Filing the Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability after a Riverside County sale
After you sell a car anywhere in Riverside County, report it to the California DMV within 5 calendar days with a Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability, filed online or on the paper REG 138. Once the DMV has it, parking and traffic violations and civil suits after the sale date become the buyer's responsibility, and it is the proof the City of Riverside and the county's toll lanes ask for. It does not put the car in the buyer's name. Below: the deadline, what to keep, answering a notice for a car you sold, and a late or wrong filing.
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 or on the paper REG 138. It shifts liability for later parking, traffic and civil matters to the buyer once the DMV has it, but it is not a title transfer. Print the confirmation and keep it for later notices.
California DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV: REG 138 form (PDF)
Filing the NRL within 5 calendar days
The DMV says you must notify it "within 5 calendar days from the date you sell or transfer the title or interest in your vehicle" and deliver possession to the new owner. Calendar days means weekends count. The DMV does not say whether the sale date is day one, so the safe plan is to file the day the car leaves your driveway.
Online. Have the new owner's name and address, the plate number, the last five digits of the VIN and the odometer reading at the sale. The DMV says an online NRL updates the record within 1 business day. Every Riverside County DMV office page, from Riverside to Blythe, lists the NRL among its online services; no visit is needed.
On paper. The REG 138 (REV. 3/2024) top card goes to the DMV at P.O. Box 942859, Sacramento, CA 94259-0001; you detach and keep the other part. It asks for both parties' names and addresses, the odometer reading, the sale date, the price (0 for a gift), the plate, make, year and VIN, and your signature. A mailed card brings no notice that it arrived.
If a required detail is missing, the DMV may not update the record, which can cost you the liability exemption.
Source: California DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV: online NRL application; DMV: REG 138 form (PDF); DMV registration manual 11.125: NRL/IRL (REG 138); DMV: Riverside field office; DMV: Blythe field office.
What changes for you after the sale date
Once the DMV has the notice, its NRL page says liability for parking violations, traffic violations and civil lawsuits arising after the date of sale passes to the buyer (Vehicle Code section 5602), and renewal notices for that car stop coming to you.
The DMV's manual goes further: a seller who hands over the car and a properly endorsed title is not civilly or criminally liable for another person's parking, abandonment or operation of it, provided the seller delivered or mailed a REG 138 to the DMV, filed online, or submitted the transfer documents and fees. When a tow yard, storage lot or repair shop that is owed money starts a lien sale, the DMV's lien sale page says the notice also goes to any buyer named on an NRL.
Tolls have their own rule. RCTC's toll ordinance for the 91 and 15 Express Lanes drops a past owner from a violation case when a timely affidavit of non-liability, with proof of the sale and handover before the violation date, is verified by the DMV. The case then moves to the new owner.
Source: California DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV registration manual 11.125: NRL/IRL (REG 138); DMV: lien sales for vehicles; RCTC Ordinance 19-001, toll enforcement (PDF).
Why the NRL does not move the title
The DMV's NRL page puts it in one line: "Submitting an NRL to DMV does not qualify as a transfer of ownership." Your name comes off the record only when the buyer applies with the title you endorsed, pays the fees and meets every requirement.
The DMV makes transfer fees due within 10 days of the sale, with penalties after 30 days, and says they are all the buyer's to pay, along with use tax at the buyer's address (see what the buyer pays). Your side is done when the buyer has every document from you and the DMV has your REG 138; the title lines and bill of sale are on the paperwork page.
Selling to Sell My Car Riverside County does not move the NRL off your list either: the report stays the seller's. To start that sale, use the request form to give the year, make and model, whether it runs and how the title reads, or call (951) 404-1640; then file your NRL on the day the car changes hands.
Source: California DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; California DMV: how to change vehicle ownership.
The proof worth keeping
The REG 138 warns that collection notices can come months or years after a sale and tells you not to ignore them. Keep:
- The online confirmation, printed. The DMV calls it your proof the NRL was submitted.
- For a paper filing, a photocopy of the completed card and the part you detach.
- The sale date, the buyer's name and address, and the odometer reading you reported.
- Your copy of the bill of sale. Corona's police traffic bureau names a bill of sale among the papers a parking appeal can include.
Mail nothing else with the REG 138 (see the FAQ below). Lost your proof? The DMV says a copy of a submitted NRL can be requested on a Request for Record Information (INF 70), mailed with the fee.
Source: DMV: REG 138 form (PDF); California DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; California DMV: how to change vehicle ownership; Corona Police Department: Traffic Bureau and parking citations.
A ticket or toll notice for a car you sold
Notices go to the owner on the DMV record, so a ticket or toll notice can still reach you after the sale. The DMV's manual says it cannot remove a citation without the issuing agency's release or payment, so answer each one with the agency that sent it, and enclose your NRL confirmation and the sale date.
- City of Riverside. Its parking FAQ holds the owner at the time of the citation responsible, but moves the ticket to the new registered owner once you show a release of liability filed with the DMV.
- 15 Express Lanes. Riverside Express takes an Affidavit of Non-liability from a past owner who did not own the car on the violation date, sent with "proof of bona fide sale or transfer of the vehicle filed with the DMV".
- 91 Express Lanes. A seller can dispute online, or return Section A of the notice within 30 days of its mailing date with the required documents.
Appeal windows for Moreno Valley, Corona and Jurupa Valley tickets, Riverside's appeal form and the 15 Express Lanes mailing address are on after you sell.
An NRL that never posted. If you filed but the record never updated and parking, toll or delinquent registration notices keep coming, the manual's expedite procedure lists a copy of the original REG 138, a complete IRL (online filing) transaction receipt and a new REG 138.
Source: City of Riverside: parking FAQ; Riverside Express: 15 Express FAQs; Riverside Express: Affidavit of Non-Liability (PDF); 91 Express Lanes: FAQs; DMV registration manual 10.110: parking/toll violations on record; DMV registration manual 11.125: NRL/IRL (REG 138).
A late filing, or an NRL that should not be there
Missed the 5 days? File anyway. The DMV's lien sale page tells a seller who never filed that an NRL can be submitted now to protect against future liability, so file the moment you notice. A renewal notice for a car you sold means, the DMV says, that your NRL never arrived or was incomplete or illegible: submit another.
An NRL on a car you still own, say after a sale fell through, stops your renewal notices. To remove it, the manual has the registered owner complete a Statement of Facts (REG 256) with the plate, the VIN, Section G stating the car was not sold and is in your possession, and Section H signed. If you call instead, the manual has the DMV mail you a REG 256 to complete and return to the Registration Processing Unit MS C271, 2415 First Ave. Sacramento, CA 95818.
Source: DMV: lien sales for vehicles; California DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV registration manual 10.145: removing an NRL from a record.
If the buyer never retitles the car
The DMV tells sellers who get a lien sale notice that the buyer must change the ownership, and until then the seller may still be listed.
Your tools are the NRL and its proof: file it if you have not, and answer each notice with your confirmation and the sale date. If you are charged for towing or parking or toll violations on a car you do not own, the DMV manual has you complete a Record of Complaint (INV 172A), which DMV staff fax to its Involuntary Transfer Section.
Source: DMV: lien sales for vehicles; California DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV registration manual 10.145: removing an NRL from a record.
Two more NRL questions from Riverside County sellers
Will whoever buys my car file the release of liability for me?
Plan on filing it yourself, whether the car goes to a private buyer, a dealer or Sell My Car Riverside County. The DMV's NRL page lets someone else submit it for you, yet you stay responsible if any information is missing. File online once the car has left your driveway and print the confirmation.
Should I mail my bill of sale with the REG 138?
No. The DMV says anything attached to a REG 138 is not reviewed, kept or returned, and the card itself says not to mail a bill of sale with it. Keep the bill of sale at home with your copy of the card, because a city or toll agency may ask for it later. Source: DMV: how to change vehicle ownership.
Where to go once the NRL is filed
With the NRL filed, work through the after-sale checklist for insurance, FasTrak and refunds. Still holding the car and thinking of selling it to Sell My Car Riverside County? Describe it on the request page and a person will call you back, or dial (951) 404-1640 yourself.
More on selling a car in Riverside County
- PaperworkThe California title lines a Riverside County seller signs, when REG 227, REG 262 and REG 135 apply, the 2011 mileage rule, and the county's ten DMV offices.
- Smog checkWho must get the smog check before a Riverside County car sale, the 90-day window, the exemptions BAR and the DMV list, the $8 fee, and what to do when the car fails.
- Title problemsLost title, a lender still listed, an owner who died, or AND versus OR co-owners: the California forms and signatures a Riverside County seller needs first.
- Any conditionSelling a Riverside County car that won't start, overheated, faded in the sun, flooded or lost its catalytic converter: the smog and title rules that still apply.
- Junk carThe four ways to get rid of a junk car in Riverside County, the county's 10-day rule, free county and Lake Elsinore removal, and the DMV Junk Receipt.
- Car retirementBAR's CAP pays $1,350, $1,500 or $2,000 to retire a drivable car: who qualifies, the Thousand Palms dismantler in Riverside County, and when a sale pays more.