If an abandoned vehicle has not been reclaimed pursuant to Section 56-5-5630, the proprietor, owner, or operator of the towing company, storage facility, garage, or repair shop may have the abandoned vehicle sold at a public auction pursuant to Section 29-15-10. The vehicle's purchaser shall take title to the vehicle free and clear of all liens and claims of ownership, shall receive a magistrate's order of sale, and is entitled to register the purchased vehicle and receive a certificate of title. The Office of Court Administration shall design a uniform magistrate's order of sale for purposes of this section, Section 56-5-5670, and Section 56-5-5945, and shall make the order available for distribution to the magistrates. The magistrate's order of sale given at the sale must be sufficient title for purposes of transferring the vehicle to a demolisher or secondary metals recycler for demolition, wrecking, or dismantling, and in such case no further titling of the vehicle is necessary. The expenses of the auction, the costs of towing, preserving, and storing the vehicle which resulted from placing the vehicle in custody, and all notice and publication costs incurred pursuant to Section 29-15-10 must be reimbursed up to the amount of the auction sale price from the vehicle's sale proceeds. The remaining sale proceeds must be held for the vehicle's owner or entitled lienholder for ninety days. The magistrate shall notify the vehicle's owner and all lienholders by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, that the vehicle's owner or lienholder has ninety days to claim the proceeds from the vehicle's sale. If the vehicle's proceeds are not collected within ninety days from the day after the notice to the vehicle's owner and all lienholders is mailed, then the vehicle's proceeds must be deposited in the county or municipality's general fund.
HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 46-490.14; 1972 (57) 2459; 2002 Act No. 195, Section 1; 2003 Act No. 71, Section 5; 2004 Act No. 269, Section 5; 2012 Act No. 242, Section 6, eff December 15, 2012.
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