DMV can make money from your towed car without telling you

After Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster drew in 2023, no one said it. The iconic sports car was sitting in a yard of Torrance Tow for five months, long enough that the towing company had the right to sell it.

The sale allowed the company to reimburse the cost of selling towing, storage and bet, $ 11,332. But it remained much over: $ 99,668, which went to the California Motor vehicle department. The owner must ask for the funds by 2027, when the money is constantly in the DMV box office.

DMV does not notify the owners of receipts from the sale and, according to him, is not necessary, according to state legislationS By law, withdrawal companies, storage and car repair yards can sell your car to recover their costs if you do not arrange your debts and take your car. It is known as a bet.

From the beginning of 2016 to the fall of 2024, DMV raised over $ 8 million out of nearly 5300 cars auctioned, according to an analysis of DMV data Calmatters. In 2016, DMV registered $ 760,000 from sales. This number increased by about 76% to $ 1.33 million in 2023, data show.

Most of the cars are not as luxurious as Lambo.

For example, Kia has brought $ 165 per DMV. 2014 Chrysler 300 sold for $ 1368 more than its account. Many other vehicles have reaped healthy profits that are still sitting with DMV: Lexus Coupe for 2015 dumped over $ 24,676. The Ford F-150 for 2016 brought an additional $ 14,232, and 2019 Honda HR-V had $ 5,475. None of the owners have asked for the money, according to DMV Records.

For poor Californians, weights and combination fees are often a trap. Police can pull your car for things like things like Expired registrationS You may not be able to renew your registration because you have unpaid fees and fines of things like traffic and parking tickets. If you are withdrawn and cannot pay the costs to return your car, you can lose your only vehicle – and sometimes where you sleep.

The owners have up to three years to ask for the profits from selling a bet after the state receives the money and then the law says DMV reserves it. Most bet sales end with a loss. For those who lead to a profit, many owners are probably no idea that their property was sold first – and that they are entitled to that money.

Sheila Mayers is a senior lawyer at the Los Angeles Legal Aid Foundation. She often works with low -income people who have lost their vehicles to retain sales. She said she was not familiar with how people would receive their money from a winning detention.

“If there are unnecessary resources but people do not know how to get them, they are as good as they have disappeared,” Myers said.

Joan McAllister’s vehicle raised $ 1113 parking tickets in San Francisco in 2022. Her brother Steven McAlighter said she was hospitalized after someone found her “wandering the streets.”

In the end, the vehicle is towed and accumulated over $ 8,300 for storage fees.

Stephen tried to intervene, but he had no legal body. By the time he was appointed her conservative, the toward for the tow sold her car, he said.

“During the year the judiciary undertook to appoint me as a conservative, the car was started, towed, stored and auctioned,” he said.

He did not know that the car sold for $ 5,475 more than what his sister owes to him until Calteters told him. “Nothing surprises me at that moment,” he said. “The whole process from the beginning to the end seems to be a scheme for making money.”

He has a few months to ask for the money. However, this may not happen within the three -year DMV window. His sister died on December 4, 2023. She just turned 74, he said.

He was unable to find the title for the vehicle; He said his sister’s possessions were locked in storage in Oakland, “expecting the end of the will of her mansion.”

On average, about 620 vehicles each year receive excess money for Sales for DMV between 2016 and 2023. Exceeded Lien sales money brought about $ 1600 per vehicle.

On the DMV website has a Step by step On how withdrawals can sell a bet, including rules for notifying the owner of the sale and sending unnecessary receipts from the sale of the agency. Management does not include information on how vehicle owners can request their money back.

The profits from the sale of detention are included in the account of motor vehicles in the State Transport Fund, which maintains a highway patrol in California and other departments.

DMV spokesman Ronald Ongtoabok declined to have an interview. Instead, he answered questions by email.

DMV stated that people with claims should fill in recovery form On his website. The agency also suggested that people read Page for frequently asked questions Regarding a bet sales and a call for things that are not addressed there.

“Defenders who have concerns about the impact of the current laws must reach and convey their fears to the legislature,” Ongtoaboc said.

We asked the agency for more detailed sales information from 2016 to the end of 2024, including how many owners they requested their money and how many owners received, but DMV refused the request of public records, citing the restrictions on its systems. The agency’s lawyer said this would not give us records, since the preparation of claims for recovery and payments would have to be done manually and would be “too burdensome”.

“Since the department is not preparing, owns, uses, uses or retains a record that draws a bet for the sale of excessive recovery of fees and payments for a request, there is no existing record that meets your request and the department is not obliged to create such a document,” writes DMV lawyer Matthew Christie.

In response, CalMatlests requested and received detailed records of random selection of 13 winning bet sales. None of the 13 owners asked for their money back from DMV, records show.

Bruffy’s Del Rey Tow, one of a dozen withdrawal operators that process towing the city of Los Angeles, gave DMV the most in excess fees, handing approximately $ 1.1 million from 2016 to fall 2024, according to Calmatters analysis.

These so -called Los Angeles police garages usually charge a $ 195 withdrawal fee, plus a $ 115 release fee and a 10% parking tax in the city. The daily storage fee is $ 60. Storage Week plus withdrawal fees and parking tax for a standard vehicle costs at least $ 700. One month can easily cost more than $ 2000. Los Angeles Police Commission determines towing feesS

Bruffy declined to comment on this story.

The city of Long Beach was the fifth largest contribution to excess fees, sending the country about $ 446,000 for nearly $ 350 vehicles. The head of the tow and sales of Long Beach, Robert Givens, said the city an average of about 200 auction sales every month. The main towing costs $ 417 according to the city websiteS The daily storage fee is $ 78. After a month, the main towing, including fees and storage, can cost more than $ 2500.

Givens said in an email that the city did not “directly reach the owners” to inform them if the auction had made a profit. “If they want, we will provide them with this information and direct them to the California Motor Vehicle Sales Department (DMV) in Sacramento,” he said.

For most unsolicited properties, people in California can go to the controller’s website and search for their name and address to find what part of their money the state is holding.

“I’m not sure exactly what the excuse is … On why the car would be different from any other property you would have, you would not have an automatic right to unnecessary revenues, unlike in that you should ask for it,” said Rebecca Miller, a senior lawyer of the Western Center for Law and Poverty.

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