Lemon Grove junk cars: screened, enclosed or sold

The exceptions are about being seen

On a residential lot, the car is allowed when it is "completely enclosed within a building in a lawful manner where it is not visible from the street," or when it is "completely shielded from view from other public or private property by legally installed and maintained solid fencing, existing shrubbery." A solid fence or a closed garage is what the code describes.

There is a short window for work, too. A car you own or lease and live with can sit out for "emergency or minor repairs and short-term or temporary parking" for an aggregate "twenty-four hours in any continuous period of forty-eight hours." That covers a weekend brake job, not a car that has been waiting on an engine since spring.

Licensed repair shops get their own rule: up to 100 days outdoors on paved parking, but only for cars that "are not visibly damaged or dismantled." A wreck at a shop needs screening like anyone else's.

Several dead cars on one lot

The zoning definitions in 17.08.030 say "The presence of five or more inoperative vehicles on any lot for more than thirty days shall constitute a vehicle dismantling yard." So a family collection of dead cars can turn into a zoning matter, not only a nuisance one.

The junk chapter, 8.12, runs on its own clock. If the city manager finds junk piled up, a written notice and order gives "ten days from the date of this Notice and Order" to remove it. An appeal has to reach the city clerk "Within a period of three days, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays and holidays." Those three days pass faster than most people expect.

A wreck's title in Lemon Grove

If an insurer totaled the car, its title may carry a brand. Salvaged is among the seven brands California uses. The DMV puts it on cars hurt by a crash, flood or vandalism, and on cars that were dismantled at some point. California prints no flood brand of its own. Worse is a nonrepairable car under Vehicle Code 431, a burned-out shell for instance, which the state will never title or register again.

Lemon Grove sale paperwork

Sign the California Certificate of Title yourself. If it lists a loan, the lienholder has to sign as well. The DMV's seller steps for Lemon Grove include no notary. No title in the drawer? File REG 227; the replacement costs $28 and tends to arrive by mail within 15 to 30 days. Five days after the sale is the cutoff for REG 138. Regular plates normally stay on the car. Statewide rules are on the California page.

Nearby

La Mesa sits 2.6 miles off in a straight line, National City 6.0 and El Cajon 6.4.

Getting an offer

Got a car in Lemon Grove? Selling a car in Lemon Grove? Call (877) 421-6008 or send the form. Our tow truck gets to it behind the fence, in the garage or at the shop.