Civ. Code, § 3071.5 · Chapter 6.5. Liens on Vehicles
Civ. Code, § 3071.5
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A registered or legal owner of a vehicle in the possession of a person holding a lien under this chapter may release any interest in the vehicle after the lien has arisen. The release shall be dated when signed and a copy shall be given at the time the release is signed to the person releasing the interest.
(b) The release shall be in at least 12-point type and shall contain all of the following information in simple, nontechnical language:
(1) A description of the vehicle, including the year and make, the engine or vehicle identification number, and the license number, if available.
(2) The names and addresses of the registered and legal owners of record with the Department of Motor Vehicles, if available.
(3) A statement of the amount of the lien and the facts concerning the claim which gives rise to the lien.
(4) A statement that the person releasing the interest understands that (i) he has a legal right to a hearing in court prior to any sale of the vehicle to satisfy the lien and (ii) he is giving up the right to appear to contest the claim of the lienholder.
(5) A statement that (i) the person releasing the interest gives up any interest he may have in the vehicle and (ii) he is giving the lienholder permission to sell the vehicle.
(c) The release required by this section shall not be filed with the department in connection with any transfer of interest in a vehicle.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 1978, Ch. 1005.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV§ionNum=3071.5.
- Text hash
- sha256 9ca1235cc059c13ed29e28d28031e9a5f06b28a233f949b506ea72467ac2ec6a
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.