Lakewood, CA Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Section 4330 defines an 'inoperative vehicle' as one without a current California registration or one incapable of self-propulsion that has not been driven in the 72 hours before inspection, and it bars any person from abandoning, parking, storing, or leaving such a vehicle, or a part of one, on private or public property, not including highways, for more than 72 hours. Vehicles fully enclosed in a building and not visible from the street or other property are exempt, as are vehicles lawfully stored on the business premises of a licensed dismantler, vehicle dealer, or junk yard.

Section 4331 declares that violating § 4330 is a public nuisance, finding that accumulated abandoned vehicles reduce property values, promote blight, invite plundering, create fire hazards, and attract minors into unsafe conditions. Enforcement runs through the City Administrator's office rather than the Sheriff's patrol division, since Lakewood is a contract city and this is a municipal code nuisance process: a written notice of intention to abate is mailed to the land owner and the vehicle's registered and legal owner, giving at least ten days to request a hearing before the Hearing Officer.

Vehicles worth less than $200 that are missing a motor, transmission, or wheels can be removed without any notice or hearing once the landowner signs a release. If a hearing is held and the Hearing Officer finds the vehicle is a nuisance, it may be disposed of by removal to a scrap yard or dismantler's yard seven days after the order, or seven days after a Planning and Environment Commission decision on any appeal, and the Department of Motor Vehicles is notified within five days of removal.

Separately, California Vehicle Code § 22651(k) lets a peace officer or parking enforcement employee remove a vehicle left standing on a highway 72 or more consecutive hours under a local ordinance authorizing removal, which is the state authority the City relies on for the on-street half of this rule.