Selling a dead or junk car in Merced

For a Merced owner, the simplest exit: we buy whole non-running and junk cars. Sell the whole car as it sits, with free pickup anywhere in the US, before any city letter shows up.

The council's findings

Chapter 8.34 leans on Vehicle Code 22660. Its opening section, 8.34.010, says stored wrecks tend "to reduce the value of private property, to promote blight and deterioration, to invite plundering, to create fire hazards, to constitute an attractive nuisance creating a hazard to the health and safety of minors." Its conclusion: such a car "constitutes a public nuisance which may be abated as such." Section 8.34.080 lets the vehicle abatement officer start removal once one turns up.

Ten days on the letter

Section 8.34.090 sets the paper trail. A "ten (10) day notice of intention to abate and remove the vehicle" travels by registered or certified mail "to the owner of the land as shown on last equalized assessment roll and to the last registered and legal owner of record." The landowner's wording: "You are hereby notified to abate said nuisance by the removal of said vehicle (or said parts of a vehicle) within ten (10) days from the date of mailing of this notice."

Four ways it can go:

• Car gone. Removing it ends things.
• Hearing. Under Section 8.34.100, a request that reaches the city's vehicle abatement officer inside ten days of mailing earns a public hearing before the enforcement hearing officer. That hearing notice goes out "at least ten (10) days before the hearing."
• Not my car. "If the owner of the land submits a sworn written statement denying responsibility for the presence of the vehicle on his/her land within such ten (10) day period, said statement shall be construed as a request for a hearing, which does not require his/her presence."
• Silence. The city may then act "without holding a public hearing," and its letter warns that costs, "together with administrative costs," land on the property owner.

Even after a tow, the code leaves one last window: "If the vehicle or part thereof is not claimed and removed from the scrap-yard, automobile dismantler's yard or public disposal area within twelve (12) days after the notice to dispose of vehicle is mailed, final disposition may proceed."

Lawns, curbs and long storage

Section 8.40.070 reaches cars that are nowhere near abandoned:

• Parking on a front yard, side yard, lawn or landscaped strip counts as a nuisance, "whether or not motorized or operational," unless the spot is a permanent driveway surfaced in asphalt, concrete, pavers or the like.
• At the curb, a car parked "in a manner such that one (1) or more wheels rest in a yard, lot or lawn more than twelve (12) inches from the curb or pavement edge" violates it.
• So does "the accumulation and storage for unreasonable periods of time of abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, unlicensed, or inoperative automobiles."

Signed city lots cap stays at 72 hours under Section 10.28.224, with weekends and public holidays left out of the count.

Merced County title questions

The state DMV, not Merced County, keeps California title records. Field offices and mail both work.

Who signs. The seller's signature goes on the Certificate of Title, plus the lienholder's where a loan exists. DMV's listed seller steps include no notary. A notary enters only on section 5 of REG 227, when records show a legal owner or lienholder.

No title in the drawer. REG 227 is a two-in-one form, replacing and transferring at once, and costs $28. Where ordinary proof of ownership has vanished and the vehicle is worth less than $5,000 (a legal test, not a price), DMV skips the bond. For a Merced car, the DMV wants ownership papers plus REG 256, a Statement of Facts naming the prior owner, stating the value and confirming there is no lien. See selling with no title.

Junking it on your own. Apply to record the car as Junk before any dismantling. Plates go back to DMV with that application. Tearing it down first triggers an investigative service fee.

Plates in a sale. California's regular plates normally remain on the vehicle. A personalized or special-interest set can be moved to you for a fee.

Years without registration. Fees and penalties pile up for each lapsed year unless REG 102, Planned Non-Operation, was on file. Sitting for years covers that.

The five-day form. REG 138 tells DMV the car changed hands. After you sell explains filing it.

Atwater, Turlock, Los Banos, Madera

Straight-line distances from Merced: Atwater 7.6 miles, where the limit is ten days; Turlock 25.2; Los Banos 26.6; Madera 31.9. Statewide rules sit on the California page.

Getting an offer

For a car in Merced, call (877) 421-6008 or reach us through the form. Pickup can happen near the old theatre on Main Street, in a backyard, or at a mechanic's lot.