California release of liability after grounding a lease and DMV fees

Ask the Hackrs
1

Picking the the LH brain trust…

Is a lessee in California supposed to file anything with the CA DMV if a lease is grounded before the upcoming annual DMV payment is due?

I had a 13 month lease on a Mercedes EQS that matured August 19, 2024 but my annual CA DMV registration was only valid through July 22, 2024. I didn’t want to pay the $1,300 for renewing the tags for one month of driving (think of the TCO!!!), and the tires were already at 5/32 (Tire TCO is the worst!)

So I grounded early on July 17, 2024 and paid the final month lease payment even though I didn’t have the car.

Now, the CA DMV thinks I owe them registration for July 23, 2024 through July 22, 2025 (plus a delinquency late fee).

I looked into the CA DMV release of liability thing, but I wasn’t actually the seller (since it wasn’t my property). And their form doesn’t seem intended for me to fill in upon grounding the lease; but should be filled in by MBFS.

Is it best to just pay the DMV the fee then try to get the money back from MBFS? The wait time to hear back from the CA-DMV is like 8 hours.

2

Just fill out the form online with MBFS info and you should be good to go. Why didn’t you do it in July???

3

Uh… because I spend all my time posting on LH and nobody told me to back then lol.

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4

Haha, fair enough , have no expectations when you end the lease or sell a car-always file your own DMV ROL :call_me_hand:

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-registration/titles/title-transfers-and-changes/notice-of-transfer-and-release-of-liability-nrl/

4 Likes
5

You fill out one of these,
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-registration/titles/title-transfers-and-changes/notice-of-transfer-and-release-of-liability-nrl/

Yes I know you weren’t the ‘seller’ but you were one of the registered owners and one who will get the ‘Car not Renewed Notice’.

I got one when the car was auctioned out of state.

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6

Thanks @BYGFEET and @forbs

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