Selling a dead or junk car in Fremont

Fremont's steps, in the order they happen

1. The notice. "A 10-day notice of intention to abate and remove" is sent by registered or certified mail. The Fremont landowner gets one copy, "as shown on the last equalized assessment roll." The car's last registered and legal owner gets another, unless damage hides the identification numbers that would name them.
2. The hearing. A hearing officer holds a public hearing if the car owner or landowner asks the chief of police within 10 days of the mailing. It decides on removal and on the administrative costs.
3. The order. If the hearing officer finds the car abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative, it can be ordered removed "as a public nuisance." The process and removal costs are charged "against the owner of the land."
4. Disposal. In Fremont, the car "may be disposed of by removal to a scrapyard" five days past that order or five days past a mailed notice of the decision, whichever is later. With a Fremont appeal, it's 15 days after the council acts.

Because the bill lands on the landowner, a tenant's dead car becomes the landlord's problem. That is often the fastest way a renter in Fremont finds out about step one.

Who the code leaves alone

The code exempts a car "stored or parked in a lawful manner on the private property in connection with the business of a licensed dismantler, licensed vehicle dealer, a junk dealer." It also exempts storage that is "necessary to the operation of a lawfully conducted business." A household driveway is not on that list.

Selling a Fremont car under California rules

Fremont sits in Alameda County, but the county plays no part in a title. The state DMV handles that paperwork, at field offices or by mail. Seller and lienholder sign; the buyer turns the title in and covers the $15 transfer fee under VC 9255. Nowhere in those DMV seller steps does a notary appear.

You owe the DMV one form of your own, REG 138, and the window is five days. Think of it as cover against a careless buyer: if the car is later dumped, Vehicle Code 22523 lets a seller who reported the sale off the hook for the infraction and for any amount a lien sale fails to cover.

Plates in California mostly travel with the vehicle. One catch: if an owner has the DMV record a car as Junk, the plates must be turned in. Smog testing drops out entirely for a car handed over for wrecking.

Getting an offer

Selling a car in Fremont? Call (877) 421-6008 or send the form. We pick up from Fremont driveways, apartment spots and mechanics' back lots. Neighbors with their own pages include Newark, Milpitas and Union City. If the car has not moved in a long time, see car sitting for years, and the California page has the statewide rules.