what happens if a nonregistered owner of the car gets in an accident and the vehicle registration is expired?

When a driving a vehicle or allowing another driver or a non-registered owner to drive a vehicle without valid registration in California, as the registered owner of the car you are committing a traffic violation and are subject to fines and penalties. A non-registered owner is not subject to the fines or penalties in the same way as the registered owner of the vehicle and will not receive a ticket for expired registration if the vehicle is cited. Even if you are the non-registered owner and have an accident in a vehicle with an expired registration you will not receive a ticket for the expired registration however the registered owner of the vehicle will. The ticket the registered owner receives will not incur moving violation points and a small fee can be paid to dismiss the ticket once the registration is made valid. The registered owner listed on the registration card is not proof of ownership for yet, it shows who is primarily using the vehicle and who is financially responsible for it. More than one person can be listed as the registered owner and each will be responsible equally for the validity of the vehicle registration.