Sell your car in Los Angeles
Get an instant offer and free towing anywhere in the Los Angeles area, then file the California paperwork that takes your name off the car for good.
We’re an independent guide, not the buyer. Offers come from Peddle, a nationwide car-buying service, and we may earn a referral fee when you sell through our form.
How selling works in Los Angeles
The process is the same nationwide: describe the car, get Peddle’s offer on screen, and if you accept, a local towing partner schedules pickup, usually within a day or two. The driver checks the car, you sign the title, and they hand you a check.
California paperwork after the sale
- Notify the state
- File a Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability (REG 138) within 5 days of the sale. It’s free online through the California DMV.
- Plates
- In California, plates generally stay with the vehicle.
- Also
- California requires a valid smog certificate for most private-party sales of running cars, but sales to licensed dismantlers and many as-is buyers follow different rules. Ask the buyer how they handle it.
This is a summary as of October 2026. Confirm with the California agency linked below before you sign anything.
Any condition
Non-running, wrecked, flood-damaged, totaled or just unwanted. Describe it accurately and the offer holds at pickup.
- California DMV REG 138: qr.dmv.ca.gov/portal/uploads/2020/06/reg138.pdf
- California DMV: www.dmv.ca.gov/
Selling a car in Los Angeles?
About a dozen questions, an offer on screen, and no obligation to take it. If you accept, Peddle’s towing partner comes to you and pays by check at pickup.