Simple Gun Control Law

[Igel]

19. Keep it off the roads.

California is weird. But to keep it from being towed, assuming that the title is in order, don't park it on public property.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffvr01

California law requires vehicles to be currently registered if they are driven, towed, stored, or parked on public roads or highways at any time during the registration period.
If the registered owner decides to register the vehicle, full registration renewal fees are due. If the registered owner has moved and did not notify the department, he/she may not receive a vehicle registration renewal notice. It is the registered owner's responsibility to pay the registration renewal fees on time.

Owning the car is legal. Just keep it in the driveway. (I kept a car for a couple of years in the garage. My HOA insists on having cars registered, because otherwise the concern is that junked cars will pile up in the streets.)

The weird thing about California is their attempt to get all the cars on the road registered. Lots o' money in that, and government is often all about maximizing revenues. It means that if you don't register you car you have to report it as non-operational ("non-op&quot , and then it's assumed for that year it's not registered and will not be driven, towed, stored, or parked on public roads or highways. It's an infrastructure thing--they say it's for out-of-state drivers but I rather suspect that people moving in from Oregon isn't the issue.

If you don't declare it non-op and you go to register the thing, they hit you with back fees and penalties because the assumption is that if you didn't declare it non-op you've been using the thing on public infrastructure. They don't get you for driving an unregistered car, they just hit you with back fees for getting the thing legal.