Goleta: junking a car yourself or selling it whole

Junking it yourself: the DMV steps

The DMV defines a junk vehicle as one "dismantled because it was wrecked, abandoned or inoperable." For a Goleta owner, its steps run in this order:

1. File before the wrench comes out. A Goleta owner asks the DMV to list the car as Junk ahead of any dismantling. No license is required; private owners who are not dismantlers can junk their own cars.
2. Hand back the plates. Once the DMV books the car as Junk, its assigned plates are surrendered.
3. No smog test. Cars sold to be wrecked or taken apart are outside the Smog Check rule.

Do it in the wrong order, parts first and paperwork later, and the investigative fee applies. Part it out or sell it whole weighs the work against the return.

Salvaged versus nonrepairable

Two DMV terms decide what a damaged car can become.

• Total loss salvage (Vehicle Code 544). Damage bad enough that the owner or insurer judges a repair not worth the money. No percentage applies. A salvage certificate takes the title's place, and the brand reads Salvaged, a label that also covers flood and vandalism.
• Nonrepairable (Vehicle Code 431). A surgical strip, a full burn, or an owner calling it parts or scrap only. Such a car never gets a title or registration again.

Once a car is nonrepairable, no new title or registration is possible. More at totaled car and fire damage.

Local rules

Goleta's municipal code did not surface online for us, so read this page as state law. Goleta, like any California city, may adopt its own nuisance-car ordinance under Vehicle Code 22660, aimed at "abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicles" on private or public land, with costs billed back.

Selling it instead

The Junk filing is due before anyone takes the car apart. Santa Barbara County doesn't issue titles. The state DMV does. The seller and any lienholder sign; the buyer takes it to the DMV. In the DMV's seller instructions, a notary never comes up. Within 5 days, file REG 138, online or by mail. On a regular sale the standard plates ride along with the car. See our California page for more.

Nearby

In a straight line, Santa Barbara is 8.6 miles off and Lompoc 38.2.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or start online. Tell us its year, make, rough mileage, whether it runs at all, and what the title shows. Free pickup anywhere in the US means a Goleta car can leave with every part still bolted on.