Yes, but only in specific circumstances, and only if you are the registered owner of the vehicle you were driving. California law lets a court declare that vehicle a nuisance and order it sold, not merely held for a period, in certain repeat DUI cases and in manslaughter cases involving intoxication. That is a separate and more severe outcome than the vehicle impoundment many people have heard about.

This is different from an impound

After a DUI conviction, a court can order the vehicle impounded at the registered owner’s expense for a limited number of days (Vehicle Code section 23594). An impound holds the vehicle for a set period. Under Vehicle Code section 23596, a court can instead declare the vehicle a nuisance and order it sold. Do not assume a temporary impound is the worst case; depending on your record, losing the vehicle for good is a distinct possibility with its own, narrower triggers.

Which cases qualify

Section 23596(a)(1) limits this to three situations, and in each one the vehicle must be the one you were driving and you must be its registered owner:

  • A case for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated under Penal Code section 191.5, or the boating version in subdivision (a) of Penal Code section 192.5. No prior conviction is required.
  • A new DUI under Vehicle Code section 23152 committed within seven years of two or more separate offenses that resulted in convictions.
  • A new DUI causing injury under Vehicle Code section 23153 committed within seven years of one or more separate offenses that resulted in convictions.

For the two repeat-DUI situations, the earlier offenses that count are DUI (section 23152), DUI causing injury (section 23153), and the manslaughter offenses in the first bullet. A wet reckless is not on that list. If you are not the registered owner of the vehicle you were driving, section 23596 does not allow the court to declare it a nuisance.

Notice and a hearing come first

A vehicle cannot simply be declared a nuisance with no warning. The court or the prosecutor must give you notice of the motion, and the court must hold a hearing before it declares the vehicle a nuisance (section 23596(a)(2)). The declaration itself is discretionary: the statute says the court “may” make it. Once a vehicle has been declared a nuisance, though, the court must order it sold when you are convicted and sentenced, unless one of the exceptions below applies (section 23596(b)).

How the sale actually works

The vehicle is surrendered to the sheriff or police chief for the county or city where the violation occurred. A legal owner that is a dealer, bank, credit union, or other licensed finance institution can conduct its own sale if it tells the officer holding the vehicle within 15 days after that officer mails notice of the nuisance declaration; otherwise, the officer sells the vehicle at a public auction with published notice (section 23596(b) to (d)). The proceeds are paid out in order: the costs of the sale and of keeping the vehicle, then what is owed to the legal owner, then other lienholders who make a written demand in time, then anyone else who can show a provable interest, including a community property interest. Whatever is left goes to the city or county: to its general fund if the case was a qualifying felony manslaughter case or an injury DUI causing serious bodily injury to someone else, and otherwise toward community-based adolescent substance abuse treatment (section 23596(e)).

Two narrow exceptions

Section 23596(g) bars a sale if the vehicle was stolen, unless its legal and registered owners cannot reasonably be identified. Subdivision (g)(2) also addresses a vehicle owned by someone else or one in which another person holds a community property interest, and refers to the only “vehicle available to the defendant’s immediate family that may be operated on the highway with a class 3 or class 4 driver’s license.” Its wording does not clearly settle whether that only-vehicle condition applies to both ownership situations. Do not assume that another person’s title, a community property interest, or family need automatically stops a sale; raise the ownership and available-vehicle evidence at the hearing.

Your insurance will not cover this

Section 23596(h) states it as public policy that no insurance policy may pay out to offset the financial loss from this specific kind of forfeiture. If you are weighing your exposure, do not count on an insurance payout to soften a nuisance-sale outcome the way it might after a collision or theft.

What to do if this could apply to you

  • Confirm who the registered owner of the vehicle you were driving actually is. This statute applies only when the defendant is that owner.
  • Count prior DUI, injury DUI, and intoxicated-manslaughter offenses within seven years before the new offense; the threshold is two or more for a section 23152 charge and one or more for a section 23153 charge.
  • If you receive notice of a nuisance motion, the hearing on that motion is where the declaration can be contested.
  • If one of the exceptions might apply, gather the actual proof of ownership and of the vehicles available to your family now. Do not attempt to solve this by transferring title or otherwise changing the paperwork after the fact; raise the real facts through your attorney instead.
  • Ask your attorney directly whether your specific charges and record put you within this statute.

This is a narrow statute, but the consequence is permanent. For the broader range of fines and other penalties a DUI can carry, see DUI penalties, and for how the consequences of a second or later DUI escalate generally, see second-time DUI defense and fourth DUI felony escalation. If you are facing a repeat DUI or an intoxicated-manslaughter charge and are worried about losing your vehicle permanently, the Law Offices of David S. Chesley can review your record and your ownership situation. Call (800) 755-5174 to discuss your case.