Selling a dead or junk car in Irvine

Apartments, offices and shopping centers

Irvine's maintenance standards for nonresidential and multifamily apartment property put it in one line: "Keeping of inoperable vehicles in public view is prohibited." If you rent in a complex, a car that won't start in an open stall falls under that rule, separate from the 10-day misdemeanor.

How the notice works

Section 4-11-210 describes a mailed "10-day notice of intention to abate and remove" for inoperable vehicles on land zoned for agriculture, or on a parcel without a home on it. It is "mailed to the owner of the land as shown on the last equalized assessment roll and to the last registered and legal owner of the vehicle." The usual notice gives you until "within 10 days from the date of mailing" to move the car; if not, the city takes it away and bills the costs, plus administrative costs, to the landowner.

Either owner can request a public hearing within those 10 days (4-11-211). The request goes to the Director of Public Safety, and the City Manager holds the hearing. A landowner who sends a sworn statement denying responsibility gets a hearing without having to attend. Ten days of silence, though, lets Irvine tow the car without any hearing.

Badly stripped cars move faster. Irvine can take a car without a notice of intention only if all of this is true: it has no motor, transmission or wheels and can't run, it can't be towed, it is worth under $200, it is ruled an immediate threat, and the property owner signed a release. That $200 is a cutoff in the ordinance, not an offer. Owners are still notified and get 12 days to claim it before it is disposed of.

On Irvine streets

Section 6-3-574 bars leaving a vehicle on a public street "for a period of time longer than 72 consecutive hours." Separately, 6-3-578 bans parking during posted street-sweeping hours. A car that won't move can rack up both.

Salvaged, nonrepairable and plain junk

California uses no percentage test for a total loss. An Irvine car becomes total loss salvage once its owner or insurer rules it not worth repairing. At that point a salvage certificate takes the place of the title. The brand is Salvaged. There is no separate flood brand; Salvaged covers flood damage. An Irvine car labeled nonrepairable, say a total burn or one the owner has marked parts-only, is shut out of titles and registration for good. See salvage title.

In an ordinary Irvine sale, you sign the title, a lienholder co-signs if one exists, and the DMV's seller instructions call for no notary. REG 138 is due within five days; the DMV takes it online or on paper. Standard plates normally transfer along with the car itself. Should the buyer be wrecking or dismantling it, no smog inspection is needed. More on the California page.

Tustin is 4.3 miles from Irvine as the crow flies, Lake Forest 5.7, Newport Beach 6.5 and Santa Ana 7.6. Their pages: Tustin, Newport Beach, Santa Ana.

Getting an offer

Selling a dead car in Irvine? Ring (877) 421-6008 or send the short offer form. Our truck can collect it from a garage, a parking structure or an assigned apartment stall.