A missing title. An insurer that totaled the vehicle and let you keep it. An open lien. A car racking up storage at a tow yard. No keys. Hail or flood damage.
None of these are problems. They change which forms we prepare, and telling us up front is what keeps the timeline short.
Be accurate about the damage. Our offer holds because it was built on real information. The only thing that can move it is discovering the vehicle is materially different from the description.
Step two
An offer in writing, before anyone is dispatched
We price the vehicle as a vehicle. Year, make, model, trim, mileage, and the location and type of damage set the number. Weight does not.
That distinction is the whole business. A scrap-based quote on a 2016 Sonata came to $475. Our offer was $1,350, and that is what the seller was paid. On a 2020 Highlander XLE we paid $12,500. If your car is newer than about a decade, the difference between these two pricing methods is usually measured in thousands.
What the offer states
The vehicle, the amount, and what the amount includes. Nothing is dispatched until you accept it, and once you accept it the number is settled. We do not renegotiate in your driveway.
$475Scrap quote, 2016 Sonata
$1,350What we paid
$12,500Paid, 2020 Highlander XLE
Step three
Free pickup, notary handled, paid before the truck leaves
Most pickups happen within 24 to 48 hours of acceptance.
Pickup is free. It is not deducted from the offer and there is no fee if the vehicle does not run, has no keys, has flat tires, or has not moved in two years. Our trucks are equipped for non-running vehicles.
You are paid in full at pickup, before the vehicle is loaded and gone. Payment is a company check from Blue Ribbon Auto Sales LLC, handed to you at the kerb, for the amount on the written offer with nothing deducted.
Step three, in a photograph. The money is counted out before the car goes on the deck.
What to have at pickup
Your California title, signed where indicated. No notary needed on an ordinary title.
A photo ID matching the name on the title
If the car was already totaled, the Salvage Certificate the DMV issued, in place of the title
Lender payoff information, or the lien release if the loan is already satisfied
Any personalised plates taken off. Standard plates stay on the car.
How long it all takes
Offer to payment is typically one to two days. Our fastest closed in ten hours from first contact to money in hand.
What stretches it: a missing title, a lender that is slow with payoff figures, or a vehicle at a facility with access restrictions. We will tell you which of these apply on the first call, rather than after you have committed.
California paperwork
The DMV side, and who handles what
No notary on an ordinary title
Signing over an ordinary California title needs no notary. You sign where indicated and that is the whole of it, which is one step fewer than Arizona or Nevada.
One procedure is different. If a vehicle is going onto a Nonrepairable Vehicle Certificate and you do not have the California title, the DMV asks for a notarized Application for Replacement or Transfer of Title, form REG 227, as the proof of ownership. That requirement belongs to that certificate. It is not a general rule for selling a car without a title, and it does not apply to an ordinary signed title at all. The DMV says so here.
The REG 138, within five days
File the Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability, form REG 138, with the DMV within five calendar days of the sale. It is free and it takes about two minutes online. The form asks for the plate number, the last five digits of the VIN, the odometer reading, the date of sale and the buyer's name and address. Those have to be right and complete, and the confirmation is worth keeping.
Once the DMV has it, you are not responsible for parking violations, traffic violations or civil litigation arising after the date of sale. It is not a blanket release. If it ever comes to a complaint, a court decides whether you filed properly, which is the whole reason to file it on time and keep what the DMV sends back. It does not transfer ownership. That is a separate step the buyer completes, and the release of liability is what protects you in the meantime. The DMV page.
Standard plates stay on
On an ordinary California sale, standard plates stay with the vehicle. Personalised and special-interest plates belong to you, so take those off before pickup and you can retain or transfer them through the DMV. The DMV covers retention and transfer.
A total loss is different. The REG 488C has a section for the plates, and they are normally surrendered with the application. If you have personalised plates you want to keep, that same section is where you say you are retaining them for reassignment.
Salvage and liens
REG 488C is the Application for Salvage Certificate or Nonrepairable Vehicle Certificate. It is the form that gets filed. What comes back from the DMV is the Salvage Certificate itself, and that is the document that takes the place of your pink slip. When an insurer settles a total loss, filing the REG 488C within ten days of the settlement is the insurer's job, not yours. If you are self-insured, or you kept the car and no claim was settled, it falls to you.
Owner-retained salvage vehicles are routine purchases for us, as are vehicles with an outstanding loan. Bring the payoff information and we structure the purchase so the lien is satisfied and you receive the balance.
This site is run by TrackWala, which is the trading name of Blue Ribbon Auto
Sales LLC. These are Google reviews of TrackWala, the company that buys the vehicles, quoted
exactly as they were written.
★★★★★
Wonderful experience from the very beginning to the very end. Offered me more money than any other place. Whole experience was painless. I will definitely be recommending them to others and will plan on using them again in the future.
These guys were so easy to deal with. They
made me an offer, I accepted the offer, and they called me with pick up time. Then they showed up right on time with my check for the agreed on amount. Thank you so much Trackwala.
I had got a quote from a different company that Court horse me into signing the title and the wrong spot before they give me a price once I signed it they give me a price that was real low so I moved on to a different company and when they came to pick the vehicle up since I signed it there it blocked them from selling the car to me so I reach out to this company and he was able to coach me in the right spot to get the title fixed and my girlfriend entered in the wrong mileage which made the car worth more and he quoted the higher price and still honored the higher price even though the mileage was incorrect he's a good man good company I recommend them highly
I have had the best experience with trackwala Sam has been so awesome in preparing everything that was needed he was right on with everything and quick to respond and everything was just a really great experience I would recommend them to anybody
We will beat a junkyard quote, and the number will not move
Two commitments, and one question we want you to ask every buyer you call,
including us.
1
Bring us the junkyard’s number and we will beat it
Show us a written quote from a junkyard or scrap yard on the same vehicle and we will
beat it. Not match it. Beat it.
That is not a stunt, it is arithmetic. A yard prices your car by what it weighs. We
price it by what it is: year, make, model, trim, mileage, and where the damage sits. On
anything late-model those two numbers are not close. A 2016 Sonata was quoted $475 as
scrap. We paid $1,350.
2
The price we quote is the price you are paid
Your offer is issued in writing before a truck is dispatched. It does not change when
the driver arrives, it does not get revised once the car is on the deck, and there is no
discovery of a problem on pickup day that costs you a few hundred.
The only thing that can move the number is discovering the vehicle is materially
different from how you described it. Describe it honestly and the number you accepted is
the number you are handed.
Ask every buyer this before you accept
“Will this price change when the driver gets here?”
Ask us. Then ask everyone else you call, and listen closely to the answer. A buyer who
will not commit to the number on the phone has told you what happens next. The most common
complaint we hear from sellers is not that an offer was low. It is that the offer was
lowered in the driveway, after the car was already loaded and saying no had become
difficult.
What counts, so you know before you call.
The quote is in writing. A number someone said on the phone is not something either of us can hold the other to.
It is for the same vehicle, in the condition it is in now. Not a similar year and model, and not the car before the damage.
It is from a junkyard, scrap yard or parts yard. This is a comparison against weight-based pricing, which is the thing we are saying we beat.
You show it to us before you accept our offer. Once a number is accepted, that is the number we pay, which is the other promise on this page.
The one exception, said up front. On a very old, high-mileage shell,
scrap weight may genuinely be close to what the vehicle is worth, and there may be little
room to beat. If that is your car, we will tell you on the phone rather than waste your
afternoon. We would rather lose the sale than talk you into a bad one.
Ready to start
Tell us what happened to the car and we will put a number in writing. No fee, no obligation, free pickup.
