4000
. (a) (1) A person shall not drive, move, or leave standing
upon a highway, or in an offstreet public parking facility, any motor
vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole or pipe dolly, or logging dolly,
unless it is registered and the appropriate fees have been paid
under this code or registered under the permanent trailer
identification program, except that an off-highway motor vehicle
which displays an identification plate or device issued by the
department pursuant to Section 38010 may be driven, moved, or left
standing in an offstreet public parking facility without being
registered or paying registration fees.
(2) For purposes of this subdivision, "offstreet public parking
facility" means either of the following:
(A) Any publicly owned parking facility.
(B) Any privately owned parking facility for which no fee for the
privilege to park is charged and which is held open for the common
public use of retail customers.
(3) This subdivision does not apply to any motor vehicle stored in
a privately owned offstreet parking facility by, or with the express
permission of, the owner of the privately owned offstreet parking
facility.
(4) Beginning July 1, 2011, the enforcement of paragraph (1) shall
commence on the first day of the second month following the month of
expiration of the vehicle's registration. This paragraph shall
become inoperative on January 1, 2012.
(b) No person shall drive, move, or leave standing upon a highway
any motor vehicle, as defined in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
39010) of Part 1 of Division 26 of the Health and Safety Code, that
has been registered in violation of Part 5 (commencing with Section
43000) of Division 26 of the Health and Safety Code.
(c) Subdivisions (a) and (b) do not apply to off-highway motor
vehicles operated pursuant to Sections 38025 and 38026.5.
(d) This section does not apply, following payment of fees due for
registration, during the time that registration and transfer is
being withheld by the department pending the investigation of any use
tax due under the Revenue and Taxation Code.
(e) Subdivision (a) does not apply to a vehicle that is towed by a
tow truck on the order of a sheriff, marshal, or other official
acting pursuant to a court order or on the order of a peace officer
acting pursuant to this code.
(f) Subdivision (a) applies to a vehicle that is towed from a
highway or offstreet parking facility under the direction of a
highway service organization when that organization is providing
emergency roadside assistance to that vehicle. However, the operator
of a tow truck providing that assistance to that vehicle is not
responsible for the violation of subdivision (a) with respect to that
vehicle. The owner of an unregistered vehicle that is disabled and
located on private property, shall obtain a permit from the
department pursuant to Section 4003 prior to having the vehicle towed
on the highway.
(g) (1) Pursuant to Section 4022 and to subparagraph (B) of
paragraph (3) of subdivision (o) of Section 22651, a vehicle obtained
by a licensed repossessor as a release of collateral is exempt from
registration pursuant to this section for purposes of the repossessor
removing the vehicle to his or her storage facility or the facility
of the legal owner. A law enforcement agency, impounding authority,
tow yard, storage facility, or any other person in possession of the
collateral shall release the vehicle without requiring current
registration and pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 14602.6.
(2) The legal owner of collateral shall, by operation of law and
without requiring further action, indemnify and hold harmless a law
enforcement agency, city, county, city and county, the state, a tow
yard, storage facility, or an impounding yard from a claim arising
out of the release of the collateral to a licensee, and from any
damage to the collateral after its release, including reasonable
attorney's fees and costs associated with defending a claim, if the
collateral was released in compliance with this subdivision.
(h) For purposes of this section, possession of a California
driver's license by the registered owner of a vehicle shall give rise
to a rebuttable presumption that the owner is a resident of
California.