Veh. Code, § 22523 · Chapter 9. Stopping, Standing, and Parking
Veh. Code, § 22523
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) No person shall abandon a vehicle upon any highway.
(b) No person shall abandon a vehicle upon public or private property without the express or implied consent of the owner or person in lawful possession or control of the property.
(c) Any person convicted of a violation of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) and shall provide proof that the costs of removal and disposition of the vehicle have been paid. No part of any fine imposed shall be suspended. The fine may be paid in installments if the court determines that the defendant is unable to pay the entire amount in one payment.
(d) Proof that the costs of removal and disposition of the vehicle have been paid shall not be required if proof is provided to the court that the vehicle was stolen prior to abandonment. That proof may consist of a police report or other evidence acceptable to the court.
(e) The costs required to be paid for the removal and disposition of any vehicle determined to be abandoned pursuant to Section 22669 shall not exceed those for towing and seven days of storage. This subdivision does not apply if the registered owner or legal owner has completed and returned to the lienholder a “Declaration of Opposition” form within the time specified in Section 22851.8.
(f) (1) If a vehicle is abandoned in violation of subdivision (b) and is not redeemed after impound, the last registered owner is guilty of an infraction. In addition to any other penalty, the registered owner shall be liable for any deficiency remaining after disposal of the vehicle under Section 3071 or 3072 of the Civil Code or Section 22851.10 of this code.
(2) The filing of a report of sale or transfer of the vehicle pursuant to Section 5602, the filing of a vehicle theft report with a law enforcement agency, or the filing of a form or notice with the department pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 4456 or Section 5900 or 5901 relieves the registered owner of liability under this subdivision.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 676, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1997.
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=VEH§ionNum=22523.
- Text hash
- sha256 41a449b457324dcd4bbcd13bc63884e24d2c8d1f7f9484396ad17731ddd347c6
- 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
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Civil Code
Vehicle Code
- Veh. Code, § 4456Printed as Section 4456
- Veh. Code, § 5602Printed as Section 5602
- Veh. Code, § 5900Printed as Section 5900 or 5901
- Veh. Code, § 5901Printed as Section 5900 or 5901
- Veh. Code, § 22669Printed as Section 22669
- Veh. Code, § 22851.8Printed as Section 22851.8
- Veh. Code, § 22851.10Printed as Section 22851.10 of this code
Cited by 3 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Veh. Code, § 22523. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
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