Brunswick County, NC Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Code § 1-7-120 defines 'abandoned motor vehicle' by how long it sits: more than twenty-four hours on county-owned property, more than two hours on private property without the owner's, occupant's or lessee's consent, or more than seven days on public grounds; a vehicle left in violation of a no-parking law or ordinance also counts. A related 'junked motor vehicle' is one partially dismantled or wrecked, incapable of self-propulsion, or more than five years old and apparently worth less than $100, and abandoning a junked vehicle outside a licensed automobile graveyard or junkyard is separately unlawful under § 1-7-127.

The county may remove an abandoned vehicle from private property only on the owner's or occupant's written request, unless the board of commissioners or an authorized official first declares it a health or safety hazard (§ 1-7-123). Once towed, the county holds the vehicle thirty days; a vehicle apparently worth less than $100 may then be disposed of as junk, while one worth $100 or more must be sold at public auction after twenty days' written notice to the registered owner, any lienholders and the state Division of Motor Vehicles (§ 1-7-125).

The article does not reach vehicles inside an enclosed building, vehicles necessary to a lawfully operating business, or vehicles in a lawful storage depository (§ 1-7-126), and it governs only the unincorporated county plus county-owned property wherever located, not Leland, Southport, Oak Island, Shallotte or Brunswick County's other incorporated towns, which enforce their own vehicle ordinances.