Selling a junk or dead car in Monterey

How a cheap car gets taken

For an abandoned car worth $500 or under, section 22851.3 runs in four steps:

1. Three days' warning. In Monterey, a notice goes on the car 72 hours ahead of time. Cars worth $300 or less, removed under section 22669(d), skip it.
2. Word to the owner. Notice goes out no more than 48 hours after the tow.
3. Disposal. Once fifteen days pass after that notice, the car may be disposed of.
4. Your challenge. In Monterey, you have 10 days to ask for a hearing.

Section 22669 names who can tow. In Monterey, a peace officer may remove a car believed abandoned from a highway or from public or private property. So may a state, county or city worker given that job. In Monterey, a car on public right-of-way that's missing parts like its wheels, tires, engine, doors, transmission or windshield can be towed immediately.

Monterey's own nuisance code

Article 11 covers a dead car on private or public property. Monterey exempts a car "in an enclosed building" or one hidden "from the street or other public property." That exemption does not cover a dead car left on land without permission from whoever runs it.

1. Mailed notice. The landowner and the car's owner are each sent a "ten day notice of intention to abate and remove" by certified mail.
2. Hearing. A public hearing before the City Manager can be asked for by the Monterey landowner or the car owner, "within ten days after the mailing" of that notice.
3. Order. The City Manager may declare the car a public nuisance, have it hauled off, and bill the costs to the person who owns that land.
4. Disposal. "Five days after adoption of the order," the car can go to "a scrapyard or automobile dismantler's yard." After an appeal, the wait is fifteen days.

The form that ends your liability

For a Monterey seller, REG 138 does the heavy lifting. The law says to notify the DMV within five days after you sell or dispose of a car. Monterey sellers may mail it to P.O. Box 942859, Sacramento, CA 94259-0001, addressed to DMV, or file at dmv.ca.gov/nrl.

Once DMV records the Monterey sale, Vehicle Code 5602 puts civil suits, parking tickets and traffic violations that come later on the buyer. It also protects you if the buyer later dumps the car somewhere. Under section 22523, a report of sale already on file spares the last registered owner both the infraction and any deficiency after a lien sale.

Signing over the title

The state DMV handles every California title; no county office is involved. The Certificate of Title gets your signature, plus a lienholder's if one exists. The buyer then files it with the DMV in Monterey County and covers the transfer fee. The DMV's seller steps list no notary. If the car is headed for wrecking or dismantling, a smog check is not required.

Standard plates stay mounted. Separate rules apply to a Monterey car with special plates, whether personalized, environmental, special recognition or special interest. The Monterey owner may move those plates to another car by paying a fee. If an owner applies to have the car recorded as Junk instead of selling it, its plates go back to the DMV. The last steps are in after you sell.

Getting an offer

Ring (877) 421-6008 or send the form about a car parked in Monterey. We can pick up near the harbor, on a hillside street or at the garage where it finally quit. Seaside is 4.0 miles away, Marina 7.5 and Salinas 15.1. The statewide rules are on the California page.