Selling a dead car in Los Altos

The council's reasons

Chapter 8.28 spells them out in Section 8.28.010. Stored wrecks, the council found, "reduce the value of private property", "promote blight and deterioration", "invite plundering", "create fire hazards" and work as "an attractive nuisance" for children. On that basis Los Altos named any dead car kept on land in the city, highways excepted, a public nuisance.

The notice and your ten days

Section 8.28.090 sends the notice of intention to abate "by registered or certified mail to the owner of the land and to the owner of the vehicle." The landowner must clear the car "within ten (10) days after the mailing of this notice". Otherwise Los Altos hauls it off itself and bills that landowner for removal plus administrative costs.

A public hearing is available if requested inside those ten days by the landowner or the car's owner (Section 8.28.100). In Los Altos, "the chief administrative officer or his designee" runs it, and notice of the hearing date goes out by mail at least ten days ahead. Skip the request and removal can proceed unheard.

The officer at the hearing "may delay the time for the removal" when "the circumstances so justify" (Section 8.28.110). Removal costs don't fall on a landowner who neither allowed the car to be left nor accepted it later.

Streets and public lots

Section 8.20.100 lets an enforcement officer remove a car left "upon a street, highway, or public parking lot for seventy-two (72) or more consecutive hours." On time-limited streets, Section 8.20.240 also makes it an infraction to wipe off chalk marks, or to re-park more than once a day without first moving a thousand feet. With a dead engine, neither is possible.

Title and DMV steps

• Signatures. Your name goes on the California Certificate of Title as seller, with a lender's if one is listed. The buyer then pays DMV's $15 transfer fee. DMV's steps for a private sale in Los Altos don't call for a notary.
• Lost title. Start with REG 227 and the $28 replacement fee, in person or by mail. Section 5 of that form must be notarized when a legal owner or lienholder shows on DMV's record. See lien still on the title.
• After the sale. File REG 138 with DMV on paper or online no later than 5 days out.
• Smog and plates. Selling for dismantling means no Smog Check. Ordinary plates normally stay on the car.

Getting an offer

Los Altos is a small city, 6.54 square miles, next to Mountain View (2.4 miles), Palo Alto (3.2), Sunnyvale (4.0) and Cupertino (4.4). Phone (877) 421-6008 or send the form, telling us the model and year, the odometer reading, and where the title is. If it will not start, the car doesn't run guide covers what to expect, and the California page has the state rules.