A dead car in Maywood: the 30-day rule and selling it

The street gives you less time

On a Maywood street or alley the limit is 72 hours. Section 4-3.1105 bars parking there "for more than a consecutive period of seventy-two (72) hours," and the city's authorized tow service impounds anything that overstays. Rolling a dead car from the driveway to the curb trades a 30-day problem for a three-day one.

The 10-day notice

When the city moves to clear a car under Chapter 6, Section 4-6.08 sends "a ten (10) day notice of intention to abate and remove" by registered mail. Both the landowner and the car's owner get it, except when the car is so far gone that no identification numbers show. You are told to remove it "within ten (10) days from the date of mailing." If you don't, the city does it and charges the landowner the costs plus administrative costs.

Either owner may ask for a public hearing, but the request has to reach the Chief of Police within those 10 days. With no request on file, the city can remove the car without one.

The Abandoned Vehicle Board

Maywood hears these cases before a three-member board: the Chief of Police, the Building Official and the City Attorney (Section 4-6.09). The board is "not limited by the technical rules of evidence." It can order the car removed and decide what the landowner pays (Section 4-6.10).

One clause matters to landlords and to anyone whose yard became somebody else's parking spot. If the board finds the car arrived without the landowner's consent and the owner never accepted it afterward, it may not charge removal or administrative costs to that property. A landowner can also mail a sworn written statement denying responsibility, which counts as a hearing request without requiring them to attend.

Selling it the California way

Across the state, the DMV takes care of California titles, in person at a field office or by mail to PO Box 942869 in Sacramento. You sign the certificate as seller, and so does any lienholder; the DMV's steps include no notary. A missing title means filing REG 227 first.

No more than 5 days after the sale, send in REG 138, the DMV's release of liability. From then on, tickets go to the buyer. A car sold for dismantling is exempt from smog testing. If a car is taken apart before anyone applies to record it as Junk, the DMV adds an investigative service fee. Recording it as Junk also means surrendering its plates; otherwise standard plates generally stay put.

Getting an offer

Phone (877) 421-6008 or send the form. Send us a few details about your Maywood car through the form. Cars with parts already pulled are fine; see missing parts. Free pickup anywhere in the US covers a narrow Maywood driveway, a spot behind an apartment building, or a repair shop. Bell is under a mile away; the California page has state rules.