Turnpike)
- •The owner is liable for a Tallahassee parking ticket unless they can show the car was in someone else's care, custody or control, which a dated bill of sale or notice of sale can show (Sec. 20-71)
- •At two unpaid city parking citations, the city may impound the car (Sec. 20-71)
Asked by Tallahassee sellers
I'm outside city limits. What is the county's limit on a junk car in the yard?
In unincorporated Leon County the limit is 15 days for a junked or abandoned vehicle in a yard, lawn or open area, and a part removed for 15 days makes a car junked (county Secs. 14-31 and 14-2). The county's Code Compliance office says every vehicle must run and carry a valid tag, be stored inside a completely enclosed structure, or be removed, and that no fine comes with the first letter.
My car was towed from an apartment lot. What can the tow company charge?
City ordinance caps a trespass tow of an ordinary car at $130. If you reach the car after it is hooked up but before it leaves, the release fee is half that, $65. The first 24 hours of storage cost nothing; after that it can run up to $25 a day. Complaints go to the TPD Towing Administrator at (850) 891-4766.
Can I leave the car at Tallahassee State College until pickup?
Not overnight without permission: the college allows no overnight parking on its property unless campus police approve it first, and a car left longer than a week is treated as abandoned. Schedule pickup at your home address instead.
Can I buy a second FSU permit for the car I'm selling?
No. FSU sells one automobile virtual permit per person per permit year, replacements aside, and it checks parking by plate, so keep the vehicle on your account current: update it within seven working days of a change.
The title signatures and the notice of sale follow state law, the same in Leon County as elsewhere, and our Florida page lays them out.