Selling an inoperative car in West Hollywood

Who the chapter covers

Section 10.20.040 applies Chapter 10.20 to "abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicles, or parts thereof." Besides a car hidden indoors, the other exemption covers cars stored lawfully on private property "in connection with the business of a licensed dismantler, a junk dealer," or for storage a lawful business requires. A personal car on a driveway, a carport slab or an open parking pad fits neither.

Section 9.60.020 calls a car inoperative when it is "mechanically incapable of being driven or prohibited from being operated on a public street or highway pursuant to the provisions of Vehicle Code Sections 4000 (unregistered vehicles), 5202 (failure to display license plate), 24002 (unsafe conditions, improper equipment, load) and 40001." Lapsed registration by itself is enough to make even a running car qualify.

How removal is timed

Section 10.20.120 sets the removal date at the latest of three:

• five days once the order declaring the car a public nuisance is adopted
• five days from mailing of the Director of Community Development's decision, where that notice is required
• fifteen days after a City Council vote authorizing removal on appeal

A contractor or franchisee the City Council has chosen may then "enter upon private property" to take it. After removal, the car "shall not thereafter be reconstructed or made operable, unless it is a vehicle which qualifies for either horseless carriage license plates or historical vehicle license plates."

If the car ends up at a tow yard

A West Hollywood car that lands in a tow yard falls under Civil Code 3068.1, which hands the yard a possessory lien. At $4,000 or below, the car moves to a lien sale under Civil Code 3072, begun inside 15 days. A West Hollywood yard starts by mailing a Notice of Pending Lien Sale, then auctions 31 to 41 days after. To have a judge review it first, the owner returns the opposition form within 10 days. See towed or impounded.

Selling it under California rules

Titles belong to the state DMV. You sign the title, as does any lender on it, and the buyer files it afterward. Notaries appear nowhere in DMV's seller steps.

A West Hollywood car an insurer totaled may carry California's Salvaged brand. California also uses that label for flood and vandalism losses, because it has no brand just for floods. Salvage title explains it.

Ordinary plates usually stay on a West Hollywood car after the sale. Personalized or special plates are different: the owner can have them reassigned, for a fee. Record the car as Junk and DMV takes the plates back. West Hollywood sellers owe the DMV a REG 138 within five days, sent online or by post. Once it's on DMV record, the West Hollywood buyer answers for post-sale tickets and lawsuits. After you sell has more.

Neighbors

Straight-line miles from West Hollywood: Beverly Hills 1.9, Los Angeles 5.3, Culver City 5.9, Burbank 7.5, Santa Monica 9.0 and Inglewood 9.3. The California page covers the whole state.

Getting an offer

Online or at (877) 421-6008, tell us about the car (vintage, make, model, odometer, running or not, title holder). In West Hollywood, we can pick up from a building garage, a side street or the shop where the car died.