Tow companies auction abandoned vehicles and the DMV pockets surplus without telling owners

When storage fees exceed a vehicle's value and owners abandon it, tow companies initiate lien sales and auction the car. In California alone, the DMV collected over $8 million from 5,300+ such sales since 2016, but surplus proceeds — money above what was owed — were never returned to owners because the DMV does not proactively notify them that a sale occurred or that they are owed money. A $6,000 car with $2,000 in storage fees sells at auction for $4,500, and the $2,500 surplus sits in a government account indefinitely. This persists because no state requires proactive owner notification of auction surplus, the amounts per vehicle are too small to trigger legal action, and the bureaucratic process to claim surplus funds is so opaque that most owners never learn it exists.