By law, towing companies, storage yards, and car repair shops can sell your car to recoup their costs if you don't settle your debts and pick up your vehicle.

It's known as a lien sale.

Did you know that if it happens to your car, the DMV can keep the profits and not tell you?

Since 2016, the DMV has collected more than $8 million from nearly 5,300 car sales, according to a CalMatters analysis.

The DMV doesn't notify owners of proceeds from the sale, and it says it doesn't have to.

Tows and compounding fees are often a trap.

Police can tow a car for things like expired registration, and the vehicle's registration may not be able to be renewed because of unpaid fines and fees from things like traffic and parking tickets.

If a car is towed and the owner can't pay the cost to get it back, the owner can lose the vehicle.

Most lien sales end in a loss.

For those that result in a profit, it's likely many owners have no idea that they have a right to that money.

The lien sale profits go into the motor vehicle account in the state's transportation fund, which supports the California Highway Patrol and other departments.

Between 2016 and 2023, about 620 vehicle sales, on average, yielded excess money for the DMV annually.

Excess money from lien sales brought in about $1,600 per vehicle.

On the DMV website, there's a step-by-step guide on how towing companies can conduct a lien sale, including rules for notifying the owner of the sale and sending any excess proceeds from the sale to the agency.

Owners have up to three years to claim the lien sale profits after the state receives the money, and after that, the law says the DMV gets to keep it.

For CalMatters, I'm Byrhonda Lyons.