Junk cars in Rancho Palos Verdes: the rules and a way out

A dead car on private land: Chapter 10.12

Section 10.12.010 leans on Vehicle Code 22660 to declare an "abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicle or parts thereof, on private or public property not including highways" a public nuisance. Section 10.12.090 lays out the steps:

• Registered letters announcing the city's intent to remove the car reach both the parcel owner and the vehicle owner.
• The car has to be gone "within ten days from the date of mailing of this notice." Otherwise the city takes it and bills the landowner for "the costs thereof, together with administrative costs."
• If both owners have already signed releases, no letter is needed.

The ten days count from the day it is mailed.

Asking for a hearing

In Rancho Palos Verdes, those ten days are the window for a public hearing. Under Section 10.12.100, the property owner or the car owner asks the city manager or a designee. The city sends the hearing date by registered mail, no fewer than ten days in advance. A property owner who didn't bring the car can mail a sworn statement rather than show up. Under Section 10.12.110 the official "may delay the time for removal" if the facts call for it, and a property owner who never agreed to the car's presence pays nothing.

When a car gets towed

Section 10.08.030 lets the city council adopt a fee covering what the city spends to tow, impound and store a car. Only "the registered owner of the vehicle" or the owner's agent pays it. Tow and impound companies collect it for the city when they release the car. A car reported stolen at the time it was taken is exempt. The tow yard gets a lien too. $4,000 or less is the value line here. For a Rancho Palos Verdes car at or below it, Civil Code 3072 puts the yard's sale between day 31 and day 41 once its notice goes out. See towed or impounded.

California title and plate steps

California's DMV, a state agency with its own field offices, issues titles, and paperwork can also go in by mail.

• The seller signs the title. A listed lienholder must sign too. The DMV's private-sale steps say nothing about a notary.
• Send REG 138 within 5 days. With it on file, the buyer, not you, answers for parking and moving violations after the sale date (Vehicle Code 5602).
• Ordinary plates usually stay on the car. Plates return to the DMV when an owner has the DMV mark the car as Junk.
• No smog test is required when a Rancho Palos Verdes car is sold for wrecking or dismantling. Other sales need the seller to supply one first.

For a lost title, REG 227 and $28 get a replacement. Our California page lists the rest.

Getting an offer

Reach us online or at (877) 421-6008 with the car's details, its mileage, if it will start, and what the title says. The truck can come up the hill to your garage, or to a shop in Torrance, 6.4 miles away.