A 48-hour NOPD notice means you have two days to move the car, fix it, or get rid of it. After that, the city can treat it as an abandoned or nuisance vehicle. Selling it to a buyer before a tow truck shows up is one real option, and it keeps you out of a tow lot.
What the 48-hour notice actually is
The notice comes from the New Orleans Police Department. Under NOPD Operations Manual Chapter 61.13.1, officers post a windshield notice telling the owner to move the vehicle within 48 hours.
The city rules behind it sit in City Code sections 66-101 through 66-116, which cover abandoned and nuisance vehicles. The same NOPD policy says a car counts as abandoned in the city if it sits on private property without the owner’s consent for more than three days. It also counts if it’s inoperable on public property for more than three days.
What counts as a nuisance vehicle
A car can be a problem even if it isn’t blocking anything. The NOPD policy names a few conditions that make it a nuisance vehicle:
- It harbors rats or mosquitoes.
- Weeds taller than 8 inches grow around it.
- It collects pools of standing water.
- It has sharp, jagged metal.
A flooded or wrecked car that has sat for months can hit more than one of these. If yours looks like that, treat the notice as a real deadline.
Junk and stripped cars go to Public Works
The same policy says a stripped or “junk” vehicle gets referred to the Department of Public Works. That referral goes through the Towing Allocation Officer at 504-658-8100.
Public Works can put a yellow tag on the car. The yellow tag says the vehicle will be scrapped. Fox 8 reported in December 2024 that the city’s 311 dashboard showed more than 7,000 abandoned or junk vehicle requests that year. Nearly 4,700 were still open.
So the city has a long list of cars to deal with. That doesn’t mean yours will wait.
What state law sets as the floor
Louisiana law sets the minimum, and the city can add to it.
- R.S. 32:471 defines an abandoned vehicle. It includes an inoperable car left unattended on public property for more than 24 hours. It also includes a car on private property without the owner’s consent for more than three days.
- R.S. 32:473.1 lets an officer post a windshield notice to move the car within 24 hours. After that, the car is removed and handled under the Louisiana Towing and Storage Act.
- R.S. 33:4876 lets parishes and cities ban junk vehicles on lots, streets and sidewalks. It defines “inoperable” as 72 consecutive hours on public property or 30 consecutive days on private property. Local ordinances must give at least 10 days’ notice before removal.
Those are three different rules for three different situations. Read the notice on your windshield for the one that applies to you.
Timeline: what the rules say, and when
| When | What the rules say | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Notice posted | NOPD posts a windshield notice | NOPD Chapter 61.13.1 |
| 24 hours | Under state law, an officer can post a notice to move a state-law abandoned vehicle within 24 hours | R.S. 32:473.1 |
| 48 hours | The NOPD deadline to move the car | NOPD Chapter 61.13.1 |
| After the deadline | A stripped or junk car can be referred to Public Works and tagged for scrapping | NOPD Chapter 61.13.1 and Fox 8 |
| Local ordinances | At least 10 days’ notice before a junk vehicle is removed | R.S. 33:4876 |
Your three options
You can move it, fix it, or sell it. Each one has a plain trade-off.
Move it. If it runs, drive it off the street or onto your own property. That works only if the car isn’t a nuisance vehicle where it lands. If it doesn’t run, you need a tow, and then you still own a car that doesn’t work.
Fix it. This makes sense when the repair is small and you plan to keep driving the car. If the car has been sitting, or the repair costs more than the car is worth, fixing it just delays the same decision.
Sell it before it’s towed. Once the city or a tow company hauls the car, you’re dealing with a tow lot and the paperwork that comes with it. If you sell first, you decide where the car goes and when. Selling means a buyer comes to the car, you hand over the title and keys, and the problem leaves with the truck.
If the car is flooded, wrecked or missing parts, you can still sell it. Tell us what shape it’s in.
If you live in Jefferson Parish
Neighbors in Metairie, River Ridge or unincorporated parts of the West Bank deal with a different office. Jefferson Parish has a Department of Code Compliance and Enforcement with an abandoned and junk vehicles line at 504-364-3543.
Call them to ask how a notice works for your address. Don’t assume the New Orleans 48-hour rule applies across the parish line.
Call or text us
Cars we buy go to a towing and salvage yard on Paris Road in Chalmette, in business about 38 years. If a notice is on your windshield, call or text us at (504) 708-5950. Tell us the year, make and model, what condition the car is in, whether you have the title, and where the car is parked. We’ll tell you what we need next.