Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
In summary:
Since 2016, DMV has raised over $ 8 million with nearly $ 5,300 car sales, according to SalMatters analysis.
Read this story in English
In 2023, Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster was drawn and no one claimed. The iconic sports car has been in the Torrance tank for five months, enough time for the towing company to have the right to sell it.
The sale allowed the company to reimburse the cost of withdrawing, storage and sale of tax, $ 11,332. But there is a lot of left: $ 99,668, which went to the California motorized vehicle department. The owner must ask for the funds before 2027, when the money is constantly in the DMV box office.
DMV does not notify the owners of the profits of the sale and, according to him, is not obliged to do so, according to The law of the stateS By law, withdrawing companies, storage deposits and car repair seminars can sell their car to reimburse their expenses if they do not liquidate their debts and collect their car. It is known as a tax sale.
From the beginning of 2016 to the fall of 2024, DMV raised over $ 8 million out of nearly 5300 cars sold in auctions, according to the Calmatters DMV analysis. In 2016, DMV registered $ 760,000 for sales. This figure increased approximately 76% to $ 1.33 million in 2023, as shown in data.
Most cars are not as luxurious as Lambo.
For example, Kia 2013 reported $ 165 per DMV. A Chrysler 300 2014 was sold for $ 1368 more than paid. Many other vehicles have received healthy profits that are still in DMV: 2015 Lexus Coupe generates a surplus of $ 24,676. A Ford F-150 2016 generates an additional $ 14,232 and Honda HR-V 2019 has $ 5,475. None of the owners have asked for the money, according to DMV Records.
For poor Californians, trailers and the degree of accumulation are often a trap. Police can pull their car for problems such as Expired RecordS You may not be able to renew your recording because you have prices and fines in anticipation of payment for problems such as traffic and fines for parking. If you withdraw the vehicle and cannot pay the costs to recover it, you can lose your only vehicle and sometimes the place you sleep.
The owners are up to three years to ask for the profits from the sale of the tax after the state receives the money and then the law says DMV reserves it. Most load sales end in losses. In the case of those who lead to profits, many owners probably have no idea that their property was sold first and that they are entitled to that money.
Sheila Mayers is the main lawyer of the Los Angeles Legal Aid Foundation. He often works with low -income people who have lost their vehicles due to embargo sales. He said he was not familiar with the way people would receive their money from a winning sale of embargo.
“If there are unnecessary resources, but people do not know how to get them, it is practically as if they were gone,” Myers said.
Has your towed vehicle has been sold that receives profits?
DMV raises an excess of money from the sales of towed vehicles. If your vehicle is in this database, you can request a refund or communicate with the DMV tax unit of (916) 657-7617. Did you find your car in the database? Share your story with us.
Joan McAlighter’s vehicle has accumulated $ 1113 fines for parking in San Francisco in 2022. His brother Steven McAlighter said he was hospitalized after someone found her “wandering the streets.”
Finally, the vehicle has been towed and has accumulated more than $ 8,300 on storage tariffs.
Stephen tried to intervene, but he had no legal powers to do so. When he was appointed his teacher, the towed tank sold his car, he said.
“During the year in which the judiciary took me to point to his teacher, the car was immobilized, towed, stored and trading at auction,” he said.
He did not know that the car had been sold for $ 5,475 more than his sister owes him until Calmatters reported it. “Nothing surprises me right now,” he said. “The whole process from the beginning to the end seems to be a plan for making money.”
He has a few months to ask for the money, but he may not do it within three years established by DMV. His sister died on December 4, 2023. He was just 74 years old, he said.
He failed to find the title of the vehicle; He said that his sister’s possessions were stored in a deposit in Oakland “in anticipation of the end of the heritage process of his heritage.”
An average of about 620 vehicles each year generates excess money for Sales for DMV between 2016 and 2023. The excess tax for tax sales generates about $ 1600 per vehicle.
There is one on the DMV website Step by step guide On how drawing companies can sell burdens, including the rules for notifying the owner of the sale and sending an excess of the profits of the agency’s sale. Management does not include information on how vehicle owners can request their money back.
The profits from the sale of the burdens are distributed in the account of the motorized vehicles in the State Transport Fund, which supports the road patrol of California Road and other departments.
DMV spokesman Ronald Ongtoabok rejected an interview application and answered questions by email.
DMV said the people who have claims should complete Recovery form on your website. The agency also suggested people read Frequent questions Concerning the sales of taxes and call to consult questions that are not addressed there.
“Defenders who have concerns about the impact of the existing laws must communicate and convey their fears to the legislature,” Ongtoabok said.
We asked the agency for more detailed information than sales from 2016 to the end of 2024, including how many owners they requested their money and how much they received, but DMV rejected the request for public records, citing the restrictions on their systems. The agency’s lawyer said he would not give us the records, as the collection of claims and payments of the refund would have to be done manually and would be “too heavy”.
“Since the department is not preparing, owns, uses, uses or retains a record that draws up claims for the restoration of surpluses for sales and payments for claims, there is no record that meets your application and the department is not obliged to create a specified document,” writes DMV lawyer Matthew Christie.
In response, Calmatters requested and received detailed records of random selection of 13 sales of winning levies. None of the 13 owners ask for the return of their money to DMV, as the records show.
Bruffy’s by King Tow, one of more than a dozen tow operators, responsible for the trailer for the city of Los Angeles, gave DMV the biggest amount in surplus, delivering approximately $ 1.1 million from 2016 to the fall of 2024, according to Calmatters’ analysis.
These so -called Los Angeles police garages usually collect a $ 195 draw rate, plus a $ 115 $ 115 release tariff and a 10% parking tax. The daily storage rate is $ 60. A week of storage plus tow rates and parking tax for a standard vehicle costs at least $ 700. One month can easily cost more than $ 2000. Los Angeles Police Committee establishes DrawS
Buffy declined to comment on this story.
The city of Long Beach was the fifth largest taxpayer’s excess, sending about $ 446,000 to the state for almost 350 vehicles. Long Beach’s draw and sales head Robert Givens said the city average about 200 auction sales every month. Mainly a trailer costs $ 417, according to The city’s websiteS The daily storage rate is $ 78. After a month, a main trailer, including prices and storage, can cost more than $ 2500.
Givens said in an email that the city does not “communicate directly with the owners” to inform them if the auction generates a profit. “If you ask, we will provide you with this information and we will direct them to sell taxes by the Ministry of Motorized vehicles in California (DMV) in Sacramento,” he said.
For most non -family properties, people in California can go to the controller’s website and look for their name and address to know how much their money is retaining the state.
“I am not sure what the excuse is … Why the car will be different from any other property you could have so that you are not entitled to be entitled to excess income instead of having to ask them,” said Rebecca Miller, the head of the Western Center for Law and Poverty.
This article was originally published by CalmattersS
