Seal Beach junk cars: tows, liens and the title

The city's rules

The Seal Beach municipal code did not turn up in our online search. Vehicle Code 22660 allows any California city to adopt its own ordinance for clearing abandoned, wrecked or inoperative cars off private and public property. So Seal Beach may have local rules covering a car left in a yard or carport. If you need the exact notice period, call the city.

From the curb to the lien sale

Here is how the state sequence runs when a dead car stays on the street:

1. The tow. Vehicle Code 22651 lets Seal Beach tow a car that sits 72 hours straight against a local ordinance.
2. The lien. Civil Code 3068.1 gives the Seal Beach tow and storage company a possessory lien on the car. If a Seal Beach car's value is $4,000 or below, the yard can start the Civil Code 3072 sale within 15 days of its lien. That $4,000 cutoff picks the procedure; it is not a price for anything.
3. The notice. The Seal Beach yard mails you a "Notice of Pending Lien Sale". It puts the Seal Beach sale 31 to 41 days away.
4. Your answer. Want a court hearing in Seal Beach? A Seal Beach owner who objects mails the "Declaration of Opposition" within 10 days.

Towed or impounded explains what to do at each step.

When the title is missing

Cars that have sat for years in a garage near the pier often lose their paperwork along the way. California offers two routes. A title that is merely lost gets replaced with REG 227, the replacement or transfer application, for $28. When no normal proof of ownership can be found at all, value decides the path. No bond is required under $5,000. With your Seal Beach ownership papers, file a REG 256 Statement of Facts. It tells who sold you the car and its value, and that it is free of liens. At $5,000 and up, the DMV wants a motor vehicle bond. More at selling with no title.

The rest of the DMV steps

Titles in California are a DMV matter statewide. Seal Beach sellers can visit a DMV field office or mail papers to Sacramento, PO Box 942869. You sign the title along with any lienholder; no notary shows up in the DMV's private-sale instructions. Within 5 days, send REG 138 so tickets after the sale land on the buyer. A car bound for dismantling needs no Smog Check. Standard plates remain on the car. Only when it's recorded as Junk do they get returned to the DMV.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or fill in the form about your Seal Beach car. Free pickup anywhere in the US covers a Seal Beach driveway, a carport near the beach, or a tow yard holding the car. Westminster, Cypress and Long Beach are close by; the California page has statewide rules.