Selling a dead or junk car in Inglewood

Section 11-90 and private property

Inglewood's abatement article, Section 11-90, rests on the authority that Vehicle Code Section 22660 gives cities. The council found that stored dead cars lower property values, invite blight and fire, and create "an attractive nuisance presenting a hazard to the health and safety of minors." Its conclusion: "the presence of abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicles or parts thereof, on private or public property, not including highways, except as expressly hereinafter permitted, is hereby declared to constitute a public nuisance."

The parts of 11-90 we read give no grace period and no notice length. Ask Inglewood what its notice allows before you start counting days.

Inglewood's definition of an auto wrecker

Section 8-1.3 defines an "auto wrecker" as "any person who buys or receives any 'motor vehicle,' as defined in the California Vehicle Code, for the purpose of dismantling or disassembling" it, or for selling its parts. Anyone offering to buy your car to strip it fits that description. Who buys cars for parts explains who the buyers are.

State tow rules that apply in Inglewood

We did not review Inglewood's parking chapter, so this part rests on state law. Vehicle Code 22651 lets Inglewood police tow a car that breaks a city rule by staying put 72 hours or more.

Under Civil Code 3068.1, a tow company that has the car holds a possessory lien. For an Inglewood car valued at $4,000 or less, the sale process has to begin within 15 days of the lien's start. It can store the car under that lien for 60 days, sometimes 120. Then the Inglewood yard must send out a Notice of Pending Lien Sale, as Civil Code 3072 requires. Once an Inglewood yard mails its notice after a tow, the car is sold somewhere from day 31 to day 41. You have ten days to object and get a court date. Read towed or impounded early.

Inglewood DMV paperwork

California's DMV, a state agency, issues titles; Los Angeles County does not. Sign the Certificate of Title as the seller, get a lienholder's signature if one is listed, and let the buyer submit it. DMV's seller steps include no notary, in Inglewood or anywhere else in the state.

Inglewood sellers get five days to send REG 138 to the DMV. In Inglewood, a seller can send the paper form by mail or use the dmv.ca.gov/nrl page instead. When it posts, tickets and lawsuits from after the sale shift to the buyer. Smog is waived for a car going to a dismantler. Plates generally stay with the car, except that a car recorded as Junk gives its plates back to DMV.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or ask online. Fill in the offer form for your Inglewood car. We collect from carports, driveways or the back of an Inglewood shop. Hawthorne is 2.9 miles away and Culver City 4.6. Statewide rules are on California.