Selling a dead or junk car in Stockton

What the chapter titles tell you

Chapter 8.12 carries the title "ABANDONED VEHICLES". Separately, Vehicle Code 22660 lets a city declare "abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles" on private or public property a public nuisance, remove them, and recover the cost. Other chapters in the list deal with removing and impounding vehicles and with parking on posted property.

Without the wording, we cannot say how many days Stockton allows or which office mails the notice. If a city notice arrives, the section it cites controls your deadline, so read that line first.

California rules that apply in Stockton anyway

• Missing major parts. A Stockton car with no transmission, wheels, doors, windshield, engine or other main parts can be hauled off a street or public road at once by an officer, under Vehicle Code 22669.
• 72 hours at the curb. Section 22651 allows towing a car parked on a Stockton street for 72 consecutive hours or longer when that breaks a local ordinance.
• Cars worth $500 or less. Section 22851.3 gives a Stockton owner 72 hours of posted notice before removal, and word of the tow within 48 hours after it. A Stockton owner then gets 10 days to ask for a hearing. Once 15 days pass after the notice, the city may dispose of the car.
• Leaving it behind. Dump a car in Stockton on a road, or on someone's land without consent, and Section 22523 sets a fine of $100 or more. You also have to prove removal costs got paid.

After a tow: how a lien sale works

Civil Code 3068.1 grants a Stockton tow yard a possessory lien for towing and storage. For a car valued at $4,000 or below, Civil Code 3072 lays out the sale steps:

1. Step one: the Stockton yard mails out a "Notice of Pending Lien Sale".
2. After that letter is sent, Stockton holds the sale somewhere between day 31 and day 41.
3. Within 10 days, you may mail back a Declaration of Opposition, which gets you a court hearing.

If nobody claims a Stockton car, 22523 hands its last registered owner an infraction plus whatever the sale fell short by. A filed report of sale (REG 138) shields the seller from both. Get it in within 5 days of the sale. Towed or impounded covers getting one released.

Title, plates and DMV paperwork

Stockton titles run through state DMV field offices; mailed paperwork goes to DMV at PO Box 942869 in Sacramento, ZIP 94269. For a Stockton sale:

• Signatures. As seller, sign the California title; a lienholder signs too. DMV's seller instructions show no notary step, and the buyer covers the $15 transfer fee.
• Missing title. REG 227 comes first, at $28. If a Stockton car is valued under $5,000 and its normal ownership papers are gone, DMV asks for no bond. A REG 256 Statement of Facts goes to DMV by mail with a Stockton seller's ownership papers. In that form the Stockton seller lists a name and a value and states no lien is on the car.
• Release of liability. Your Stockton sale needs REG 138 sent in no later than five days after. In Stockton, use dmv.ca.gov/nrl, or the form can go by mail to P.O. Box 942859, which is in Sacramento, CA 94259-0001.
• Plates. Standard plates stay with the car for the buyer. If DMV lists the car as Junk, the plates go back.
• Smog. Cars handed over for wrecking or dismantling are exempt.

Registration debt does not vanish while a car sits. Unless Stockton owners filed a Planned Non-Operation (REG 102), DMV fees and penalties build up for every year the car went unregistered. A single brand, Salvaged, covers damage from accidents, floods and vandalism. See salvage title and selling with no title.

Nearby towns

Lodi lies 10.1 miles from Stockton and Lathrop 11.6; Manteca is 13.5 miles off, with Tracy and Galt each about 19 to 20 miles. Vehicle Code 22660 leaves abandoned-car rules to each town. Look at the page for the town the car is in. Pages: Lodi, Lathrop, Manteca, Tracy, Galt.

Getting an offer

Use the form or call (877) 421-6008 with the year, make, model, odometer miles, if the engine still catches, and any title details. Our truck can pick up at a home in north Stockton, a lot downtown, or a shop that couldn't get it running. Statewide rules are on the California page.