Replace a lost title (REG 227)
Your pink slip is gone, damaged, or never arrived. The REG 227 is the DMV's replacement-and-transfer form — who can file it, what it costs, and the lienholder rule that catches people out.
California paperwork guides
California Car Paperwork Guides
Most car sales don't stall on price — they stall on paperwork. Start here.
Get my guaranteed offer →The offer we make is the offer you get for 7 days, when the car matches its description. If hidden or unreported damage is found at pickup, any adjustment is shown with photo evidence before you decide.
Paperwork guides, in plain English
Most car sales don't stall on price — they stall on paperwork. These walkthroughs cover the California DMV forms that come up again and again when a title is lost, a car is sold, or an owner has passed away. Every step follows the California DMV's own process. If your situation is one of the ones we buy cars in, you don't have to finish the paperwork alone — we complete it with you at pickup. The seller guides below cover the rest of the sale: smog rules, back fees, loans, what a car is worth, and how our guaranteed offer works.
The guides
Release of Liability (REG 138)
You sold the car — now tell the DMV. California law gives you 5 days to file a Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability so tickets and tolls stop coming to you.
Title transfer after a death (REG 5)
When a car's owner dies, an heir can often transfer the title without probate using the REG 5 affidavit — the 40-day rule, the documents you need, and when probate is required.
Seller guides: the rest of the sale
How to Sell Your Car in California
The full private-sale picture for Orange County sellers: what each step costs, how long it really takes, and the order that avoids stalled deals.
Smog Check Rules for Sellers
Who pays for the test, which transfers are exempt, and what a failure actually costs you in time and money when you sell in Orange County.
Selling a Car With Back Fees
How California's registration penalty tiers climb, why the balance follows the car, and how to run the pay-versus-sell math before another tier hits.
Selling a Car With a Loan
Payoff versus value, the underwater gap, and electronic titles explained — the numbers to settle before a financed car in Orange County can change hands.
Title Not in Your Name
Why reselling on someone else's title is illegal, and the legal fixes ranked by hassle — from titling it in your name to the bonded-title route.
What Affects Your Car's Cash Value
The honest checklist buyers use: demand, mileage, condition, title and smog status, keys, and records — and the cheap presentation steps that protect your price.
Trade-In vs. Private Sale vs. Cash Buyer
An honest total-cost comparison of the three ways to sell in California — including the trade-in tax myth that does not apply here — and where each option genuinely wins.
Selling a Car That Won't Run
What a dead car costs while it sits, your repair, as-is, donation, and state retirement options compared, and an honest note about which cars fit our program.
Paperwork Checklist for Selling Your Car
Every document a California sale needs — title, smog certificate, bill of sale, odometer forms, and the five-day release — organized around the two mistakes that cost sellers most.
How Our Guaranteed Offer Works
One hand-reviewed offer from your condition answers, guaranteed in writing for a full decision window, with free county pickup and payment at pickup — no curb renegotiation.
Selling with a paperwork problem?
These are the situations our intake is built for:
- No title — sell a car without a title
- Inherited car — sell an inherited car
- Car with a lien — sell a car with a lien
Selling the car instead? We handle the paperwork with you
Ready when you are
Complete one vehicle intake, see your offer, and arrange free local pickup. No obligation, and no strangers coming to your door.
Get my guaranteed offer →