Cal. VEH § 27604
This is the official text of Cal. VEH § 27604, part of California’s Vehicle Code — governs traffic laws, driver's licenses, and vehicle registration.
Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.
Official statutory text
(a) When a motor vehicle, painted, as required by Section 40800, and formerly used in the enforcement of the provisions of Division 10 (commencing with Section 20000) or 11 (commencing with Section 21000), is sold to any person and is used for purposes other than law enforcement, the vehicle shall be painted or partially painted by the seller or agency formerly using such vehicle so that it will no longer resemble a vehicle complying with Section 40800 and any insignia or other marking of the vehicle identifying it as a traffic law enforcement vehicle shall be removed by the seller or agency formerly using such vehicle before it shall be operated on any street or highway, other than to have the vehicle moved to be painted or to a place of storage.
(b) This section shall not apply to former law enforcement vehicles, without insignia, which are painted one solid color, or which are used exclusively for movie or television production and display signs stating “movie car” prominently on the doors, or which are motorcycles, as defined in Section 400, without insignia.
(c) This section shall not apply to a vehicle, if all of the following conditions are satisfied:
(1) The vehicle is possessed by a federal, state, or local historical society or museum that is open to the public.
(2) The vehicle is secured from unauthorized operation.
(3) The vehicle is not operated on any public road or highway, unless one of the following applies:
(A) The vehicle is being operated within a temporary street closure for the purposes of celebrations, parades, local special events, and other purposes when the operation is approved by local authorities having jurisdiction over the street closure.
(B) The vehicle is of a model year of at least twenty-five years prior to the year of operation.
(b) This section shall not apply to former law enforcement vehicles, without insignia, which are painted one solid color, or which are used exclusively for movie or television production and display signs stating “movie car” prominently on the doors, or which are motorcycles, as defined in Section 400, without insignia.
(c) This section shall not apply to a vehicle, if all of the following conditions are satisfied:
(1) The vehicle is possessed by a federal, state, or local historical society or museum that is open to the public.
(2) The vehicle is secured from unauthorized operation.
(3) The vehicle is not operated on any public road or highway, unless one of the following applies:
(A) The vehicle is being operated within a temporary street closure for the purposes of celebrations, parades, local special events, and other purposes when the operation is approved by local authorities having jurisdiction over the street closure.
(B) The vehicle is of a model year of at least twenty-five years prior to the year of operation.
Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site
Need a lawyer in California?
Find a California lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the
Open US Law dataset
(Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine
(Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.