Selling a junk or dead car in Bakersfield

Street, curb and right-of-way: when a tow can happen

• Three days parked on a Bakersfield street. If a local rule bans it, Vehicle Code 22651 allows a tow once a car sits unmoved 72 hours or more.
• Stripped cars. Section 22669 skips the wait entirely when a car on public right-of-way lacks key parts, such as the motor, transmission, wheels, tires, doors or windshield.
• Dumping it. Vehicle Code 22523 makes abandonment illegal, whether on a highway or on land whose owner never agreed. In Bakersfield the fine is $100 at minimum, and the court needs to see you paid for the removal.

Cheap cars, short timelines

Vehicle Code 22851.3 speeds things up for an abandoned Bakersfield car valued at $500 or under. The dollar figures in this section are legal tests set by statute, not offers. Before removal, officials tag the car with a 72-hour notice. Cars worth $300 or under taken under 22669(d) can skip the tag. The owner is told within 48 hours after removal. Disposal may follow 15 days from that notice, and anyone wanting a hearing has 10 days to ask.

At the tow yard: liens and the sale calendar

Under Civil Code 3068.1, Bakersfield tow and storage operators hold a possessory lien. Civil Code 3072 covers Bakersfield cars worth $4,000 or under. 15 days after the lien arises is the deadline for a Bakersfield tow operator to start the sale. Storage charges at a Bakersfield yard can run 60 days, and sometimes 120. The Bakersfield owner is mailed a "Notice of Pending Lien Sale." The sale lands 31 to 41 days out. A Bakersfield owner has 10 days to return a "Declaration of Opposition" to get a court date.

Here is what many Bakersfield owners miss. If an abandoned car in a Bakersfield impound lot goes unclaimed, the person last registered as owner commits an infraction and must pay whatever the sale falls short by. In Bakersfield, filing a report of sale gets you clear of it. Our towed or impounded guide goes further.

Five days to tell Sacramento

A Bakersfield seller must report the sale on REG 138, the "Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability," within five days. A Bakersfield seller can use dmv.ca.gov/nrl online, or send it to the DMV Sacramento box, P.O. Box 942859, 94259-0001. Once the DMV has it on file, Vehicle Code 5602 makes the Bakersfield buyer answer for parking and moving tickets and any lawsuits about the car dated after the sale. Section 22523 adds a second shield in case the buyer dumps the car somewhere.

California title, smog and plate rules

Kern County does not issue titles. The state-run California DMV does, at its field offices or by mail through PO Box 942869, Sacramento, CA 94269. Bakersfield sellers sign the California Certificate of Title, and a lender on record signs as well. Your Bakersfield buyer brings it in next and covers the $15 transfer fee. Notary? The DMV's seller steps list no notary.

• Title lost. REG 227 works both to replace a title and to transfer one. A replacement costs $28 and typically shows up by mail within 15 to 30 days. Its section 5 needs notarizing only if a lienholder is on the record. More at selling with no title.
• Smog. A Bakersfield seller usually owes the buyer a passing Smog Check, unless the buyer is a wrecker or dismantler.
• Plates. Ordinary California plates stay on the car. Recording a car as Junk is different: the owner turns its plates in to the DMV.
• Unpaid years. Skipping registration without a Planned Non-Operation filing (REG 102) means fees and penalties for every unregistered year.

After you sell lists what to cancel once the car is gone.

Neighbors with their own rules

Shafter, 12.7 miles off in a straight line, has written its limit down: ten days for an inoperative car on private land. Wasco lies 24.9 miles away. Delano, which allows only 72 hours, is 31.3 miles away. Statewide details sit on the California page.

Getting an offer

Describe the car for us online or at (877) 421-6008: what it is, the odometer reading, whether the engine fires, and where the paperwork stands. We pick the car up where it is, be it a driveway, a repair shop lot or a space on one of Bakersfield's wide business streets.