Girlfriend Split and Left Car. Can My Friend Keep It?

“Dear Steve,

I have a friend who split with his girlfriend and she moved back to Florida (we live in California). She left her car and it’s been here for over a year. We are not sure if the car is fully paid off or in repossession status.

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Can he register the car here in California?

Stephanie”

Dear Stephanie,

He can, but…

California has a process that would allow the car to be transferred via a lien sale. As you can imagine, getting the title to an abandoned vehicle has a bunch of rules and regulations that go along with a process like that. The rules differentiate if a car is worth more than $4,000 or less than that. You can find a complete description of the process on the California Department of Motor Vehicles site, click here.

 Sincerly,
 Steve

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