It may not be necessary to do that if your car has only limited equity in it. In California, a debtor can exempt a motor vehicle from levying on a judgment to the extent of $2,550 equity in it (or $4,850 if it's a commercial vehicle). Equity is the market value of the vehicle minus any amount of loan balance you have on it. If you have substantial equity in the car, and you sell it to your parents, as a practical matter that usually will be OK, but a very persistent creditor could still go after it by claiming it was a "fraudulent conveyance." However, that probably does not happen very often.
Larry L. Doan, Esq.
https://www.lawguru.com/cgi/bbs/attyPages/liem.html
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