Santa Barbara: a dead car, the tow yard and the lien sale

From the curb to the tow yard

We could not locate Santa Barbara's own ordinance online, so everything below is California law. Santa Barbara may also set its own rules.

• 72 hours. Under Vehicle Code 22651, Santa Barbara can tow a car that stays on a street three full days against a local ordinance.
• Missing parts. In Santa Barbara, a peace officer or an assigned city or county employee may tow away a car that looks abandoned, under Vehicle Code 22669. A Santa Barbara car on a public right-of-way can be cleared on the spot when it lacks doors, windshield, wheels, tires, engine or transmission.

Yards and driveways fall to local law: Vehicle Code 22660 hands that job to cities, letting them treat "abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicles" as nuisances.

The lien clock

Civil Code 3068.1 gives the company that towed a Santa Barbara car a possessory lien. Civil Code 3072 says a Santa Barbara car worth $4,000 or less must go to sale within 15 days of the lien. Here is the order:

1. A Notice of Pending Lien Sale arrives in your mailbox.
2. Get the signed Declaration of Opposition to them inside 10 days, and a court hearing is scheduled.
3. Santa Barbara lien sales happen 31 to 41 days after the mailing date.

Storage liens can last 60 days, and 120 in some cases. Above $4,000 in value, Civil Code 3071 governs instead. See towed or impounded for getting a car back out.

Why walking away costs more

Letting the yard keep a car feels like the end of it. Vehicle Code 22523 says otherwise. If nobody claims an impounded abandoned car in Santa Barbara, the last owner on record gets an infraction. That owner also pays the gap the lien sale didn't cover. If you filed a report of sale, you are covered. Dumping a car on someone's property without consent also brings a fine of at least $100.

Paperwork for a sale

California's DMV, not Santa Barbara County, issues titles. The seller signs, a lienholder signs if one exists, and the new owner files it. You will not find a notary step among the DMV's instructions for sellers.

Send the DMV your REG 138 on paper or online within 5 days of handing over the Santa Barbara car. That form is the report of sale Vehicle Code 22523 has in mind. Regular plates stay put on the car. Dismantling-bound cars skip the Smog Check. After you sell and our California page cover the rest.

Nearby

Measured straight, Goleta lies 8.6 miles off and Ventura 27.8.

Getting an offer

Phone (877) 421-6008 or use the website. We offer free pickup anywhere in the US, from a Santa Barbara curb, downtown garage or repair shop.