Selling a dead or junk car in Galt

Who owes a Smog Check, and who does not

On a normal private sale, California makes the test the seller's chore. You arrange it ahead of the deal and pass the report along, and the buyer's car must have passed within the last 90 days. Some cars skip it at sale:

• Galt cars running on gas, hybrid or alternative fuel, up to four model years old: no test, but an $8 smog transfer fee
• gasoline cars built in 1975 or earlier
• diesels from 1997 or earlier, and any diesel rated above 14,000 lb GVWR
• motorcycles and fully electric cars
• a car changing hands so it can be wrecked or dismantled

The Bureau of Automotive Repair splits California into three kinds of program area. Enhanced and Basic areas test every second year. Change of Ownership areas, mostly rural, test only when a car is sold or first registered in the state. One county can straddle two or three.

Cars that fail the air rules

For a Galt car that fails Air Resources Board standards, Vehicle Code 24007 narrows who can buy it. The only buyers a Galt owner may sell that car to are a dealer, or someone who will wreck or dismantle it legally. When the car is handed over, the seller owes a certificate saying whether it complies. Failed inspection goes deeper.

Streets, tracks and abandonment

Galt is small, with Highway 99 along one edge and a Union Pacific line through its middle, but the state's street clock runs here in full. Section 22651 lets a car be towed after three straight days parked against a local rule. Ditching one on a road, or on land you do not own without the owner's okay, is abandonment under section 22523. A Galt owner caught doing this pays at least $100 and must show a receipt for the removal.

Private yards are a city matter under section 22660, which lets Galt write its own nuisance ordinance for wrecked or inoperative cars. Ask city hall whether one exists before a dead car turns into yard furniture.

Paperwork with the state DMV

There is no county title counter to hunt for. California's DMV is state-run, and paperwork can be mailed in. Seller and any lienholder put their signatures on the title. The Galt buyer submits it with the $15 fee under Vehicle Code 9255 and has 10 days to report the change. The DMV's private-sale steps for a Galt seller never call for a notary.

Your last task is REG 138, the release-of-liability form, online or mailed within 5 days. Regular plates remain on the car. A personalized or special plate can follow its owner to another car for a fee.

Getting an offer

Got a dead car in Galt? Phone (877) 421-6008 or fill in the offer form. Galt farm roads and driveways by the tracks both work for us. Lodi sits 10.2 miles away and Elk Grove 11.1, and California has the statewide rules. If it will not start at all, read car doesn't run.