Selling a dead car in Foster City

From tow to lien sale

Under Civil Code 3068.1 the yard can hold the car until its bill is settled. Value draws the line, as a legal test rather than a price. Cars up to $4,000 fall under Civil Code 3072, and a storage lien may run 60 days, or 120 in certain cases. Above $4,000, the process moves to Civil Code 3071.

For the cheaper car, the steps go like this:

1. The yard mails you a Notice of Pending Lien Sale.
2. Send in a Declaration of Opposition inside ten days and a Foster City owner gets a court hearing.
3. Foster City auctions happen 31 to 41 days after the notice goes out by mail.

The bill that follows you

Abandoning the car to the yard doesn't close the account. Vehicle Code 22523 treats an impounded car nobody redeems as the last registered owner's infraction, and makes that person liable for any deficiency once the lien sale is done. A report of sale filed before the abandonment changes that. With REG 138 on record, the person who bought the car carries the consequences, not you.

Back fees on a parked car

Cars that spent years in a Foster City garage may owe the DMV. Each lapsed year adds fees and penalties to a Foster City car. A year covered by a Planned Non-Operation (REG 102) filing is spared. Look that up before you sell, so the number is not a surprise.

When the paperwork is thin

Long-parked cars also tend to lose their papers. California skips the bond for cars worth less than $5,000. Instead, a Foster City applicant turns in whatever ownership proof remains, plus REG 256. That Statement of Facts says where the car came from, what it's worth, and that there's no lien. Cars valued at $5,000 or above need a motor vehicle bond. A car that was never transferred to you has its own guide: car not in your name.

Signing over the title

California's DMV issues titles; there is no county counter. A Foster City title needs two signatures when a lender has a lien: the seller's and the lienholder's. The buyer then turns it in with the transfer fee. Plates on a normal registration remain with the car. Your last task is REG 138 within five days. Once that notice is recorded, Vehicle Code 5602 shifts later tickets and civil claims to the buyer.

Getting an offer

Use the form or call (877) 421-6008 and tell us about the car: the model, the rough mileage, if it runs, and the title situation. You sell the whole car as it sits, from a garage near the lagoons or a repair shop's lot. San Mateo is 3.3 miles away and Redwood City 4.0; California has the state rules.