La Verne junk cars: notice, hearing and sale

The notice and your 10 days

Chapter 10.52 covers "any abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicle or part thereof" (Section 10.52.020). The notice of intention reads: "You are hereby notified to abate said nuisance by the removal of said vehicle (or said parts of vehicle) within 10 days from the date of this notice." It is addressed to the landowner, and the removal bill attaches to the land rather than the car.

During those ten days, the landowner, or whoever owns the car, can demand a public hearing. At it, the city manager or someone the manager picks decides whether the car is a nuisance that must go, and charges every associated cost, removal included, to the property owner.

What happens after the tow

Section 10.52.130 says that after an order the car "shall be disposed of by removal to a scrapyard or automobile dismantler's yard." Then: "After a vehicle has been removed, it shall not be reconstructed or made operable," unless the car can carry horseless-carriage or historical plates.

No more than five days after a tow, La Verne reports the car to DMV and passes on the registration card, certificates of ownership or plates it finds. For a low-valued car with registration evidence, the police mail the registered and legal owners a notice, and the car is disposed of if nobody claims it within ten days.

A trailer rule worth knowing

Section 10.12.010 limits personal utility trailers on a public street to "four consecutive hours within any 24-hour period" and no more than two days in any seven, unless you are loading or have a temporary trailer permit. Hauling a dead car out on a borrowed trailer is a short job, not an overnight one.

California title and plates

La Verne titles still pass through the state DMV. You, plus any lender listed, sign, and the buyer takes it to DMV along with $15. Notaries are absent from DMV's seller instructions. Two deadlines follow a sale: the buyer has 10 days to report the ownership change, and you have five to file your own REG 138, online or by post.

Missing title? REG 227 comes before anything else, for a $28 fee; see selling with no title. No smog test applies when the buyer will wreck or dismantle the car. Ordinary plates normally remain with the car; DMV takes them back once it is recorded as Junk.

Close to La Verne

Straight-line miles: San Dimas 2.4, Claremont 3.2, Pomona 4.3, Glendora 4.8, Montclair 5.3 and Upland 6.3. The California page has statewide rules; blown engine covers selling a car with a dead motor.

Getting an offer

Share the vintage, make and model, the odometer figure, running or not, and the date stamped on any city notice, online or at (877) 421-6008. Pickup happens at the car's spot in La Verne, so nobody needs to borrow a trailer.