California Penal Code § 496d PC prohibits buying, receiving, selling, or hiding a vehicle you know is stolen. This crime is a wobbler, which means it can be charged as either a:
- misdemeanor carrying up to 1 year in jail and/or $1,000 or
- felony carrying 16 months, 2 years, or 3 years in jail and/or $10,000.
Examples of 496d PC violations include:
- taking over the title of a car that you know a friend stole.
- helping a person steal a boat and then selling it to someone.
- buying a truck at a discounted price because you know it was stolen from a dealership.
In this article, our California criminal defense attorneys discuss what you need to know about receiving a stolen vehicle:
1. Elements of 496d PC
For you to be convicted of violating California Penal Code 496d PC, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the following two elements of the crime:
- You bought, received, concealed, sold, or withheld a motor vehicle, trailer, special construction equipment, or vessel, and
- When you acted, you knew that the motor vehicle, trailer, special construction equipment, or vessel was stolen.1
Therefore, this law extends not only to cars, motorcycles, vans, trucks and trailers: It also covers:
- “Special construction equipment,” which means vehicles used primarily off the highways for construction purposes and which may not move over the public highways without a permit;2 and
- “Vessels,” which include:
- ships of all kinds,
- steamboats,
- steamships,
- canal boats,
- barges,
- sailing vessels, and
- every structure adapted to be navigated from place to place for the transportation of merchandise or persons.3
Penal Code 496d PC is the California statute that makes buying or receiving a stolen vehicle a crime.
2. Defenses
Here at Shouse Law Group, we have represented literally thousands of people charged with theft, including receiving a stolen vehicle. In our experience, the following three defenses have proven very effective with California prosecutors, judges, and juries at getting 496d PC charges reduced or dismissed.
- You did not know the car was stolen. This is our most powerful defense because there is no way for the D.A. to show what was going on in your head. If we can persuade the D.A. that they have insufficient evidence to convince a jury you knew the vehicle was stolen, they may be willing to drop the case.4
- A seller tricked you. We see cases all the time where car buyers thought they were doing business with a legitimate seller, but that seller ends up pawning off a stolen car to them without their knowledge. Once prosecutors see what happened was not your fault, they may agree to dismiss the charge.
- The police found the car through an unlawful search. Law enforcement can search and seize property if they have a warrant or a lawful excuse for not having one. If police violated the law to take your vehicle, we would then ask the judge to suppress (disregard) the car as evidence. If the judge agrees, the D.A. may be then left with too little evidence to prosecute any further.
Buying or receiving a stolen vehicle in California can be a misdemeanor or a felony.
3. Probation
If you are convicted of buying, receiving, selling, or hiding a stolen vehicle in California, the judge may grant you probation in lieu of incarceration.5
The terms and length of your probation depend on whether your 496d PC conviction is for a misdemeanor or felony, as the following table shows.
| Misdemeanor Probation | Felony Probation | |
| Length | Up to 2 years | Up to 5 years |
| Supervision Level | Unsupervised | Supervised (by probation officer) |
| Violation Consequences | Depends on sentencing terms and judge’s discretion | Depends on sentencing terms and judge’s discretion |
| Travel Restrictions | Usually no restrictions | Usually have to get permission from probation officer |
| Possibility of Expungement upon Completion | Yes | Yes |
4. Related Crimes
- Auto Theft with Prior Convictions – 666.5 PC
- Grand Theft Auto – 487d1 PC
- Joyriding – 10851 VC
- Receiving Stolen Property – 496a PC
A common defense to 496d PC charges is lack of knowledge that the vehicle was stolen.
Additional Resources
For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:
- Automobile Theft – Overview by the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology.
- Auto Theft and Its Prevention – Crime and Justice.
- Auto Theft Offender and Offense Characteristics – Criminology.
- Auto Theft and the Role of Big Business – Crime and Social Justice.
- Auto Theft and Restrictive Deterrence – Justice Quarterly.
Legal References:
- California Penal Code 496d PC.
(a) Every person who buys or receives any motor vehicle, as defined in Section 415 of the Vehicle Code, any trailer, as defined in Section 630 of the Vehicle Code, any special construction equipment, as defined in Section 565 of the Vehicle Code, or any vessel, as defined in Section 21 of the Harbors and Navigation Code, that has been stolen or that has been obtained in any manner constituting theft or extortion, knowing the property to be stolen or obtained, or who conceals, sells, withholds, or aids in concealing, selling, or withholding any motor vehicle, trailer, special construction equipment, or vessel from the owner, knowing the property to be so stolen or obtained, shall be punished by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for 16 months or two or three years or a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or both, or by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year or a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or both.
(b) For the purposes of this section, the terms “special construction equipment” and “vessel” are limited to motorized vehicles and vessels.
See also, for example, People v. Killian (Cal.App. 2024) . - California Vehicle Code 565 VC.
- California Harbor and Navigation Code 21 HN.
- See, for example, People v. Russell (2006) 144 Cal.App.4th 1415.
- California Penal Code sections 1191 – 1210.6 PC.