San Luis Obispo junk cars and Chapter 10.68

Why the city treats a stored wreck as a nuisance

The council leans on Vehicle Code 22660, which hands California cities the power to write removal rules of their own. In Section 10.68.040 it finds that stored "abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicles" on private or public property "reduce the value of private property," "promote blight and deterioration," "invite plundering" and "create fire hazards." It also calls them "an attractive nuisance creating a hazard to the health and safety of minors."

That reasoning covers parts too. The chapter keeps saying "vehicles, or parts thereof," so a pile of doors and an engine block on a side yard can be treated the same as a whole car.

How a case moves

The chapter's own outline shows the order: initiation of proceedings, notice of vehicle abatement, a hearing and determination, abatement, then notice to the DMV.

• Investigation. When the enforcing officer "has reason to believe or observes" a nuisance, the officer "shall immediately investigate the same."
• Notice and hearing. Notice is served on the people involved, and the chapter provides a hearing before anything is decided.
• The order. The city can find the car "abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or is inoperative," order it removed, and charge the administrative and removal costs "against the owner or other person in possession of the parcel of land."
• The DMV report. "Within five days after the date of removal," the city gives the DMV notice "identifying the vehicle or parts thereof removed."

Who is exempt

Businesses get room that households do not. A car "stored or parked in a lawful manner on private property on an approved site" in connection with a "licensed dismantler, vehicle dealer, junk dealer, a towing service, or an auto repair or body shop" is exempt when that storage "is necessary to the operation" of the business. A broken car on a residential lot has no such exemption. So if a shop has your car and will not take it back as is, see stuck at a repair shop.

Smog, and why a junked car skips it

In California, the seller arranges the Smog Check before a regular sale. The Bureau of Automotive Repair splits the state into three kinds of program areas, and some counties straddle more than one. At any change of ownership, smog certification applies statewide, with gas cars four or fewer model years old left out.

Junk-bound cars skip that inspection. A car that fails could also run into Vehicle Code 24007 and its Air Resources Board rule. A San Luis Obispo seller whose car fails is limited to two buyers: a dealer, or someone planning to wreck or dismantle it legally. Selling it to be taken apart fits the second route. See failed emissions.

Title, plates and the release of liability

Titles in San Luis Obispo come from the state DMV, not the county. Sign the title as seller, add the lienholder's signature if there is one, and hand it to the buyer to file. Look through those DMV seller steps and you will find no notary. In San Luis Obispo, REG 227 is the exception: section 5 needs a notary when a legal owner or lienholder appears on the record.

Title missing? San Luis Obispo owners can replace it with REG 227 for $28, in person or by mail. Expect the copy to reach you 15 to 30 days later. Junk car with no title has more.

Next, send in REG 138 within 5 days. Once DMV records your San Luis Obispo sale, Vehicle Code 5602 moves tickets, moving violations and lawsuits dated afterward onto the buyer. It also guards the worst case. Say the buyer abandons the car, it gets impounded and nobody claims it. Under Vehicle Code 22523, the last registered owner of a San Luis Obispo car gets the infraction and owes any lien sale shortfall. A report of sale already filed by that owner clears them.

Regular plates usually go with the car to its next owner. Junk it yourself, though, and the DMV takes the plates back when it records the car as Junk.

What a title brand means

If an insurer once totaled the car, the title may already read Salvaged. For San Luis Obispo cars, that one brand takes in accident, flood and vandalism damage and cars dismantled before. California has no separate flood brand. See salvage title.

Nearby towns

San Luis Obispo covers 13.64 square miles. In straight-line miles, Atascadero is 15.2 away, Paso Robles 25.1 and Santa Maria 26.3. State rules are on our California page.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or write in online. Let us know its model year and make, the rough odometer number, if it runs today, and the state of the title. We drive out to it, below Bishop Peak, in a carport, or behind a shop that stopped working on it.