Sell your car in San Jose: running, financed, damaged or missing parts
Send the year, make, model and trim for an offer, and we come to you anywhere in San Jose. While the car waits, city code limits where it can sit, and the city runs a free tow of its own for cars nobody wants. Both are covered below, along with the two DMV field offices in town.
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Working to a moving date
- Send the details. The offer comes back the same day you submit the form, so you have a firm number early in the move.
- If the car is financed, ask your lender for a payoff quote and bring it. We coordinate payoffs with lenders routinely and structure the rest of the sale around it.
- Schedule the pickup around your movers, your lease-end date or your flight. A sale can close in the last week before a move. If the car has to wait on the street after you move out, city code allows 72 consecutive hours in one spot; after that it has to move at least two-tenths of a mile, about 1,000 feet.
Where we pick up around San Jose
We come to you anywhere in San Jose, at home or at work, including Willow Glen (95125) and Evergreen (95148). Outside the city, pickup covers the rest of the valley floor and the towns just above it, from Sunnyvale and Milpitas to Los Gatos and Morgan Hill. A tech campus parking structure works as a pickup spot too.
If you drive the 237 or 101 express lanes: VTA runs express lanes on State Route 237 and on US 101 from 237 to the county line, tolled weekdays from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. When a car goes through without a toll tag, cameras read the plate and charge the FasTrak account that plate is listed on. Bay Area FasTrak holds you responsible for tolls charged to your account by license plate, so take the tag out before pickup and remove the car under Account Settings.
Cash for your car in San Jose
The city has its own way to get rid of a car nobody wants. Code Enforcement's free unwanted car pickup (408-535-7770) tows it away, but only for San Jose residents. The car must be registered to you, sit on your property rather than the street, and be free of any loan or lien. You or an approved representative must be there with the pink slip. The city's page is plain about what happens next: the car "will be dismantled or destroyed," and you can't get it back.
So get an offer before you book that tow. Cash for cars in San Jose works the same way for an old or damaged car as for a newer one: send the details, get the number, and we come to you.
A stripped car on a city street can be towed without a warning notice. San Jose treats a car visibly missing its engine, windshield, steering wheel, driver's seat, or two or more wheels as inoperable and eligible for immediate towing. If you want cash for junk cars in San Jose with parts already gone, name the missing ones when you ask for the offer. An offer on a junk car usually assumes the car is complete.
A disabled or wrecked car can sit in view of a San Jose street for only 72 hours. If a seized engine, a failed CVT or a crash stopped yours, start with selling a car with engine problems, selling a car with a bad transmission or selling a damaged car; if the insurer called it a total loss, selling a totaled car covers taking the payout or keeping the car.
Field offices on Alma Avenue and Martinvale Lane
- •The California DMV (CA DMV) has two field offices in the city: the San Jose Field Office at 111 W. Alma Avenue and the Santa Teresa Field Office at 180 Martinvale Lane (CA DMV)
- •Both list title transfers, registration, and plates among their services, and both have a self-serve kiosk (CA DMV)
- •Both keep the same hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, and closed on weekends (CA DMV)
Asked by San Jose sellers
Can I park my car on a San Jose street with a For Sale sign in the window?
Not for that purpose. Section 11.36.100 of the San Jose Municipal Code says no one may park a vehicle on any roadway for the principal purpose of displaying it for sale. Show it from your driveway instead.
Can a car that won't start wait in my San Jose driveway until it sells?
Not for long if it can be seen from the street. Section 17.72.565 of the city code bars keeping a disabled or wrecked vehicle anywhere visible from a street for more than 72 consecutive hours. In a side or back yard, it has to be inside an accessory building such as a garage, or at least five feet from every property line and out of view of the street.
What does a pink notice on my car parked on a San Jose street mean?
Someone reported it to the city as abandoned. You don't need to call, write or email back, but the city asks that the car have current registration and be drivable. If a follow-up inspection finds it abandoned, it can be ticketed or towed. A car with expired registration can't be parked on a public street at all.
My car was towed in San Jose before I could sell it. Who do I call?
The San Jose Police Department's Vehicle Records Unit at 408-277-4156; have the license plate number ready. If you think the tow was a mistake, the registered or legal owner can ask the city's Department of Transportation for a tow hearing at 408-975-3718, or by mail to 200 E. Santa Clara Street, within 10 days of the date on the police notice.
The city rules on this page are about where the car can sit; the smog certificate and title that go with a sale are state paperwork, covered on our California page.