Sell your car in Santa Rosa: running, broken down or ready to scrap
Sonoma County's free junk-car tow stops at the Santa Rosa city line: Permit Sonoma offers it only to residents of the county's unincorporated areas, and the car it hauls off is dismantled. In town or out, ask for a cash offer online and the pickup, free of charge, comes to wherever the car sits.
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From the offer to the pickup in Santa Rosa
- Get the number. Ask online or call, with the year, make, model and mileage handy and a word on whether it starts. The offer from our buying partner costs nothing, carries no obligation and gives you a week to decide.
- Book around sweep day. The city contracts with Recology for monthly street sweeping and has asked residents to park in the driveway or in another area on sweep day (City of Santa Rosa, April 2023). If the car is stuck at the curb, choose a pickup time that isn't your sweep day.
- Hand over the keys. The driver compares the car with what you told us and, if it matches, hands you a check.
Where we pick up around Santa Rosa
Pickup is free anywhere in Santa Rosa and across Sonoma County, inside the city limits or in the unincorporated areas past them. A car parked at the back of a long driveway is fine; tell us how to reach it when you book.
Recology does the sweeping. It provides monthly street sweeping within Santa Rosa city limits, and its customer service line is 800.243.0291 (Recology). Call there if you aren't sure which day your street gets swept.
Cash for your car in Santa Rosa
Permit Sonoma runs a program that tows unwanted junk vehicles away for free, and the vehicle is dismantled. The program is only available to residents of the unincorporated areas of Sonoma County (Permit Sonoma), so a car at a Santa Rosa address can't use it, whatever shape the car is in. If you're in an unincorporated area and the program fits, get the offer first and compare the two before you call the county.
Inside the city, a car that won't turn over, or one you've stopped paying to fix, can still draw an offer from our buying partner. Say what works and what doesn't, and the free pickup comes to the driveway, the carport or the street. When the car is worth more in parts and metal than on the road, the junk car page covers that sale, lost keys and missing titles included.
If the missing title is the real problem, our guide to junking a car without a title covers the options state by state, and the scrap value calculator gives you a number to hold an offer against.
Outside the Santa Rosa city limits
Past the city line, the Sheriff's Office sorts abandoned cars by where they sit. Permit Sonoma is responsible for towing abandoned cars on private property in unincorporated Sonoma County (Sheriff's Office), and for a car on a public street or highway in the county, the same page gives the local California Highway Patrol office, 707-641-8300.
None of that needs to happen to a car you own. Ask for an offer and the pickup comes out to the property; mention a locked gate or a steep drive when you book.
The Santa Rosa DMV field office
- •Weekdays only: doors at 8 a.m., closing at 5 p.m., in the DMV's listing for Nov. 8-21, 2026. The exception is Wednesday, Nov. 18, with a 9 a.m. start. (California DMV)
- •Appointments and Get in Line Now. The office offers both, so you can book a time ahead or use the DMV's Get in Line Now option. (California DMV)
Asked by Santa Rosa sellers
Can Sonoma County tow my junk car away for free if I live in Santa Rosa?
Not from a city address. Permit Sonoma's free tow is only for residents of unincorporated Sonoma County. For them, it takes passenger cars, pickups, sport utility vehicles and vans without the usual DMV paperwork, and the vehicle is dismantled (Permit Sonoma). Inside the city, an offer and a free pickup are the way to clear it.
How do I find my street-sweeping day in Santa Rosa?
Look up your area on the city's interactive map at SRCity.org/StreetSweeper, the tool the city pointed residents to in its April 2023 street-sweeping bulletin (City of Santa Rosa).
Does the Santa Rosa DMV office have a self-serve kiosk?
Yes. The DMV says the kiosk at its Santa Rosa field office is there so you can skip waiting in line (California DMV).
The paperwork side of the sale, from the title signature to the smog certificate and the notice you send the DMV, follows state rules, and our California page walks through it. Release of liability after a sale explains what that notice protects you from.