Diamond Bar: selling a car that no longer runs

The yard rules

For houses, Section 22.34.030 bans inoperative vehicles from the visible front yard. Residents can do "emergency or minor repairs" on their own car, but the work belongs on pavement, not lawn. The ten-day limit can stretch to "30 days at the discretion of the director." Parking itself is limited to a garage, a carport, a driveway or another allowed paved spot.

Apartment and condo parcels have a version of their own in Section 22.34.040. The front yard and any side yard along a street must stay clear of "inoperative motor vehicles." A dead car cannot be stored in a garage or carport "so as to restrict the parking of an operative motor vehicle in the required parking spaces." For renters, that covers the one place a dead car would otherwise sit.

Streets: 72 hours

Under Section 10.16.430, "no person shall park or leave standing any vehicle upon a highway for 72 or more consecutive hours." The sheriff "shall remove to a safe place" any car that does, and that can mean a city lot or a private garage that accepts it.

When the nuisance chapter applies

Chapter 10.20, adopted under Vehicle Code 22660, declares an abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative car or its parts on private or public land a public nuisance. After a notice of intent to remove, the car's owner or the landowner has ten days to ask for a hearing before "the city engineer or his designate." Diamond Bar mails the hearing date at least ten days beforehand. If no one asks in time, the car can be removed without a hearing.

Junk title rules in California

Planning to strip it in the garage first? Read part it out or sell it whole. California wants the owner's Junk application on file with the DMV before any dismantling starts. Pulling parts before that triggers an investigative service fee, and the plates are surrendered as part of that application.

Sold whole, a Diamond Bar car needs your signature on the California title and little else from you. The Diamond Bar buyer turns in the paperwork with the $15 transfer fee. A Diamond Bar seller doesn't need a notary for DMV. REG 138 follows within 5 days. Normal plates usually stay put on the car.

Missing title? REG 227 replaces it ($28). If ordinary ownership proof is gone entirely, cars valued under $5,000 skip the bond. Without the title, a Diamond Bar owner can give DMV any ownership proof on hand and fill out a REG 256 Statement of Facts to go with it. See selling with no title and the California page. Title work is handled at state-run DMV field offices or by mail.

Close by

Nearby pages: Walnut 3.3 miles, Pomona 5.1, Brea 5.9, Chino Hills 6.6.

Getting an offer

Send the form or ring (877) 421-6008. Fill in the form for your Diamond Bar car. Free pickup anywhere in the US reaches hillside driveways, condo carports and repair shops.