Telling the DMV you sold your car in San Diego: the release of liability
When you sell a car in San Diego County, California expects you to report the sale to the DMV within 5 calendar days, online through the Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability (NRL) or on a mailed REG 138. That filing puts the sale date and the new owner on the DMV record, so liability for parking tickets, traffic violations and civil claims after that date moves to the buyer. It does not move the title. Below: the deadline, what it covers, what to keep, and how to answer a City of San Diego ticket or a SANDAG toll notice that still finds you.
Sources re-checked .
Short answer
File a Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability with the California DMV within 5 calendar days of the sale, online at dmv.ca.gov/nrl or on a mailed REG 138. It shifts liability for later tickets and claims to the buyer once the DMV receives it, but it does not transfer the title. Keep the confirmation and your proof of sale.
DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV: REG 138 form (PDF)
How the 5-day clock runs
The DMV sets the deadline in its own words: you must tell it "within 5 calendar days from the date you sell or transfer the title or interest in your vehicle" and hand the car to its new owner. The DMV writes calendar days, not business days, so a weekend is part of the count. The DMV's procedures manual puts the duty on the registered owner or whoever physically has the car.
Example: you sign the title over to a buyer in Chula Vista on a Saturday. Sunday is one of your 5 days.
- Online at dmv.ca.gov/nrl. You get a confirmation, and the DMV says the record updates within 1 business day.
- On paper, REG 138 (REV. 3/2024). Mail the top card to P.O. Box 942859, Sacramento, CA 94259-0001 and keep the bottom part. The form warns that no notice comes back to confirm a mailed card arrived.
Source: DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV: REG 138 form (PDF); DMV manual 11.125: NRL/IRL (REG 138).
Details to collect at the handover
Before you start the online form, the DMV says you need the new owner's name and address, the plate number with the last five digits of the VIN, and the odometer reading at the sale. The DMV's full list adds the make, model year, date of sale, and your own name and address; the paper card also asks the selling price, 0 for a gift.
Gaps cost you. The DMV says a missing item may leave it unable to update the record, which may disqualify your liability exemption. You may enter unknown for a buyer you cannot recall, but the same warning applies, so write the buyer's name and address down before they leave. The REG 138 suggests checking the new owner's identification.
- A business buyer's name goes in the last-name field.
- Two cars sold at once need one filing each.
- Someone else may file for you, but you stay responsible for anything left out.
- Attach nothing to the REG 138; the DMV disregards attachments.
Source: DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV: REG 138 form (PDF); DMV: How To Change Vehicle Ownership.
What the release covers and what it leaves to the buyer
Once the DMV has your notice, it says liability for parking violations, traffic violations and civil litigation after the date of sale belongs to the buyer (Vehicle Code section 5602). Its manual adds abandonment: a seller who delivered the car and a properly signed title, and who mailed a REG 138 or filed online, is not civilly or criminally liable for another person's parking, abandonment or operation of the car. That matters in the City of San Diego, where SDPD lists a car stored on City property over 72 hours without moving 1/10th of a mile among its common reasons for an impound.
The limit is in plain DMV language: "Submitting an NRL to DMV does not qualify as a transfer of ownership." Your name leaves the record only when the buyer applies for the transfer with the title you signed. The buyer owes the transfer fees, due within 10 days of the sale, and needs no NRL on file to transfer. Title signing and the other seller papers are on the paperwork page.
Source: DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV manual 11.125: NRL/IRL (REG 138); DMV: How To Change Vehicle Ownership; SDPD: Vehicle Impounds and Towing.
The paper trail worth keeping
The REG 138 warns that collection notices can arrive months or years after a sale. Disputing one takes proof, so keep these together:
- The NRL confirmation, printed, or the REG 138 bottom part plus a photocopy of the card you mailed. The DMV calls the online confirmation page proof that the NRL was submitted.
- The buyer's name and address exactly as you reported them.
- A copy of the signed title, front and back.
- A bill of sale, such as the DMV's REG 135. The City of San Diego asks for proof of sale with its sold-car affidavit, and the 15 Express Lanes affidavit asks for proof of a sale filed with the DMV or other evidence that it came first.
Lost your copy? You can ask the DMV for one on form INF 70, mailed with its fee.
Source: DMV: REG 138 form (PDF); DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV: Bill of Sale (REG 135, PDF); DMV: Request for Record Information (INF 70, PDF); City of San Diego: Parking Citations; Riverside Express: Affidavit of Non-Liability (PDF).
Past the 5 days, or the DMV never recorded it
File anyway. The DMV tells a seller who never filed that "you may submit a NRL now to protect yourself from future liability". The DMV does not say a late filing cancels a notice dated before it; answer those through the agency that sent them, with your proof of sale.
- A renewal notice still arrives. The DMV says your NRL was not received or was incomplete or illegible, and you must submit another. Notices print more than 60 days ahead, so one can cross your filing. If you filed online, do not mail the notice or your confirmation to the DMV.
- Tickets or toll violations keep coming although you filed. The DMV manual has an expedite procedure for a record that was never updated; it lists a copy of the original REG 138, a complete online (IRL) transaction receipt and a new REG 138.
- The online form rejects your plate or VIN. Check what you typed; if it is right and the no-match error stays, the DMV says to call 1-800-777-0133.
A lien-sale notice can still find you, because you may still be listed as the owner until the buyer transfers.
Source: DMV: Lien Sales for Vehicles; DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV manual 11.125: NRL/IRL (REG 138).
A San Diego County parking ticket or tow notice after the sale
The agency printed on a ticket answers it, not the DMV, which says it cannot remove a citation without that agency's release or payment.
- City of San Diego. A ticket written after the sale is answered with the sold-vehicle affidavit on the back of the parking notice, returned by mail with your proof of sale. The mailing address and the appeal deadlines are on the after you sell page.
- Port of San Diego. It says fines are the registered owner's and a ticket must be paid or contested within 21 calendar days of issuance, so contest it with your NRL proof through its Administrative Review.
- The Sheriff. The 2022 county Grand Jury report lists Del Mar, Encinitas, Lemon Grove, Poway and San Marcos as using Sheriff contracted services, including parking citations. For a Sheriff ticket, follow the contest steps printed on it or on sdsheriff.gov.
The City of San Diego mails an impound notice to the registered owner; to get a post-storage hearing, the registered or legal owner calls SDPD Tow Administration at 858-495-7830, or mails the notice back, within 10 days of the mailed notice. Releases are on the towed and impounded page.
Source: City of San Diego: Parking Citations; City of San Diego: Appeal a Parking Citation; Port of San Diego: Parking Citations; DMV manual 10.110: Parking/Toll Violations on Record; San Diego County Grand Jury 2022 report (PDF); San Diego County Sheriff; SDPD: Vehicle Impounds and Towing.
SR 125 and I-15 Express Lanes toll notices for a sold car
SANDAG collects the tolls on two San Diego County roads, the I-15 Express Lanes and the SR 125 Toll Road. Its FasTrak terms send toll evasion notices to the registered owner at the DMV address for the plate, which can be you until the buyer transfers.
If the car was on your SANDAG account, the terms require you to promptly report vehicle and plate changes, and tolls can post to an account by registered plate, so remove it. If a violation dated after the sale arrives, follow the dispute steps printed on the notice, with your NRL confirmation and proof of sale ready.
Riverside County's 15 Express Lanes are run separately, by Riverside Express, which takes an Affidavit of Non-Liability from a past owner. The FasTrak close-out is on the after you sell page.
Source: SANDAG: FasTrak; SANDAG FasTrak Terms and Conditions (PDF); SANDAG FasTrak account site; Riverside Express: 15 Express FAQs; Riverside Express: Affidavit of Non-Liability (PDF).
Release of liability questions from San Diego sellers
Can the buyer file the release of liability for me?
Yes, someone else may file it, but the DMV says you remain responsible if any information is missing, and that a missing item may cost you the liability exemption. Filing it yourself at dmv.ca.gov/nrl on the day of the sale, with the confirmation saved, keeps the proof in your hands. Source: DMV NRL page.
Does the buyer need my NRL to register the car in their name?
No. The DMV says the REG 138 does not have to be on file before it transfers the car. The buyer completes the transfer with the title you signed and pays the transfer fees, which are due within 10 days of the sale. Your NRL protects you; it does nothing for the buyer's paperwork. Source: DMV: How To Change Vehicle Ownership.
Next stops before and after the handover
The release of liability is one line on a longer list: the after you sell checklist covers plates, insurance and FasTrak. If the car is still in your driveway, send Sell My Car SoCali a request on the request page that names the car, its condition and whose name is on the title, and a person calls you back; if you sell, the NRL is still yours to file. You can also call (657) 699-0008.
More on selling a car in San Diego
- PaperworkEvery paper in a San Diego County car sale: the California title lines you sign, REG 227 and REG 262, the REG 135 bill of sale, and the DMV offices that do transfers.
- Smog checkWho gets the smog test when you sell a car in San Diego County, how long the 90-day pass lasts, which sales skip it, and what to do with a car that failed.
- Junk carHow to junk or sell a dead car in San Diego County: DMV junk status, the City's 72-hour and 4-hour street limits, and county yard rules.
- Title problemsLost pink slip, a loan still on it, an owner who died, or two names joined by AND: the California forms that clear each title problem before a San Diego sale.
- Any conditionSelling a car in San Diego County that will not start, flooded, burned, lost its catalytic converter or shows high miles: what to disclose, smog, and where it can wait.
- Areas servedEvery San Diego County city and community, plus Perris to Temecula, with the DMV office, the agency that releases a towed car and the buyer's tax rate for each.