Selling a dead or junk car in Pico Rivera

We buy whole non-running and junk cars. You sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US, all 8.315 square miles of Pico Rivera included.

The parked-car rules that come from the state

California leaves the private-property question to cities. Vehicle Code 22660 hands each one the power to treat junked or broken-down cars on private land as nuisances, remove them and recover the cost. Until you know Pico Rivera's version, assume a car that won't run and sits in plain view can draw attention.

Pico Rivera follows Vehicle Code 22523, which bars abandoning a car on a road, or on private land without the landowner's consent. Fines start at $100, and you must also show the removal bill was paid.

Back fees on a car that sat

DMV's late-renewal rule works like this. With a PNO on file, the car was officially parked and the charges don't build. Without one, each unregistered year adds fees and penalties. Plenty of dead cars sit for years without the form. Car sitting for years walks through it.

The two deadlines in a sale

California splits the paperwork between seller and buyer:

• Seller, 5 days. Send REG 138 (rev. 3/2024) to DMV, either through the website or by mail. The law requires it.
• Buyer, 10 days. The buyer has to report the ownership change to DMV and get the title updated.

Vehicle Code 5602 explains the stakes. Once DMV logs the seller's notice, later parking and traffic citations and civil suits become the buyer's problem. A report of sale also helps if a buyer later dumps the car: Vehicle Code 22523 then lets the former owner off the abandonment infraction and any shortfall from the lien sale. Skip the form and that risk stays with you.

Signing over the title

Sign where the title asks for the seller; if a bank holds a lien, it signs too. Handing it to DMV, along with $15, is on the buyer. No notary is part of DMV's private-sale routine. If the title is lost, REG 227 replaces it before the sale. Keep a vanity or special-interest plate by paying DMV to reassign it; standard ones stay with the car. If it's going for parts and scrap, smog is off the table. More in after you sell and on the California page.

Close by

Montebello is 2.2 miles from Pico Rivera in a straight line, Bell Gardens 4.1, and Whittier and Downey 4.3 each.

Getting an offer

Phone (877) 421-6008 or send the form with the car's details: make, model, model year, odometer, running condition, and when its registration lapsed. The truck can come to your house, a relative's place or a shop, in town or out of it.