Selling a dead or junk car in Tulare

Your own property is not a free pass

Tulare's definitions say a vehicle "shall not be considered abandoned if it is on property owned or occupied by the owner of the vehicle" (Section 7.28.020). That only settles the word abandoned. The storage rule above also names dismantled, wrecked and inoperative cars, so a dead car at home still belongs inside.

Chapter 7.29 goes further than many cities. Section 7.29.010 declares a dead car "on private or public property including highways" a public nuisance, citing the blight, fire hazards and danger to children that piles of wrecks create.

Working on it in the driveway

Section 7.28.030(O) bars maintenance, repair, restoration or dismantling of a vehicle on residential property within view of a public street, a sidewalk or the house next door. The exception is minor work on your own car done inside a garage, or done outside but "not visible for longer than 72 consecutive hours". A weekend brake job is one thing. A car apart in the driveway for a month is another.

The removal clock

Once the City Manager, or a designee, orders the car removed under Section 7.29.130, Section 7.29.150 sets the timing:

• No appeal filed: ten days, "excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays", after notice of the City Manager's decision goes in the mail, a car that remains gets taken by the city to a junk yard, dismantling yard or refuse site.
• Appeal filed: the same ten business days run from the notice of the City Council's decision.

At any time after the order, "any interested party may cause the vehicle to be removed." So you can have it taken away yourself.

Streets and parks

A police officer may remove "Any vehicle that has been parked or left standing upon a street or highway for 72 or more consecutive hours" (Section 9.48.160). City parks have their own rule: "No person shall abandon any motorized vehicle within the boundaries of any park" (Section 8.36.230(F)).

The California paperwork

Titles are run by the state DMV, not Tulare County, through field offices or by mail. A Tulare seller signs the Certificate of Title on the seller line. After that, the Tulare buyer pays the $15 transfer fee and submits it. Tulare sellers won't find a notary anywhere in the DMV's list of seller steps.

After a Tulare sale, the seller has 5 days to file REG 138. When DMV records it, responsibility for later tickets and lawsuits passes to the buyer. A car sold to be dismantled owes no Smog Check. Regular plates usually remain on it. For a car left by a relative who passed away, see inherited car.

Getting an offer

Tulare covers 20.741 square miles in the Visalia metro area. Visalia is 8.9 miles away in a straight line, Corcoran 14.7, Porterville 19.5 and Hanford 19.6. Got a dead car in Tulare? Ring (877) 421-6008 or send the offer form. Junk car removal explains the pickup, and the California page has the state rules.