This is just one of the stories in our ‘I’ve Always Asked Myself’ series, where we tackle all your questions about the business world, regardless of its size. Have you ever wondered if recycling is worth it? Or how store brands stack against brand name? What do you wonder? Let us know here.
Auditor Cinthia Bonilla sent this question:
When cars, boats, RVs or any other vehicle are left on the side of the road and no one picks it up, who pays for its removal? If no one claims it, can the road authority sell it to use the funds to improve the roads? Where do these forgotten vehicles end up?
At first, this seemed like an easy series of questions to answer – except that the roads and items found on the sides fall under a number of different government agencies and the bureaucracy is anything but straightforward. Who is responsible and where the funds end up also varies by state.
Let’s break this question down by question:
When cars, boats, RVs or any other vehicle are left on the side of the road and no one picks it up, who pays for its removal?
Our first attempt to answer this question brought us to the US Department of Transportation. According to them, the responsibility for keeping the roads clean lies with national and local authorities.
“Each state has a slightly different process, but – in general – items like the ones you describe are collected by the National Highway Patrol and disposed of,” said Doug Hecox, a spokesperson for the department. “This is also true of road fatalities – animals hit and killed by vehicles. Keeping highways and the cleared area on either side free from accumulated obstacles is an ongoing responsibility of state highway patrols. “
Whether the responsibility lies with the state or local government depends on the type of road it is. For example, highways would come under state highway patrol while local roads like those in your city would come under local government oversight.
Let’s take a look at New York City, where local street removal is the responsibility of two city agencies.
“Non-abandoned / stolen vehicles are towed away by NYPD. Abandoned vehicles are towed by the sanitation department, ”New York City Department of Transportation spokesperson Alana Morales told Marketplace.
An abandoned car is a car that has missing parts, has exterior or interior damage, has been burnt down, or is eight years old or older, according to Belinda Mager, director of digital media and communications at the Sanitation Department. New York (DSNY). . In addition, the car must be without license plates.
“Private towing and scrap garages are hired by DSNY to collect the vehicles. We receive a fee for each vehicle that is picked up, ”Mager said.
Proceeds from vehicle scrapping are used to pay for removal – towing and any storage.
Things aren’t that different in our other example, California, where we explored freeway moves rather than local roads.
“If the California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer stumbles upon an abandoned car, a notice is placed on the vehicle. The driver or registered owner must remove the vehicle from the roadway within four hours. If the vehicle is not removed, the vehicle is stored in a tow yard, ”said Mike Martis, Jr., a spokesperson for CHP.
If the car is registered, the CHP informs the owner of the location of their car and how to collect it. When the owner picks up the car, they will be asked to pay the towing and storage charges. If the owner does not show up within 30 days, “the tow yard begins the stages of auctioning the vehicle,” Martis said. The funds are then used to cover the costs of towing and storing the car.
Where do these forgotten vehicles end up?
As mentioned above, many of them tend to be towed and stored for a specific period of time. Then they are either sold for scrap or auctioned off.
If no one claims it, can the road authority sell it to use the funds to improve the roads?
The most direct answer to this question probably came from the California Department of Motor Vehicle.
“Abandoned vehicles are not a reliable source of income,” said Marty Greenstein, public information manager at the California DMV. “Their sale would barely cover the costs of towing, storage and shredding, let alone the cost of selling them for reuse.”
In California, when abandoned cars – whether found on the road, in a garage, in someone’s storage – are sold in a lien sale, the proceeds are broken down as follows: Part is used to cover towing costs, another to cover storage costs that might have been incurred, and then the rest is sent to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, not the local highway patrol.
Here is how much money the Department has received from these sales over the past three fiscal years:
- 2014-2015 fiscal year: $ 1,023,264
- 2015-16 financial year: $ 620,555
- 2016-2017 fiscal year: $ 917,283
So what does the DMV do with this money?
“The DMV does not use these funds because they belong to the vehicle owners who had their cars sold in a privileged sale,” Greenstein said. As to how much of that money was unclaimed, he couldn’t tell. “We have no historical data on the rate at which these funds are unclaimed.”
To sum up: most cars found on the side of the freeway are not worth much, and the proceeds from cars worth selling are usually put aside in case their owners show up.
We tried to find similar data in New York only so that the New York State DMV would tell us that it “does not receive financial compensation for the sale of abandoned vehicles.” The sale of vehicles goes directly to local towns and other relevant municipal authorities. “
If you know what happens to abandoned cars in your town / city, let us know in the comments section below.