Pico Rivera, CA Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Section 8.20.010 defines an abandoned or inoperative vehicle broadly: one immobilized on a highway, public right-of-way, or private or public property that lacks an engine, operative battery, transmission, one or more wheels or tires, doors, windshields, a license plate, or other equipment necessary to operate legally, or that has one or more flat tires, is mounted on skids or jacks, or displays registration tabs expired for more than twelve months. Section 8.20.020 declares that the accumulation of such vehicles on private or public property, not including highways, reduces property values, promotes blight, invites plundering, creates fire hazards, and constitutes an attractive nuisance to children, and it exercises the city's authority under Vehicle Code Section 22660 to treat such vehicles as public nuisances.

Section 8.20.160 makes it unlawful and a misdemeanor to abandon, park, store or leave such a vehicle on private or public property, excluding highways, for more than five days, unless it is completely enclosed within a building and not visible from the street, or is lawfully stored on private property in connection with a licensed dismantler, vehicle dealer, or junkyard business. The abatement procedure under Sections 8.20.070 through 8.20.140 requires a ten-day written notice to both the landowner and the vehicle's registered owner, gives either party ten days to request a hearing before the city manager or designee, and allows the vehicle to be removed to a scrapyard after the process concludes, with administrative and removal costs assessed against the property if the owner does not pay within thirty days.