Lincoln junk-car rules and selling a car that won't run

Lincoln's street rule, all of it

Section 10.40.040 reaches beyond cars. Nobody may keep "any motor vehicle, trailer, camper, recreational vehicle, mobile home or boat" on a street or alley "for more than a consecutive period of 72 hours." It also counts as a violation when a vehicle stays "at or about the same location" and saw no use except dodging the rule. The one-mile presumption can be rebutted with proof of real use, which is hard to show for a car with a dead engine.

Private property: Chapter 10.72

Lincoln's council built Chapter 10.72 on Vehicle Code 22660. Its findings in Section 10.72.010: wrecks kept on private property lower values, breed blight, invite plundering and pose fire hazards. Section 10.72.080 then lets the department head remove "an abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicle, or parts thereof," found on private or public property anywhere in Lincoln.

The ten-day notice

Section 10.72.090 calls for a "ten-day notice of intention to abate and remove," mailed registered or certified, return receipt requested. Recipients: whoever the last equalized assessment roll shows owning the land, plus the car's owner. The one exception is a car with its identification numbers missing.

Landowners must remove the car "within ten days from the date of mailing of this notice." Registered owners get that same window to request a hearing before a hearing officer. Should the department head hear nothing by then, Lincoln may go ahead with no hearing at all.

And the bill: Lincoln "may assess the city's costs of abatement and removal against the property owner, or, in the case of an abandoned vehicle, against the last registered owner of record." Once you sell, filing REG 138 moves parking, traffic and civil liability for the car to the buyer from the sale date.

DMV steps for Lincoln sellers

Titles come from California's DMV, not from Placer County. To sell in Lincoln, sign the certificate of title, get any listed lender to sign, and give it to the buyer to file. You will not find a notary in DMV's private-sale steps. You have five days to file REG 138, either on paper or at dmv.ca.gov/nrl.

Sat unregistered with no Planned Non-Operation filed? DMV wants back fees and penalties for those years; read car sitting for years. Standard plates go with a sold car, and dismantling-bound cars skip smog. For statewide rules, see California.

Getting an offer

Fill in the form or phone (877) 421-6008. Use the offer form for your Lincoln car. We collect from homes, ranches and shops. Neighbors: Rocklin and Roseville.