Selling a junk car in Rialto

Two letters, two owners

Rialto's chapter on abandoned, wrecked, dismantled and inoperative vehicles prints two versions of the notice. One version is addressed to whoever owns the land and warns that removal and administrative costs will be "assessed to you as owner of the land." The other is sent to the car's owner, with the same 10 days and the same right to a written hearing request. In Rialto, a signed release where the landowner and the car's owner both give up their claims means no notice is required.

The council's findings explain why: stored wrecks on private or public property, outside highways, "promote blight and deterioration, invite plundering, create fire hazards."

The hearing

Rialto's city administrator, or someone designated, presides (Section 9.26.110). Section 9.26.140 lets a Rialto hearing officer find the car abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperable, order it removed from the property and fix the costs. He or she "may delay the time for removal" when circumstances warrant. Stuck with a stranger's wreck? If it was left "without the consent of the owner of the land" and you never acquiesced, the officer may not assess those costs against you.

The low-value exception

Rialto can skip the notice for a car "inoperable due to the absence of a motor, transmission or wheels, or incapable of being towed," that "is valued at less than two hundred dollars" and is judged "a public nuisance presenting an immediate threat to public health or safety." Read that dollar amount as a legal cutoff in the code, nothing more. Where registration evidence turned up, the registered and legal owners still hear about the planned disposal first and have twelve days to claim the car.

On a Rialto street

Section 10.28.050 bars parking any vehicle on a street or alley "for more than a consecutive period of seventy-two hours," and the police department may tow it under Vehicle Code 22651(k).

Paperwork in California

Rialto sellers deal with the state DMV, not a county clerk. A Rialto seller signs the Certificate of Title, and any listed lienholder signs it too. The $15 transfer fee is the Rialto buyer's to pay when they file it next. Then, inside five days, send the DMV REG 138, its release-of-liability notice; dmv.ca.gov/nrl takes it, and so does the mail. Ordinary plates usually remain on the car.

Missing title: begin with REG 227, the form that handles replacements and transfers alike ($28). No bond is needed to junk a car worth under $5,000 when proof of ownership is lost. For a Rialto car, take a REG 256 Statement of Facts to the DMV together with any papers you still hold. It explains how you got the car, its worth, and that it carries no lien. Dismantling-bound cars are also excused from smog testing. More in junk car with no title.

Getting an offer

Selling a car in Rialto? Call (877) 421-6008 or send us the offer form. Pickup can happen at a driveway, a curb or a repair bay in Rialto. Nearby pages: Fontana, San Bernardino, Colton and Jurupa Valley, plus California for statewide law.