Removing an Abandoned Vehicle from your Property

If there’s an abandoned car on your property, you may not be sure what to do with it?

Should you leave it there until the owner returns? Will you get in trouble if you move the abandoned car? Should you call the authorities to remove it? Is it now considered yours?

There’s plenty of misinformation when it comes to dealing with an abandoned car, but if you live in San Diego, the solution is just a phone call away.

What Counts as an Abandoned Car?

Generally speaking, an abandoned car is any vehicle that’s been left unattended for over 24 hours inside our property without your explicit permission.

This often excludes vehicles that have been adequately notified to the authorities, though that’s not always the case.

Think of it this way: If you’ve allowed someone to park on your property, then their cars won’t count as abandoned even if they leave it there for more than two days.

If you wake up one morning to find a strange car on your property and the owner doesn’t get it in over 48 hours, then that car is legally abandoned.

How do I remove an abandoned car from my property?

The first thing you need to do is contact the authorities and report the abandoned vehicle. If the abandoned car is on record, the police will likely tow it out of your property to continue their investigation.

If the abandoned car isn’t involved in any police investigation, then you need to try and find the vehicle’s owner so they can remove the vehicle from your property.

Asking around for the car’s owner is an option, though most people opt to contact the DMV, as they’ll often have records of the car’s legal owner, which can speed up the process.

If you can’t contact the vehicle’s owner in the following twenty days, then you can legally remove it from your property with the help of the DMV.

Can I Keep an Abandoned Vehicle?

If you wish to attain ownership of an abandoned vehicle, you can do so via lien sales, which require you to know the car owner’s titleholder or, if applicable, current lien-holder and apply through the DMV.

As you can see, both the process of removing an abandoned vehicle from your property and acquiring it legally requires you to use the DMV services, which is where Payless Registration comes into play.

Payless Registration can help you with all of your San Diego DMV needs, including but not limited to removing an abandoned vehicle and lien sales.

Why spend hours in line at the DMV when you can work with our local experts from the privacy of our offices?

Removing an Abandoned Vehicle from your Property

What Counts as an Abandoned Car?

How do I remove an abandoned car from my property?

Can I Keep an Abandoned Vehicle?

contact us and get an estimate!