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Town guide · California

Selling a junk car in Redondo Beach

In a beach town short on parking, a dead car usually ends up at the curb, which is where state law moves fastest. Vehicle Code 22651 lets a Redondo Beach car be towed after 72 hours straight on a street against a local ordinance. The tow yard's lien then runs a clock of its own. We could not get Redondo Beach's municipal code online. This page sticks to state law, and the city may add rules of its own. To sell before any of that starts, we buy whole non-running and junk cars. Sell the whole car as it sits, with free pickup anywhere in the US.

Updated · 11 sources

A blue arch sign reading Redondo Beach King Harbor, listing sport fishing, restaurants, marinas and Fishermans Wharf, over a street with parked cars
Photo: Funhistory at English Wikipedia · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Redondo Beach, the short version

Population
67,281 (Census estimate, July 1, 2025)
County
Los Angeles
City junk-car code
Unavailable online; state law shown here, local rules may apply
Street tow (state)
72 or more consecutive hours, where a local ordinance is broken
Lien sale date
Day 31 to 41 after mailing
Opposing a lien sale
10 days to return the declaration
Release of liability
REG 138 within 5 days

From the curb to a lien sale

Here is how state law runs once a Redondo Beach car is towed:

  1. The lien. Under Civil Code 3068.1 the towing and storage company holds a possessory lien. If a Redondo Beach car is worth $4,000 or less (a legal test, not a price), the yard has 15 days from the lien's start to open the lien sale. A Redondo Beach yard can charge storage for up to 60 days, and 120 days in some cases.
  2. The notice. Civil Code 3072 requires the Redondo Beach yard to mail you a "Notice of Pending Lien Sale". In Redondo Beach, the sale lands from day 31 to day 41.
  3. Your 10 days. If you want to fight it, mail a Declaration of Opposition in that 10-day window and a court hearing follows.
  4. What is left over. If the Redondo Beach car goes unredeemed, VC 22523 makes that an infraction for the last registered owner. That owner pays any gap left after the sale too. Filing a report of sale first avoids this.

Dumping it elsewhere is no shortcut. Abandoning a car in Redondo Beach means a fine of $100 or more, plus proof that you paid for its removal. See towed or impounded.

On private property

California leaves junk-car rules on private property to local government. Under Vehicle Code 22660, a city or county may pass its own ordinance to clear abandoned or inoperative cars from private and public land and recover the cost. We could not read Redondo Beach's, so ask the city before counting on any grace period for a car in a driveway or carport.

After a crash: salvage and nonrepairable

Many Redondo Beach junk cars are crash cars. Vehicle Code 544 sets no percentage for a total loss in California. Once its owner or insurer finds a Redondo Beach car "uneconomical to repair", it counts as total loss salvage. From that point a Redondo Beach wreck has a salvage certificate, not a title. Under VC 431, a surgical strip, a complete burn, or a car declared parts or scrap only is "nonrepairable" and can never again carry a title or registration. See wrecked or totaled and salvage title.

The sale paperwork

REG 138 is the form that keeps a lien-sale chain from circling back to you. Redondo Beach sellers get five days to mail it or file it on dmv.ca.gov/nrl. The title needs your seller's signature, and DMV's private-sale steps include no notary. The state DMV processes it; Los Angeles County does not. Junk transfers are smog-exempt. On a regular sale, ordinary plates normally remain on the car, but recording it as Junk means returning them to DMV.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or send the form: year, make, model, miles, whether it runs, and the title's status. Pickup is wherever the car is parked, from a garage by King Harbor to a carport or a body shop lot. Torrance and Manhattan Beach are the closest pages, and California has the state overview.

Questions people ask

Does Redondo Beach have its own junk-car ordinance?
Possibly. We could not locate it online, and Vehicle Code 22660 gives each California city power to set rules for abandoned and inoperative cars on private property. Treat this page as the state baseline.
My car was towed and a lien sale notice arrived. How long do I have?
$4,000 or less is the value test in Civil Code 3072. The yard may sell a Redondo Beach car at or below it from day 31 to day 41 after mailing the notice. A Redondo Beach owner has 10 days to mail back a Declaration of Opposition, which leads to a court hearing.
Is a towed car still mine to sell?
The tow company's possessory lien covers towing and storage, so it gets paid first. Talk to the yard before the lien sale. If no one redeems the Redondo Beach car, its last registered owner may owe whatever the sale falls short. A report of sale already on file prevents that.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from one of these. Checked October 11, 2026.

  1. California Vehicle Code 22660 (local abatement ordinances) california.public.law
  2. California Vehicle Code 22651 (72-hour street tows) california.public.law
  3. California Civil Code 3068.1 (tow and storage lien) california.public.law
  4. California Civil Code 3072 (notice of pending lien sale) california.public.law
  5. California Vehicle Code 22523 (abandonment and deficiency) california.public.law
  6. California DMV: REG 138 Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability dmv.ca.gov
  7. California DMV: Title transfers and changes dmv.ca.gov
  8. California DMV: Salvage, nonrepairable and junk definitions dmv.ca.gov
  9. California DMV: Junking a vehicle (individual) dmv.ca.gov
  10. California DMV: License plates dmv.ca.gov
  11. U.S. Census Bureau city population estimates, 2025 www2.census.gov