Selling a dead or junk car in Lynwood

What Chapter 7.22 covers

Vehicle Code 22660 is where the city gets this power, letting it act "to remove abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles or parts thereof as public nuisances." Put simply, a car that's wrecked, pulled apart, abandoned or just dead can be called a nuisance and taken away, and so can loose parts off one.

The landowner's copy of the notice is headed "NOTICE TO LANDOWNER OF INTENTION TO ABATE AND REMOVE." The car owner gets a matching "NOTICE TO VEHICLE OWNER/OPERATOR." The only time the car owner is left out is when the car is in such condition "that identification numbers are not available to determine ownership."

The clock after the letters

1. Hearing window: 10 days. A request from either owner, sent to the city manager inside that time, puts the case before a hearing officer, who rules on removal and on the costs.
2. Five more days. In Lynwood, the car can head to "a scrap yard or automobile dismantler's yard" 5 days after the nuisance order passes, or 5 days after any required decision notice goes out by mail.
3. Fifteen days on appeal. If the city council takes up an appeal and authorizes removal, the wait is fifteen days.

Selling the car before step 2 ends the case on your terms.

If the car is on the street

On Lynwood streets, state law applies. Vehicle Code 22651 permits a tow when a car stays parked three full days (72 hours or more) against a local ordinance. Stripped cars get even less time under Vehicle Code 22669. A Lynwood car sitting on public right-of-way minus its engine, transmission, wheels, tires, doors or windshield can be towed immediately.

A tow yard gains a lien on what it hauls (Civil Code 3068.1). Civil Code 3072 makes a Lynwood tow yard mail you a pending-lien-sale notice when it holds your car worth $4,000 or less. The auction then comes 31 to 41 days later. You get a judge only if the Declaration of Opposition is back within 10 days. Towed or impounded explains the options.

California paperwork for the sale

Sign the seller line on the title; a lender still listed on it signs too. Filing it is the buyer's job. DMV's steps for private sales mention no notary stamp. Then comes the seller's own job: REG 138, sent to DMV inside 5 days, online or on paper.

Junk-bound cars skip smog entirely under DMV's junking rules. About plates: a normal sale leaves the standard ones on the car. If you file to have it recorded as Junk, you return them to DMV.

Next door

As the crow flies, South Gate is 1.5 miles from Lynwood, Compton 2.5, Paramount 2.7 and Cudahy 3.0. Each city is free under state law to pass its own ordinance. For state rules, see California.

Getting an offer

Reach us at (877) 421-6008 or online. The form covers the details of your Lynwood car. Our truck can load it from a yard, the street out front, or the garage where it died.