I’m not finding the information on the DMV website. My dad did one years back, but he had a business license. Ive got a heap out back that has some value, but don’t know how to legally sell it. Think of it as someone you knew left a car at your place and disappeared. Main thing is I don’t want to have to pay to have it hauled off, but am tired of looking at it. Anyone know who to contact? Is it the DMV?
Yes, you can and yes you have to go to DMV, they'll let you know the steps to take and the paper work needed. You will need a vin verification and the contact information on the last known owner.
My parents bought a house in So Cal. that had an abandoned car in the back yard. My dad sold it with no problem. Didn't have to get a lien.
Lol. Well, I can’t (don’t think I can) I have no title so I can’t sell what’s not mine. Asking on a Saturday because of something that happened this morning. Owner of a shop I was at to get pricing on some tires for my tractor has the same truck. Needs parts that are on the one I have, said we could deal if I had ownership of the vehicle, he suggested a lien sale. But I don’t know how to go about it, he knew from his end but didn’t want to get involved with the “BS he’d go through “. But his offer of horse trading with me to get what I want, I’d go through some “BS” to get it done legally.
So I don’t have to have a business? Good to know. I can deal with a few hours at the DMV to get the ball rolling. I guess if the previous owner wants it back it’s still a win for me because it won’t cost me anything to haul off
That may have fell under a different law, I’ve heard the same thing about people buying property and selling things that were abandoned.
You have better searching skills than I do lol. I’ll try again, can I ask what you used for a search? I put in “lien sale” and went down a confusing rabbit hole.
Check with Gimpeys here,,,,he’s in So Cal,,,,,and is licensed with the state about something. He probably knows . And now a days,,,,I would cover my bases to be sure . Mechanics have a lot of leeway with liens and such,,,,,I’m not certain about regular citizens. Check with the right ones,,,,just to be safe . Tommy
The simple way would be to get a list of the parts he wants, pull the parts and when you have everything off the truck have it hauled with the local law enforcements blessing. Then if the guy ever shows up you can say that the city made you get rid of it. One thought, have you ever looked in the truck to see if the title might be stashed in the truck? I had one drug home with no title rig that I had all the papers fall out of the glove box when I was taking the rig apart and right there in the pile was the title. an hour later it was sitting at my friend's wrecking yard in his crusher line and I didn't have to cut it up to haul it off.
Go to the computer & look up local lien sale companies. The fee is usually quite reasonable, & they KNOW THE LAW INVOLVED & WILL KEEP YOU FROM MAKING "ACTIONABLE MISTAKES" !
I find that a good keyword is "conduct" https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/how-t...-for-a-vehicle-valued-at-4000-or-less-htvr-7/
If you want to own/keep the entire vehicle, Search "CA abandoned vehicle on private property". If you know one, real estate buyers/flippers deal with this all the time. Or you can pull the parts the tractor guy wants, roll it out onto the public street, then call the CHP to report an abandoned vehicle. I did this once a few years ago. I was nice enough to let a 'friend' use my driveway and cherry picker to do an engine swap on his truck (never again). He pulled the engine, hauled it off then promptly fell off the face of the earth = wouldn't return messages or texts. I got wind he was going through a divorce and had sold off the engine in a pre arranged deal to raise cash. I had the VIN ran and discovered the truck had a bank loan/lien on the truck. (what a POS, never again!) Shit! I figured he'll now probably report the truck stolen to get out from under the vehicle bank loan and I'm now in possession of a 'stolen' vehicle in my driveway that's had the engine stripped!!! I rolled it out onto the street next AM, wiped my fingerprints off everything I touched and called the CHP to report an abandoned vehicle on the street. Within 15 minutes a CHP unit was there and 20 minutes later a tow truck was hauling it off.
I bought a house in CA with a car left on the property. If I recall correctly, I got a form from DMV to find the last (I think it was actually ALL previous owners) registered owner of the vehicle. They had to release their interest for me to be able to put it in my name (or was it to do a lien sale?). I had a private party haul it off for free. If you know who owned it last, and you can contact them, you might be able to title it legally. You can try to figure this out: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/handb...anual-2/lien-sales-abandoned-abated-vehicles/ Which came from here: https://www.dirtlegal.com/blog/abandoned-vehicle-laws-in-your-state This looks to be how you'd do a lien sale: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/handb...ted-vehicles/vehicles-valued-at-4000-or-less/
That would be a bit extreme. Lol. One issue is it sat across from my place for about a year then local PD put a tow notice on it. I had to call them to delay the tow until I could get off from work to move it. I really don’t want to spend my off days in this heat and strip parts either to save 1200 in tires. Heck, that’d be too much like work. The fella told me if I could get the title for it, he’d take the whole thing for the trade. And thanks to all for the information and proper links.
Ya, using a service seems like the ticket to less leg work on my end. And hey, the way I look at it if the previous owner wants it back, fine. Come haul it off.
I’d take the easy route. Pay for the tractor tires and plant flowers in the back of the truck. Done, and no California DMV drama.
Lol. Only issue is I really want to get it out here with the least amount of out of pocket expense. Oh, I’m the kinda a guy who can somehow let a rosebush die
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