Help me Sell My Car (CA, not operational)

My SVT Focus has been playing second fiddle for the last few months, and I have been driving it only occasionally. Weekly at most. I have been planning to sell it, and even ordered all of the parts to pass the visual smog portion.

Yesterday, it would not start. I pulled the plugs, and the threads are covered in oil. Great. The car overheated and blew a hose a few months back - on the way from the dealership where I bought my daily, actually. Last time I drove it, the car showed symptoms of a head gasket on its way out. Water out of the tailpipe, pressurized overflow tank at startup, but no milkshake under the oil cap. I would rather not fix it.

In CA, the seller is legally responsible for passing smog, regardless of any provisions written on the bill of sale, unless the registration is put into non-op. I do not know if I even have that option - seems like non-op is only allowed at the time of registration and up to 90 days after. My car is also parked on the street, which would likely result in ticketing/towing/neighborhood policing as soon as I submit my plates.

WWGRM do? Sell it to an out of state buyer? Sell it to a junkyard (which may give $200 for it all told)?

I'd do the minimum fix-up, have a smog check, and let that chart your path forward. If it passes, sell it with full disclosure. If it doesn't, either try to sell it - full disclosure again - or sell it to a recycling yard.

If you have the time part out. You'll probably get more out of it than selling complete to the salvage yard.

With the engine in its current state it'll be hard to get an out of state buyer to consider it unless the chassis is immaculate.

I'd look into non-op immediately. Otherwise the title will get all tangled up, even if you sell it out of state. Or junkyard.

Best option is to fix, but if you don't want to do that then just take the financial hit and make it go away.

Here in CA, I have bought and sold cars that were not smog-able at the time of sale. The one I sold was a Rav4 that was leaking oil, was currently registered but smog was more than 3 months prior and listed as "for parts or repair" sold that same day, no shortage of interested parties. Buyer intended to turn it into a daily, never heard from him again about any issues.

The ones I bought; LS400, Saturn SL2 and MX6 GT that I paid the fees to start the transfer and registration, but since there was recent smog test, I was not able to complete the process until I provided a passing smog certificate. Once I did, it was easy peasy, registration and sticker on the spot, title mailed a month or so later.

I only use the "not being registered/not having recent smog" as a bargaining chip when buying. Never ran into issues or had questions on the DMV side, knock on wood.

DMV says that seller is responsible for expenses required to pass smog after sale, regardless of what's written on the bill of sale.

The body is in pretty poor shape, but I changed the clutch and related 25k mi ago, and most of the suspension (sfock SVT) earlier this year. It actually rode quite nicely, without any creaks or rattles. I kept up with most of the little things that make driving a decade-old car a nuisance.

Update:

I changed the plugs and valve cover gasket, and it started back up. Let it come to operating temperature, and drove it down the road for a few miles. As soon as I leaned on the throttle, it began to overheat. Looks like I'm losing coolant fast.

I refilled the cool reservoir, and took it for another spin a few days later. It ran fine, so I took it on the highway for a few exits. As I slowed down, the idle became really rough, and sounded like it's only running on three cylinders. Temperatures were in range, so I still nursed it back home. Appears to smooth out above about 2.5k RPM. As I let it idle once I returned home, it threw a CEL. What could be the root cause of the way it is running? Bad rings? Warped head or damaged head gasket?

Frankly, I am surprised that the car has lived as long as it has. It suffered many years of overheating and neglect during my college years, and once I came to CA, I beat on it mercilessly on the amazing canyon roads.

In reply to Mitchell:

Sooo jealous of canyon roads.

I didn't know anything about the topography out here before moving - I am currently surrounded by mountains and hills. Makes sense why the car culture is so strong in the area.

We should have a SoCal GRM meet.

running out of coolant fast, but no visible leaks? I'd throw a can of blue devil head gasket sealant at it and follow the instructions.

Then smog, then sell with full disclosure.

A California PNO (planned non-operating) permit allows you to keep registration continuity on a non-running vehicle stored on private property. The cost is far less than a regular registration. However, the car cannot be run or parked on the public streets during the time the PNO permit is in force.

Selling a car with a lapsed registration and no PNO means either the buyer or seller is on the hook for all the years of non-registration. The PNO keeps the car's paperwork current. The new /old owner only needs to visit the DMV to register the car as a running vehicle for the current year to make it street-legal again.

Obviously you can't use a PNO for your situation. It's only used at registration time to avoid having to pay full whack for a registration and a line of insurance on the car. If you give a prospective buyer a good price with no warranty expressed or implied (and written as such on the bill of sale) someone will buy it as a project.

You can leave the vehicle on non-op as long as you like in CA, but it can't be parked in the street. Can't even be visible from the street technically.

Half the cars I have bought I've smogged myself. It's common practice when buying a beater. The best way for you to cover your ass is to sell it as a parts car, then there will be no legal obligation to sell a smog legal vehicle.

If you sell it as a project, the new owner can get a PNO when the current registration runs out if he or she hasn't made the car roadworthy or smoggable in the interim.