A dead car in San Jose: the rules and a way out

What San Jose's code says about a dead car

Chapter 11.104 starts with a plain rule. The presence of "abandoned, dismantled or inoperative vehicles, or parts thereof, on private property or public property" is declared "a public nuisance". Section 11.104.010 adds that "No person shall maintain or keep" such a car on their property or public property except as the chapter allows.

Your own driveway is not an exception. The chapter reaches loose parts too, so a pile of doors and a spare engine count.

The order of events

1. Thirty days. Section 11.104.060 refers to "the thirty-day grace period for voluntary compliance granted under Section 11.104.050". This is the window the code gives you before anything formal.
2. The ten-day notice. Should the car remain after that, the director may "Issue a ten-day notice of intention to abate and remove the vehicle". It goes to the landowner, and also to the car's owner if that's a different person. A copy is also posted "conspicuously on the vehicle".
3. Ten days to act or object. The notice says the required action "is to be completed within ten days after the mailing of the notice". In the same ten days you can ask the director, in writing, for a hearing before the appeals hearing board.
4. Removal. Under Section 11.104.130, "The city or its agent shall be authorized to enter upon private property or public property" to take away a car declared a nuisance. The director may hire outside firms to do the towing.

Stripped cars can skip the notice

Section 11.104.140 is the shortcut for the worst cases. On the parcels that section covers, the director may remove a car "Without using the advance notice and hearing procedure" when "It is inoperable due to the absence of a motor, transmission or wheels and incapable of being towed".

A last warning still comes if the crew finds "the registration card, certificate of ownership or license plates". The registered and legal owners then get notice of intent to dispose. If the car "is not claimed and removed within twelve days after the notice is mailed" from the disposal site, final disposition may proceed. A half-finished engine swap sitting on blocks is the car this rule was written for.

On the street: 72 hours, then two-tenths of a mile

Section 11.36.220 bars leaving any vehicle "upon any street or alley for more than seventy-two (72) consecutive hours." After that, it "must be moved at least two-tenths (2/10) of a mile". Pushing it two spaces forward does not satisfy the rule. Section 11.56.020 lets a city peace officer remove a car left past the limit.

A dead battery or a seized engine makes that trip impossible without a tow. Civil Code 3068.1 gives a San Jose towing and storage company a lien on a car once it tows it. In San Jose, Civil Code 3072 applies when the law puts the car's value at $4,000 or less. The company mails a notice of a pending lien sale, and the sale lands 31 to 41 days later. Want to fight it in court? In San Jose, a Declaration of Opposition must be sent in within 10 days.

Keeping several dead cars

San Jose licenses automobile dismantlers, and Section 6.14.070 lists who falls outside that term. One exclusion covers anyone restoring cars "having historic or classic significance". A row of unregistered parts cars kept for no such purpose deserves a hard look.

Title, release and plates

In San Jose, as everywhere in California, title work runs through the state DMV rather than Santa Clara County. You can walk it into a field office or mail it to DMV in Sacramento.

• Signing. In San Jose the seller and any lienholder both put their signatures on the Certificate of Title. The buyer takes it to DMV and pays a $15 transfer fee. Nowhere in DMV's private-sale steps is a notary mentioned.
• Lost title. Start with REG 227. Replacing a title costs $28, and DMV usually mails the new one within 15-30 days. See selling with no title.
• Release of liability. File REG 138 online or by paper form inside 5 days of the sale. Once DMV logs your San Jose sale, Vehicle Code 5602 sends later tickets to the buyer.
• Smog. Skip it. A sale for wrecking or dismantling doesn't need the inspection.
• Plates. Ordinary San Jose plates normally go with the car. Listing the car as Junk with DMV means you give the plates back.

Unregistered years while the car sat still cost fees and penalties, unless you had filed for Planned Non-Operation on form REG 102.

Nearby towns

Campbell is 7.7 miles from San Jose in a straight line, Los Gatos 9.1, Santa Clara 9.7 and Milpitas 10.4. Each writes its own rules. State rules are on the California page.

Getting an offer

San Jose covers 177.943 square miles of land, so the car might be in a side yard, a carport or at the curb with a chalk mark on its tire. Selling a car in San Jose? Call (877) 421-6008 or start the offer form. We pick it up wherever it's parked.