Selling a junk car in Santa Maria

The city can write its own rules

Under Vehicle Code 22660, deciding when a parked wreck becomes a nuisance is a local job. Any city or county can pass a removal ordinance for private and public land and bill its costs back. So whether a dead car can sit in a Santa Maria back yard, and for how long, depends on the city. Ask Santa Maria whether it has an abatement ordinance and how much notice it gives.

On the street: 72 hours

Vehicle Code 22651 allows towing a car left on a Santa Maria public street 72 hours or longer in breach of a local ordinance. Once it has been towed, the costs start adding up at the storage lot.

What a tow yard can do

Civil Code 3068.1 gives the yard that has your car a possessory lien. The next steps depend on what the car is worth:

• Santa Maria cars worth up to $4,000: Civil Code 3072 applies. The Santa Maria yard has 15 days from when its lien starts to get the sale going. In Santa Maria, the lien covers yard storage for as long as 60 days, or 120 days in some cases.
• Valued above $4,000: Civil Code 3071 applies instead.

Under 3072, a Notice of Pending Lien Sale comes to you by mail. Santa Maria's sale happens 31 to 41 days after it went out. A Santa Maria owner who wants a judge to hear the case must send in the Declaration of Opposition within 10 days.

If nobody claims an abandoned Santa Maria car, Vehicle Code 22523 hits the person last on its registration with an infraction and any shortfall left after the sale. A report of sale filed beforehand prevents both. That is one more reason to file REG 138 the moment you sell. More is in towed or impounded.

If the title says Salvaged

California's title brands number seven. Two describe a past use (Original/Prior Police and Original/Prior Taxi), two concern origin or buyback (Grey Market, and Warranty Return for a Lemon Law Buyback), and the rest are Park Trailer, Remanufactured and Salvaged. The Salvaged brand takes in accident, flood or vandalism damage as well as cars once dismantled as junk. Flood has no brand of its own.

California calls a car total loss salvage when it is so damaged that fixing it makes no economic sense to the owner or the insurer. There is no percentage test. The title gets traded in for a salvage certificate. A nonrepairable car is a further step down: one stripped surgically, burned out entirely, or declared by its owner fit only for parts or scrap. It cannot be titled or registered ever again. Our salvage title guide covers selling one.

The DMV side of a Santa Maria sale

• Title. Sign the California Certificate of Title for your Santa Maria car. If a lender shows on it, they sign as well. After that, the Santa Maria buyer brings it to the DMV with the $15 transfer. DMV's private sale instructions never call for a notary.
• No title. REG 227 is the starting point, with a $28 fee to replace the title. Without proof of ownership, a Santa Maria car worth less than $5,000 needs no bond in California. A REG 256 Statement of Facts goes in with whatever Santa Maria ownership papers you still hold. Selling with no title walks through it.
• Back fees. Each unregistered year adds more fees and penalties. Filing Planned Non-Operation (REG 102) is the exception.
• Smog. A seller usually has to provide the Smog Check, though not for a car being sold off for dismantling.
• Emissions-noncompliant cars. Santa Maria cars that fail California Air Resources Board standards fall under Vehicle Code 24007. In Santa Maria, only a dealer or a licensed wrecker or dismantler may take these cars. When the car changes hands, the seller gives a certificate saying whether it complies.
• After the sale. File REG 138 inside 5 days. Ordinary plates normally remain with the car.

Nearby towns

Santa Maria is in Santa Barbara County, with 22.81 square miles of land. Neighboring towns with pages of their own sit well away, measured in a straight line: Lompoc 18.7 miles, San Luis Obispo 26.3, Atascadero 40.6 and Goleta 47.8.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or use the form to sell your Santa Maria car. Pickup can happen at a driveway, a repair shop, or a storage lot after you have arranged its release. State rules are on the California page.