Selling a junk or dead car in Rancho Santa Margarita

What Chapter 12.05 covers

Section 12.05.010 names an "abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicle or parts thereof on private or public property, not including highways" as a public nuisance. The council lists why: lower property values, blight, theft of parts, fire risk and danger to curious children. The chapter draws on the power Vehicle Code 22669 grants to cities.

Loose parts are covered as well. A gutted body shell or a stack of old engine parts behind the house sits under the same rule as an intact car.

The ten-day clock

• Who hears about it. Section 12.05.090 sends written notice to the parcel owner listed on the county tax roll and to the car's last registered owner.
• Your deadline. That letter orders removal "within ten days of the date of mailing of this notice." The clock runs from the mailing date, not from the day you open it.
• A hearing. Both owners may ask for one inside the same ten days (Section 12.05.100). Notice of the hearing date is mailed ten or more days beforehand.
• Who pays. When the city hauls it, administrative costs are "assessed to you as owner of the land."
• Signed releases. The city can skip the notice when the parcel owner and the car owner both sign releases giving up the car.

A landlord stuck with a tenant's dead car is not automatically billed. Sending the Sheriff a sworn denial of responsibility within the ten days works as a hearing request. Section 12.05.110 bars charging the land for a car placed there without the owner's consent, as long as the owner never accepted it afterward. The Sheriff can also push back the removal date when circumstances justify it.

On the street

Section 12.02.060 caps big commercial vehicles parked on a service call at "72 consecutive hours." Rancho Santa Margarita leaves ordinary cars to state law. Vehicle Code 22651 permits a tow once a car sits on a street three days or more against a local parking ordinance. Once towed, the car carries a lien for the yard. $4,000 or less: that is the value test. A Rancho Santa Margarita car at or under it can go to lien sale from day 31 to day 41 after the yard mails its notice, per Civil Code 3072.

Signing it over in California

Orange County plays no part in titles here. The state DMV does that work at its own field offices, and it also accepts title paperwork by mail.

1. A Rancho Santa Margarita seller signs the "California Certificate of Title", and any lienholder signs it too. The DMV's list for Rancho Santa Margarita sellers has no notary step.
2. After a Rancho Santa Margarita sale, the seller has 5 days to get REG 138 in. You can file it with the DMV online or by mail. Once it is on file, tickets or lawsuits dated after the sale belong to the buyer.
3. Standard plates generally stay on the car. Owners can pay a fee to put a personalized plate on a different car.

Replacing a lost title takes REG 227 and a $28 fee. California skips the smog check when a car is sold for wrecking or dismantling. Read more on our California page and in after you sell.

Getting an offer

Reach us at (877) 421-6008 or through the form. Selling a car in Rancho Santa Margarita? Start with our short form. We pick up anywhere, from a garage under the Santa Ana Mountains to a repair bay in Mission Viejo, 3.7 miles away.