Selling a dead or wrecked car in Yucca Valley

Yucca Valley is a Town

Yucca Valley is incorporated as a Town, so this job falls to its "Town Manager." Section 11.10.070 lets the Town Manager "determine that a public nuisance exists" and start removal. The findings in Section 11.10.010 cite Vehicle Code 22660.

Yucca Valley's Section 9.35.080 also reaches cars that still run. Yards around buildings are to be kept free of "unregistered or inoperative vehicles," along with junk and salvage, where they clash with the property's main use. So a running car with no registration can count, if it clashes with that use.

Notice and hearing in Yucca Valley

• Yucca Valley mails "A ten (10) day notice of intention to abate," registered or certified, to the landowner and the vehicle owner. If the car has no readable ID numbers, only the landowner is notified.
• Filing "a written request therefor with the Town Manager within ten (10) days after the mailing" gets you a hearing.
• Hearing notice reaches owners "at least ten (10) days before the hearing." The California Highway Patrol and the Town's Chief of Police are told as well.
• Without a timely request, the Town Manager "shall have the authority to abate and remove the vehicle or parts thereof without a hearing."

At the hearing, removal and administrative costs may fall on "the owner of the land, the owner of the vehicle, or the Town." The order describes the car and, where it can be learned, gives its VIN and plate number.

Yucca Valley streets

That 72-hour rule covers land off the highway. Vehicle Code 22651 permits towing when a Yucca Valley car stays on the street past 72 hours against a city ordinance.

California title steps from Yucca Valley

• You sign the title as seller, plus any lienholder. Next the Yucca Valley buyer turns it in to the DMV and pays the transfer fee. A notary isn't part of the DMV's seller steps.
• After a Yucca Valley sale, REG 138 is due within 5 days, either mailed or filed at dmv.ca.gov/nrl.
• Ordinary plates usually stay on. A Junk record means surrendering them.
• Wrecking or dismantling transfers skip Smog Check.
• Yucca Valley owners who skipped registration without filing Planned Non-Operation (REG 102) can owe fees and penalties for those years.

If it won't start, see car doesn't run. For a car that has not moved in ages, read car sitting for years.

Along the highway from Yucca Valley

Measured as the crow flies: Desert Hot Springs 13.4 miles, Cathedral City 20.0, Twentynine Palms 20.4 and Palm Springs 23.1. The state page is California.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or send us a note. Tell us about the Yucca Valley car and we'll go from there. With only 72 hours of leeway, say whether a Town notice has come and when it was mailed. You sell the whole car as it sits, and pickup is free anywhere in the US, whether the truck climbs a dirt road into the hills or pulls into a driveway near the highway.