How to sell a junk car in Palmdale

From the notice to the scrapyard

Palmdale wrote Chapter 8.20 under Vehicle Code 22660, which lets any California city set its own abatement rules. In the code, events run in this order.

• The notice. Palmdale mails a "notice of intention to abate and remove an abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicle or parts thereof as a public nuisance."
• Your 10 days. Whoever owns the car, or the land under it, may ask for a hearing, and the City Clerk has to receive that request "within 10 days after the mailing."
• The hearing. An administrative hearing officer chosen by the City Manager rules on the nuisance question and sets the costs "to be charged against the owner of the land."
• Disposal. The order frees the car for a scrapyard or dismantler five days later, or five days after a mailed decision. Following an appeal, disposal can come 15 days after the hearing officer's ruling.

Failing to clear the car after an order is a separate misdemeanor.

If it ends up on the street

Chapter 8.20 stops at the curb, so state law governs a car parked on a Palmdale street. In Palmdale, a car parked in breach of a local ordinance for 72 hours or more can be towed under state law. A yard storing a car worth $4,000 or less has a lien and can work toward a lien sale. A Palmdale owner gets a Notice of Pending Lien Sale, has 10 days to object, and faces an auction 31 to 41 days later.

That's when an old report of sale earns its keep. If you sold the car and filed REG 138, a buyer who later abandons it can't pull you back into the infraction or the shortfall.

Paperwork for a California sale

For a title, a Palmdale seller goes through the state DMV. Los Angeles County has no role. In Palmdale you can go to a DMV field office in person or send the paperwork to PO Box 942869 in Sacramento. Your seller signature needs no notary under DMV steps, and a missing title takes REG 227 plus a $28 fee. Our junk car with no title guide covers it.

Selling to a dismantler means skipping the Smog Check. A regular plate set normally stays with the car, though recording it as Junk requires handing them to the DMV. After a Palmdale sale, REG 138 is due within five days. Mail it or submit it on dmv.ca.gov/nrl.

Other cities near Palmdale

Lancaster lies 8.1 miles away, measured straight. Santa Clarita is 25.5 miles away and San Fernando 28.1. See California for the state rules.

Getting an offer

Selling a dead car in Palmdale? Phone (877) 421-6008 or send us the short form. A seized motor is no problem; see blown engine. We collect from desert lots, tract-home cul-de-sacs, and mechanics' back yards.