Selling a dead or junk car in Compton

A dead car on a Compton street

Compton's own vehicle code did not turn up online, so what follows is California law. The city may be stricter.

• Stripped: no wait. Vehicle Code 22669 lets a Compton officer or city-designated employee tow a curbside car at once when its wheels, tires, doors, a windshield, engine, transmission or other parts needed to drive are missing.
• Parked too long: three days. Leave a car unmoved on a Compton street for 72 hours in a row where a local rule bars it, and Vehicle Code 22651 allows a tow.
• Dumped: a fine. Leaving a car on a Compton street, or on land without the owner's yes, violates Vehicle Code 22523. In Compton you'd pay $100 or more, and you'd need proof the removal was paid.

Whether a dead car may sit on your own Compton lot depends on whatever ordinance the city has adopted. Vehicle Code 22660 leaves that choice to each city.

Why the sale paperwork is your shield

Vehicle Code 22523 has a second half that matters more than the fine. Say a buyer later dumps the car and it ends up impounded and auctioned. The state can then pin the infraction, and any balance the auction leaves, on whoever was last registered. A report of sale already filed clears you of both.

In California that report is REG 138. You get five days from the sale to send it, on the DMV website or on the paper form mailed to Sacramento. Once it is on record, Vehicle Code 5602 shifts parking and traffic violations, plus any lawsuit, from after the sale onto the new owner.

Title, smog, plates and back fees

The title is signed by you, and by a lienholder if one is listed. In Compton, the buyer goes to the DMV and pays the $15 fee. Nothing in the DMV's steps for sellers asks for a notary. A lost title means filing REG 227 before anything else (junk car with no title).

A car headed to a wrecker or dismantler skips the smog test. Ordinary plates remain on the car. Where an owner records the car as junk, those plates are surrendered to the DMV.

Years of skipped registration can follow a Compton car to the sale. For a Compton car, DMV charges fees and penalties for each of those years. A Compton owner escapes that only with a Planned Non-Operation (REG 102) already on file.

Towns around Compton

Lynwood is 2.5 miles away and Paramount 3.5. Carson is 3.9 miles and South Gate 4.0. More state rules are on the California page.

Getting an offer

Selling a car in Compton? Call (877) 421-6008 or fill in the form. Our driver can pick it up at the curb, from a driveway, or at a shop lot near Gonzales Park.