If the car is in your name, you have 2 choices: PAY for registration annually..... (Or have your tax refund siezed by the Franchise Tax board) Or register it as a Non-Op status.
I've had cars that I sold go UNregistered by the new owner and because I was stupid and forgot to mail in the attached form stating the new owners info, they attached my tax refund. These jerkoffs have no sense of decency about that stuff.