Seller terms

1The fair’s role

The fair rents display space for a flat fee. It never buys, sells, brokers, negotiates or takes a commission on any vehicle. Every sale is between the seller and the buyer.

The fair does not inspect, value or guarantee any vehicle. It makes no promise about any vehicle’s condition, history or title.

These terms are between you, the seller, and the organizers of the Bay Area Car Lot, called “the fair” here. Paying for a space means you accept them.

2Who may sell

You may sell only if you are a private individual selling a vehicle titled in your own name.

At check-in, staff match the name on the title to your driver’s license. If the names do not match, the vehicle cannot be displayed.

Dealers, and anyone who buys vehicles in order to resell them, may not sell at the fair.

One paid space holds one vehicle.

A seller without a driver’s license may bring a state identification card instead.

If a lender holds your title because of a loan, bring your current registration card showing you as the registered owner and a recent statement from your lender in your name. Staff match those to your driver’s license instead.

The fair does not accept a vehicle whose title carries a salvage brand or a lemon law buyback brand. Staff read the vehicle history box on the title at check-in.

If you are turned away at check-in because your documents do not match, your fee is not refunded.

3Your fee and your space

The Founding Seller Special costs $79. It buys one display space for one vehicle on Sunday 8 November 2026.

You pay by credit card when you reserve, and your card is charged at that moment.

The fair takes no commission on any sale. Buyers enter free.

Staff assign your space at check-in.

A space holds one car, pickup truck, van or motorcycle, or one boat on its trailer, that fits in one standard parking space.

A motorhome, camper, travel trailer, or a boat too long for one space, needs an RV space. An RV space is two standard spaces wide and costs $149. The fair offers 10 RV spaces, reserved in the order they are paid for.

Your space cannot be passed to another person or another vehicle without the organizers’ written approval.

4Cancellation, refunds and weather

You can cancel for a full refund until 11:59 PM Pacific time on Friday 6 November 2026, the Friday before the fair.

If you cancel after that time, or you do not arrive by 8:30 AM on the day, your fee is not refunded.

If the school district cancels the date, every seller chooses between a full refund and a free space at the next Bay Area Car Lot fair.

The fair goes ahead rain or shine. If the organizers cancel the fair for weather or safety, every seller receives a full refund.

Refunds go back to the card you paid with. Your bank can take 5 to 10 business days to show a refund.

To cancel, write to the organizers at the address in section 14.

5Your listing on this site

After you reserve, you may send up to five photos of your vehicle, your asking price and your mileage.

A listing shows the photos, the year, make and model, the price you set, the mileage and your space number. It never shows your name or your phone number.

By sending photos, you confirm they are yours to share, and you allow the organizers to show them on this site until the fair ends.

No listing appears on this site until the organizers approve it, and the organizers may decline any listing.

Tell the organizers when your vehicle sells, and its listing comes down.

6Arrival and departure

These hours are proposed by the organizers. They fall inside the hours of the fair’s permit from the school district.

No vehicle may stay on school grounds after 4:00 PM.

Vehicles stay parked from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, except a vehicle that has sold or is going out on a test drive.

Staff tell you at check-in which entrance to use and where test drives leave and return.

7What to bring, and what the fair records

• The title to your vehicle, in your name.
• Your driver’s license.
• Your vehicle’s current registration card. Staff read the plate number, the vehicle identification number and the date the registration expires from it.
• A smog certificate passed within the last 90 days, if your vehicle needs one to be sold in California. The 90 days comes from the Bureau of Automotive Repair. Ask your smog check station whether your vehicle needs a certificate, or read the California Department of Motor Vehicles’ Smog Inspections page.
• Your California seller’s permit, if you hold one. If you do not need one, you sign a short statement at check-in instead.
• Proof of insurance for your vehicle.
• Your window card, printed. You can make one with the window card maker.
• Your phone, charged and switched on. Buyers can call and text the number on your card.
• A pen, and tape for your window card.

Your registration must be current on Sunday 8 November. A vehicle on planned nonoperation status may not be driven on a public road, so it cannot be driven to the fair or taken on a test drive. The Department of Motor Vehicles explains that status on its planned nonoperation page.

California law requires the fair to keep a record of every seller and every vehicle for at least one year (Vehicle Code sections 12101 to 12104). At check-in, staff record your name and driver’s license number, your vehicle’s plate number, vehicle identification number, make, model and color, and the number of its current smog certificate.

For a boat, staff record its hull identification number and California registration number in place of the vehicle identification number and plate, and the trailer’s plate and vehicle identification number as well. Motorcycles need no smog certificate.

The same law has the fair give every seller the Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability form and the Department of Motor Vehicles’ information on sales between private parties. You receive both at check-in.

California’s sales tax rules have the fair collect, from every seller, either a seller’s permit or a signed statement that the seller does not need one (Revenue and Taxation Code section 6073). The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration explains this in Publication 111.

8Keys

You keep your own keys all day.

Fair staff never hold, store or accept the keys to any vehicle.

Lock your vehicle whenever you step away from it. Do not leave keys, a spare key, your title or valuables inside it.

9Test drives

You decide whether to allow a test drive.

Before the car moves, photograph the buyer’s driver’s license and proof of insurance.

You keep the keys and ride along on every test drive.

Fair staff never hold keys and never ride along.

Inside the parking lot, every vehicle moves at walking pace.

The buyer drives at the buyer’s own risk.

The fair’s event insurance does not cover test drives. Only the buyer’s and the seller’s own insurance apply.

10On the lot

Follow the school district’s rules for its grounds and every direction from fair staff.

Display only the vehicle you registered. Nothing else may be sold from your space.

Keep your space clean, and take everything with you when you leave.

The organizers may remove any vehicle or person for unsafe or unlawful conduct, and the fee is not refunded.

11When your car sells

You and the buyer complete the sale and its paperwork between yourselves.

The fair does not handle money, titles or forms between sellers and buyers.

Before the buyer drives away, file the Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability from your phone. It takes a few minutes.

The Department of Motor Vehicles asks for the buyer’s name and address, the plate number, the last five characters of the vehicle identification number, and the odometer reading. It gives you a confirmation to keep. File it on its Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability page, which also says how soon it is due.

12Liability waiver

You take part in the fair at your own risk.

You are responsible for your vehicle, its condition, its insurance, and everything you tell buyers about it.

To the fullest extent the law allows, you release the organizers of the fair, their staff and volunteers, the Martinez Unified School District and Alhambra High School from any claim for loss, theft, damage or injury connected with the fair, including test drives and sales. This release does not cover a claim caused by their gross negligence or willful misconduct.

You agree to cover any claim made against any of them because of your vehicle, your conduct or your sale.

13Your information

The name, phone number, email address and vehicle details you give when you pay are used to run the fair: to check you in, to contact you about the fair, and to prepare your listing.

The record staff make at check-in, including your driver’s license number, is kept for at least one year because California law requires it. The organizers keep it private, except where the law requires them to show it.

Your listing never shows your name or phone number. Your phone number appears on your window card only if you print it there.

The organizers do not sell your information.

Payments are handled by Stripe, on Stripe’s own payment page.

14Changes and questions

The organizers may update these terms before the fair. The version shown when you paid is the version that applies to you.

Questions, cancellations and refund requests: sell@bayareacarlot.com.