abandoned 911

[gr8fl4porsche]

Sounds too good to be true, but I know of an abandoned 911 in a private parking area. Car has been there for over 3 months with no sign of owner. Does not appear to be stolen - but I will verify with a friendly local cop. Car is parked near a sign which reads 'parked cars will be towed'. For obvious reasons I cannot get into where the car is - but it is in Missouri.

Anyone know the legal way to remove the car, hold it for a legal amount of time, then eventually obtain a salvage title if noone claims the vehicle.

I have written permission from the property owner to remove the illegally parked car. Friend owns a towing company and I have a dry spot to store the car.

Any ideas on how to legally obtain this gem?, car has plates but current stickers have been stolen - Noone in the area knows who owns the car. I am thinking worst case scenario is that eventually the owner will show up and I can recoup storage fees.
Given the length of time the car has been sitting there, assuming it is not stolen, the owner may have passed away and so far the family has not come looking.??????

[dtw]

Tell us more about the car- year/model/condition/color yada yada.

Anyway, I used to do this as part of my business- put liens on cars that is. Whoever tows the car for you (your buddy) needs to take the car back to his tow yard and write up a ticket for it, and let it start racking up storage fees. It is different from state to state, but here's how it works in NC: Let the storage build up until 30 days have passed, file a first claim with the DMV. They send back a confirmation and do a lookup on the title and give you the information, so that you can attempt to make a "good faith" call to the owner. After something like 60 more days have passed, you file another form saying the owner hasn't come forward/you haven't found him, and the DMV gives you a court date. Then you go to court, the owner is invited too via his last known address, and if it is not contested (never is) then you get a title application and it's over. All yours. And forget salvage- at least in NC, you get a perfectly valid title. You'd be amazed at some of the vehicles I've gone through this way. 99% old crap, but once in a while a real find.

By the way- this is as excruciatingly painful as dealing with a state bureaucracy gets. Last I checked here in NC, lead time was over six months on all claims. Make copies of every form you file, and get phone numbers of the office that processes the forms. And most importantly- NEVER piss them off- always be sweet as honey with them or you'll be screwed. Good luck

[john walker's workshop]

in washington, it would have to be ticketed by the city, and towed to a tow company lot, where it would eventually be auctioned to the public, and a sheriff's title issued. you would have to high bid of course.

[dtw]

JW-
Depends if it's on public or private property. Sounds like it's private in this case. Same way as you described here in NC for public property, though oddly the city seemed to let us keep the POS cars and they took the Lexuses and Caddies. Strange, that.

[StuttgartDavid]

This question bugs me.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Yes it is on private propery. If possible, I do not want the local authorities to ticket and tow the car - I would never see it again,
and I'm sure a nice cop would have it in his garage within a few days. Since it is on private property with a 'owner will tow the car sign' I am thinking the owner of the property can have the vehicle towed by a licensed towing company - my friend.

For the curious - 86-89 Cab. 33,xxx miles. Beautiful.

I will keep posting the results of my inquiries.

[david w.]

I say leave it alone if it isn't yours!

[Rollins]

Please pardon my ignorance, but how would you get in/drive this car with no keys to it. I am sure there is a way to do it all without replacing all those parts that are specific to the original key.

[gr8fl4porsche]

'Leave it alone if it isn't yours'


I totally agree.
Everyone involved with the situation agrees too.

More info:

Car has been there going on 5 months.
Everyone has left it alone.
Something needs to be done.
Private Property.
Local Authorities cannot simply tow car since clearance is way too
low for any tow vehicle.
Removal of car has to be done by private business.
Removal of car will be done by private business.
Car eventually ( probably ) will be auctioned off or 'assumed'
by private business or local authorities.

Just researching the possibilities of legally becoming the next owner down the line thru all the proper channels.

Sometimes hard questions have to be asked.
Question bugs me too.

[TimB]

Finders keepers...

Why wouldn't the property owner want to take it?

[gr8fl4porsche]

Property owner rides around in the back of a new Caddy.
Has no use for a little import car.
Knows I do.

TimB - the 'Truth' - nice bike!!

[Jim Smolka]

If you could get the VIN # and run a trace... may be stolen.

I was listening to NPR and a caller told Click and Clack a similar story about a luxury car that had been in the airport parking lot for over a year. Turned out that the car had been stolen and was reported to have been involved in a couple of crimes. The insurance paid the owner for the car a while back. The guy work out a deal with insurance agent to purchase the car.

If the car is belongs to someone, IMHO it should go back to its owner, but if it is an insurance thing...

[mwbaum]

Its pretty easy to trace ownership from the plates...have you asked local police to run them?

[john walker's workshop]

push it to a bus stop. it will get impounded. follow thru on the auction.

[Eric Coffey]

Rollins-

All you would need is a flatbed with a winch. Even if the e-brake is on, you can "skid" it up the ramp. The bigger hassle is getting it OFF of the flatbed!



Gr8fl4porsche-

If you can get me the VIN or plate # (and state), I can get you some info (year, make, model, registered owner/address, lein holder, stolen, etc.)

-Eric

[Joe Bob]

Geez....the owner of the property calls a tow company. After the tow, the tow company notifies the registered owner via US Mail. The owner of the 911 has "X" amount of days to respond.

"IF" the property owner is smart, he makes a deal to buy the car from the tow yard AFTER and IF the owner fails to respond to the certified letter of "Notice of tow, storage and intent to lien sale" is sent.

The registered owner has a right to pay the tow fees and pick up the car. But if for some reason the owner does not respond, it is the property of the tow company after the lien sale is registered with DMV who then can sell the car to whoever....like the guy that owns the property.

More than likely there is a lien from a bank on it that also has to be satisfied. The bank also has the right to come pick it up and sell it themselves if the loan is in default....or it may be stolen, used in a robbery, yada yada yada.

Car Loan 101.....

[dtw]

I was in the business of doing EXACTLY THIS for over 2 years.

-If it's on private property, local authorities won't touch it with a ten foot pole.
-If it has been abandoned for this long, there's no reason to feel guilty about using legal procedures provided by DMV for exactly this purpose.
-No need to worry about moving it. A competent towman can have it out of there with a short wrecker (ie the non-rollback variety) and self-loading dollies. If he's got access to the rear axle and the tires have air, he'll have it out in seconds without even getting out of his truck.
-Key??? Heheheh. Ask any repo man how hard it is. Most agents have their own cutting machine and feeler set, and can cut a key for a car in about 15 minutes. Cost to you is generally 50 bucks.

Don't push it out onto public property and let the authorities get it, you'll never see it again.

You DO need to run the VIN. If a bank out there has an attached claim to this car, you're not gonna be getting it. Your tow buddy should know someone who can run a VIN for him. If there is a lien on the car, just do everyone involved a favor and call the lienholder.

Storytime: I got a call from a local tow guy in Fayetteville NC; he says "Are you the agent for such-and-such lending institution?" I say "Yeah." He went on to say that he'd found this really nice Mustang sitting in the worst slum in town, all the tires were slashed but otherwise it was in great shape. He said he'd be happy to bring it back to my yard in Raleigh for some ludicrous fee. I just laughed and told him I'd be by to get it; what was the address. I went and got it on sheer curiosity and brought it back to the lienholder. They looked up the file and noted with great surprise that the payments were up to date and not delinquent, even though this Mustang had been sitting in this slum for 4 months! They called the owner and said "we've got a Mustang with your name on it, want it back?" I could hear him yelling with joy over the phone. He had us put new tires on it and came and got it. Turns out he picked up some skank in a bar. They went back to his place and got freaky. He was so good at it she asked if she could borrow his car to run to the corner for cigarrettes. That was 4 months ago. Poor bastard was too embarrassed to call the cops. He kept making his payments for 4 months, for lack of a better idea.

Bottom line- there's always a story. Check it out, keep your hopes up but expectations low. Even if you get it, it's going to take forever.

[speeder]

I like getting something for nothing as much as the next guy, but the right thing to do is find out who the registered owner or lienholder is and contact them. The circumstances here are too fishy- there could be a crime or other tragedy involved here. I have aquired many cars under similar conditions, but I've always contacted the owner and sometimes got a great deal, more importantly the kharma was always straight. Important factor is just that you are the only one who knows where it is and no competition at this time. If you make a real effort to contact rightful owner and it's not possible, then pull your little "finders/keepers" plan and it's all good. Just my .02

[masraum]

Yeah, give the owner a chance first, then get the car. How crappy would it be if it was someone from NY 9/11 or someone who got shipped off to fight for the country in Afganistan.

If it's not a big deal then you've got the car anyway, but otherwise you could save someone tons of hassle and money.

[davis911s]

Good point Steve, with all that has been going on in the world who knows where the owner is.

Do whatever you can to try to locate the REAL owner, if you can't try to get it for yourself as mentioned above.

Just try to think of how you would feel if it were your car. What would you want someone to do?

Shawn