Selling a dead or junk car in Escondido

If the car is not going to run again inside that window, we buy whole non-running and junk cars. You sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US, Escondido driveways included.

Why the city treats a dead car as a nuisance

Section 28-243 leans on the authority Vehicle Code 22660 grants every California city. Escondido's council put its reasons in writing: stored junk cars tend "to reduce the value of private property, to promote blight and deterioration, to invite a plundering, to create fire hazards." On that basis, any inoperative, wrecked or dismantled car parked on land in Escondido, highways excepted, is declared a nuisance the city may abate.

From notice to scrapyard

1. Notice. Escondido sends a "notice of intention to abate and remove" "not less than 10 days prior to the removal."
2. Hearing request. Either the car's owner or the property owner may ask Escondido's police chief for a hearing; the request is due 10 days from the mailing.
3. Decision. If the hearing board agrees the car is dead or abandoned, it can order removal and fix both the administrative charge and the hauling cost.
4. Disposal. "Seven days after the decision of the hearing board," or 15 days after the city council authorizes removal on appeal, the car may go "to a scrapyard or automobile dismantler's yard."

On the street: 72 hours

A different rule covers the curb. Under Section 28-158, a vehicle left on a street "in excess of a consecutive period of 72 hours" can be removed by police, following Vehicle Code 22650 and the sections after it. Rolling the car out to the curb only trades the three-day clock for a 72-hour one.

The city also regulates where junk ends up. Section 15-19 requires that fuel, oil and other flammable liquids be drained from any unregistered vehicle or junk kept in a junk or auto wrecking yard; see junkyard or scrap yard.

California paperwork for an Escondido sale

The state DMV handles Escondido sales, at a field office or by mail. Both you and any lender named on the title sign it. For a private sale, the DMV shows no notary step. In Escondido the buyer pays the $15 transfer fee. REG 138 is due at the DMV 5 days after an Escondido sale. It can go in online or by paper form. Escondido cars usually keep their standard plates. No smog test is needed when an Escondido car is sold to be wrecked or dismantled.

Towns close to Escondido

As the crow flies, San Marcos is about 5.5 miles away, Vista 10.3, Poway 10.5, Carlsbad 12.2, Encinitas 12.4 and Oceanside 14.8. For state-level rules, see California, and for the basics of selling a junk car, start there.

Getting an offer

Have a car to sell in Escondido? Phone (877) 421-6008 or use the form. Pickup is wherever it stopped, from a house off East Valley Parkway to a shop lot downtown.