The car nobody else has seen
Most of your inventory comes from an auction lane or a trade-in, where the paperwork arrives in a known shape. A car bought off an online ad from the person who drove it does not. The owner has never filled in an odometer statement, may not know where the title is, and may not be the owner at all. No chapter of the Vehicle Code covers this purchase by itself. The sections on titles, odometers, disclosures and advertising do.
Who you are buying from
A person who sells, buys or negotiates the sale of vehicles for money or other consideration, or who is in the business of buying vehicles for resale, is a dealer (Vehicle Code 285), and nobody may act as a dealer without a license (11700). The owner selling one car is outside the definition because 286(e) excludes a person not in the vehicle business who disposes of a vehicle acquired in good faith for personal or business use. A person who buys cars to flip them from the curb is not excluded. The DMV calls that seller a curbstoner and investigates through the same Investigations Division that inspects your lot (DMV, Fast Facts FFINV 1, 9/2019, and its complaints page, read 2026-10-22). Acting as a dealer without a license is a misdemeanor under Vehicle Code 40000.11(a).
You will know a curbstoner by the title. The seller's name is not on it. The registered owner's signature is already on line 1, dated weeks ago, and the person in front of you wants to hand you that open title. Several ads on the listing site share one phone number. The meeting place is a parking lot, not a home. Buying that car makes you the last link in a chain the DMV cannot register: the owner of record sold to a stranger who never transferred. A licensed dealer who displays a car anywhere but a place of business the DMV has authorized is at an unlicensed location (11713(r)); the curbstoner is dealing with no license at all (11700). Walk away, or buy only with the registered owner present and signing.
The other person to keep out of the deal is the bird dog, the friend who finds cars for you and takes a fee per car. No section of the Code uses the name; the DMV's outline does. The Vehicle Code defines a salesperson to include anyone who induces another to buy or sell a vehicle and receives or expects compensation for it (675(a)(2)). Acting as a salesperson without a license is unlawful (11800), and a dealer may not employ a salesperson who is not licensed (11713(h)). A finder paid per car is an unlicensed salesperson. Pay a licensed salesperson, or pay nobody.
Proving the seller owns the car
Title passes when the owner signs the Certificate of Title and delivers it (Vehicle Code 5600, 5750 and 5751). So the first check is that the name on the seller's identification is the name on line 1 of the title and on the registration card, and that the VIN on the title is the VIN on the car. The signature rules follow the way the owners are joined (DMV Vehicle Industry Registration Procedures Manual, VIRP 11.015, read 2026-10-22). Owners joined by "and" both sign. Owners joined by "or" need one signature. A business signs with its name and a representative's countersignature. A trust signs through its trustee, with a Statement of Facts, REG 256, if the title names none.
The seller gives you the odometer disclosure on the spot. The owner fills the odometer section on the front of the title, with the reading, the date, both names and addresses and one of the three statements, actual, exceeds mechanical limits or not actual, and you sign under it as buyer (49 CFR 580.5(c), (e) and (f); VIRP 5.070). If the title is not there, the disclosure goes on a REG 262, the secure Vehicle/Vessel Transfer and Reassignment Form you order from the DMV (VIRP 5.075; VIRP 1.020). A dealer may accept only a complete disclosure (49 USC 32705(a)(3)), and the DMV's workaround for a buyer whose seller cannot be found "does not apply to dealer transactions" (VIRP 5.025). Keep your copy five years (49 CFR 580.8). Remind the seller to file the Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability within five days, with the mileage on it (Vehicle Code 5900); it ends their liability.
When line 2 names a lienholder, the car is not the seller's to sell until the lender releases it, on line 2 of the title or on a Lien Satisfied/Title Holder Release, REG 166 (VIRP 11.015). After the loan is paid, the legal owner has 15 business days to release its interest and deliver the title, and owes the buyer $25 a day up to $2,500 if it does not, tripled after 60 days of demand (Vehicle Code 5753(c) and (e)). Pay the lender the payoff and the seller the rest, and keep the car until the release is in hand. On a vehicle two model years old or newer the DMV accepts no REG 166 or REG 227 for the release; the lienholder must request a replacement title (VIRP 11.015).
When the owner has died, the heir transfers the car on an Affidavit for Transfer Without Probate, REG 5, with the death certificate and the title (Vehicle Code 5910; VIRP 11.065). The heir swears that 40 days have passed since the death, that no probate is open and no other property needs one, and that the estate is under the Probate Code 13100 figure. That figure is $208,850 for a death on or after April 1, 2025 (Judicial Council, Probate Code 890 adjusted amounts, read 2026-10-22); the REG 5 form at revision 12/2024 still prints the earlier $184,500. A trustee or conservator may sign in the heir's place (REG 5, section 1).
When the seller has only a bill of sale, the question is whose signature it replaces. A bill of sale from the registered owner can stand in for the owner's release on line 1; the DMV marks the line "B/S" (VIRP 1.020). It does not replace the odometer disclosure, and it does not replace a lost title. A lost title is replaced on an Application for Replacement or Transfer of Title, REG 227, signed by the registered owner, with the lienholder's notarized signature if there is one (Vehicle Code 5752). A seller who cannot produce the owner's signature on a title, a REG 227 or a REG 262 cannot sell you the car. Wait, or pass.
The title once it is yours
A dealer that takes a car in for resale does not apply to transfer it into the dealer's name (Vehicle Code 5906). You endorse the title with the dealership's name and dealer number as a dealer reassignment, on a REG 262 when the title has no room (VIRP 11.040), and complete the dealer transactions section of the odometer disclosure (VIRP 5.070). When you sell, the DMV gets the Report of Sale notice within five calendar days (Vehicle Code 5901(a)) and the transfer application and fees within 30 days (9553(c)(1); VIRP 11.040). Failing to transfer title to the buyer is the dealer violation OL 2000 lists, and the Vehicle Code names in 5753(a).
Write down what you learned, before you forget it
Everything you must disclose at sale, you learn at purchase. This is the list to fill in the deal jacket while the seller is still in the room. The title brand first: a salvage certificate carries a statement that the seller must disclose the total loss, with a civil penalty up to $500 for not doing it (Vehicle Code 11515(h)), and a Lemon Law buyback carries a title notation and a decal on the left front door frame that nobody may remove (11713.12; Civil Code 1793.23). Prior use next: a former taxicab, rental vehicle, publicly owned vehicle, which is where a retired police car falls, insurance salvage or revived salvage must be identified as such when the seller knows it (13 CCR 260.02(b)), and an ad that describes prior use must be accurate (260.02(a); Vehicle Code 11713(u)). Known damage: what the seller tells you about collisions, what you see of the frame and the airbags, and any odometer replacement, which the door frame sticker under Vehicle Code 28053 announces. None of those can appear on a car you later call "certified" (11713.18(a)), and the condition of the vehicle goes on the Buyers Guide. Ask, write the answer, and date it.
The return option contract OL 2000 lists with these disclosures has changed. The paid two-day contract cancellation option in Vehicle Code 11713.21 repealed itself on October 1, 2026 (11713.21(i)); since then a used-car buyer at $50,000 or less has a free three-day right to cancel under Civil Code 1784.43, in the conditional sales contract lesson. Price the car knowing it can come back.
The smog question
The owner does not smog the car for you. The ban on selling a vehicle without a certificate of compliance does not reach a sale to a dealer (Vehicle Code 24007(b)(1)), so a private seller owes you nothing at the Smog Check station. The certificate is yours to provide when you sell at retail (24007(b)(2); Health and Safety Code 44015). A failed test, a check engine light or a missing catalyst is your cost. The smog lesson has the test's timing and the car that cannot pass.
Your own ads
The car goes back up on the same listing sites, and the ad is now a dealer's ad. Every dealer advertisement must identify the dealer, by the name you do business under or another name that identifies you to the public and to the DMV (13 CCR 262.08). A dealer may not make any statement to the public that is untrue or misleading, or that reasonable care would show to be (Vehicle Code 11713(a)), and every advertised statement must be clearly stated and based on fact (13 CCR 260.00). An ad written to read as an owner's, with a first name, a home city and no dealership, breaks both. Name the dealership, and identify the car by model, model year and license number or the distinguishing part of the VIN (11713.1(a)). Take the ad down within 48 hours of the sale (11713(c)). The advertising lesson covers the price and the terms.
What the other lessons carry
This lesson takes four of the DMV's topics in part. The unlawful activities lesson takes the rest of the dealer violations: misuse of special plates, lending dealer supplies or letting another use your license or books, failing to pay the administrative service fee, a dishonored check to the DMV, bait and switch, and confidential dealer computer records. The odometer lesson takes the rollback ban, the odometer that has to work at sale and the legal owner's disclosure on a repossession. The titles and registering lessons take the kinds of California title, out-of-state and quick titles, registration and transfer fees, the time requirements for transfer, out-of-state deliveries, one-trip permits and the refund of excess fees.
Sources
- Vehicle Code 285 and 286, dealer defined and excluded; 675, vehicle salesperson; 11700, license required; 11800, salesperson license required; 40000.11, misdemeanors under the occupational licensing division, read 2026-10-22.
- Vehicle Code 11713(a), (c), (h), (r) and (u), dealer violations; 11713.1(a), advertising a specific vehicle; 11713.12, Lemon Law buyback decal; 11713.18(a), certified used vehicles; 11713.21(i), the repeal of the contract cancellation option; 11515(h), salvage disclosure; 24007(b), smog on sale, read 2026-10-22.
- Vehicle Code 5600, 5750, 5751, 5752, 5753, 5900, 5901, 5906, 5910 and 9553, transfers of title, read 2026-10-22.
- Civil Code 1793.23, Lemon Law buyback notation; 1784.43, the three-day right to cancel; Health and Safety Code 44015, certificates of compliance, read 2026-10-22.
- 13 CCR 260.00, advertisements; 260.02, vehicle history; 262.08, identification of the dealer, read 2026-10-22.
- 49 USC 32705(a), odometer disclosure; 49 CFR 580.5 and 580.8, read 2026-10-22.
- DMV Vehicle Industry Registration Procedures Manual: 1.020, Bill of Sale; 5.025, 5.070 and 5.075, odometer disclosure; 11.015, Basic Transfer Requirements; 11.040, Dealers or Lessor-Retailers; 11.065, estates, read 2026-10-22.
- DMV form REG 5, Affidavit for Transfer Without Probate (rev. 12/2024); REG 166, REG 227, REG 256 and REG 262, read 2026-10-22.
- Judicial Council of California, Probate Code section 890 adjusted amounts (April 2025), read 2026-10-22.
- DMV, Fast Facts FFINV 1, DMV Complaints (9/2019), and the Report DMV Violations page, read 2026-10-22.
- DMV, Lesson Plan Guidelines for Used Vehicle Dealer Education Programs, OL 2000 (rev. 12/2007), topics 2, 7, 8, 9 and 11.