Dead car rules in Citrus Heights, and how to sell yours

Where Citrus Heights says a dead car can't sit

Sections 50-265 through 50-268 were adopted under Vehicle Code sections 22660 and 22710. Section 50-265 says "the presence of abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles, or parts thereof, within the city constitutes a public nuisance". Section 50-268 lists four violations. The first three:

• an owner who lets a car stay "abandoned, wrecked, inoperative or dismantled on any property, public or private"
• a landowner who allows it there
• anyone who, once the city has asked for removal, shifts the car onto another lot not cleared for storage, or out onto a street

So both owners can be cited together, and towing it next door after notice counts as a fresh violation.

Front lawns are off limits

Section 50-146 also bars parking or storing vehicles on a front lawn, front yard or street side yard at a home. It exempts only "a legally registered and operable vehicle" sitting on required spaces or on paved driveways that lead to a garage or carport. Lapsed tags or a dead engine take a car outside that exemption. For a car that has gone untouched for ages, read car sitting for years.

Streets, alleys and city lots

Under Section 50-268, no vehicle may occupy a street, alley or city lot "for more than a consecutive period of 72 hours." Section 94-267 blocks the shuffle: no moving it under 300 feet to reset the count, "unless such vehicle is maintained in an operable condition and driven within such 72 consecutive hours." A car that cannot start fails that test by definition. Section 94-267 also forbids parking on a roadway "for the principal purpose of displaying such vehicle for sale."

Stuck at a mechanic's? The zoning code limits outdoor storage of damaged, inoperative or abandoned vehicles at a vehicle service site to five days.

State paperwork for a Citrus Heights sale

Titles come from California's DMV, never Sacramento County. A Citrus Heights sale needs your signature on the certificate of title, plus the lender's if one is still listed. The buyer files it after that. No notary appears in DMV's seller steps. Send REG 138 within five days so later tickets go elsewhere.

Under Vehicle Code 24007, a car failing Air Resources Board standards may still go to a dealer, or be sold for legal wrecking or dismantling, with a compliance or noncompliance certificate handed over at delivery. Dismantling-bound cars skip smog. Regular plates stay put. Thinking of pulling parts first? Read part it out or sell it whole. More on state rules: California.

Getting an offer

Fill out the form or call (877) 421-6008. Selling a Citrus Heights car? Begin with the form. In Citrus Heights we haul from garages, paved driveways and shop yards. Neighbors: Roseville and Rancho Cordova.