Dead and junk cars in Dinuba

How one dead car becomes a city case

Dinuba wrote Chapter 7.24 under the power Vehicle Code 22660 gives each California city. Section 7.24.010 declares that "the presence of an abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicle or part thereof on private or public property, not including highways" is a public nuisance. It does not have to be a whole car. Section 7.24.020 says the word vehicle "also includes any part or portion of a vehicle which is less than a whole vehicle," so a gutted body or a stack of doors in the yard counts too.

When a Dinuba public hearing is requested, Section 7.24.110 has notices go by regular mail to the landowner shown on the county assessment roll and to the car's registered and legal owner. They go out "at least ten days before the date of the hearing."

The ten-day clock after a decision

Section 7.24.150 sets the deadline that matters most. Once the decision notice is mailed, you have "ten days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays" to move the car. That is true whether the decision came from the chief of police or, after an appeal, the city council. After that, the city has it hauled "to a junkyard, automobile dismantling yard or refuse disposal site."

Moving it yourself trims the bill. Say the city has charged its paperwork costs and the towing cost to the land. If you take the car away without the city spending anything, the landowner owes the paperwork part alone.

On the street

Chapter 7.24 leaves highways out, so for a car parked at the curb California law is the floor, and Dinuba may add local limits. Vehicle Code 22651 lets police tow once a parked car has sat three full days, 72 hours, against a local ordinance. Section 22669 is quicker for a stripped car. If one sits in the public right-of-way missing, say, its engine or wheels, it can be towed right away.

California paperwork for a Dinuba seller

Titles go through the state-run California DMV, not a Tulare County office. Dinuba owners can go to a DMV field office or mail the papers to PO Box 942869 in Sacramento (ZIP 94269).

• Signing. Your signature goes on the title, plus the lienholder's if a loan is recorded. The DMV's seller steps list no notary.
• Release of liability. You have 5 days to send DMV form REG 138. The web version is at dmv.ca.gov/nrl, and paper works too. Once DMV logs it, any tickets or lawsuits over the car dated past the sale fall to the buyer.
• Smog. A Dinuba car headed to be wrecked or taken apart can be sold without a Smog Check.
• Plates. Regular plates mostly stay on the car when it's sold. An owner who files to record it as Junk turns the plates in to DMV instead.
• No title. Start with REG 227. A replacement title is $28. See selling with no title.

Towns around Dinuba

Measured in a straight line from Dinuba, Reedley is 4.6 miles off, Selma 12.1, Sanger 13.9 and Visalia 15.4. For statewide rules, see California.

Getting an offer

We need four things, sent online or by phone at (877) 421-6008: the car (year, make, model), its miles, if the engine cranks, and the name the title lists. Got a city letter already? Also read notice to remove a car. In Dinuba, our truck comes to a driveway, a side yard or the repair shop where the car quit.