Claiming an abandoned car?

[schuey]

What if.......
Vehicle has been parked on private land for nearly 6 years,was left after the owner could not pay the bill and the garage kept it as payment.Said garage has since gone bust and fled the scene,leaving a load of cars and other tat lying around for good amount of time.Their liquidators know nothing about it,the owner has either moved/died/changed details as she cannot be traced with the availiable numbers etc,but obviously isn't bothered as its been there so long.
The landlord has complained and given 7 days for removal,the chap who is dealing with it is going to drag it in to the street for the council to take and scrap as its not easy to get at with a truck.
I mentioned it in passing to him as I liked the look of it and was willing to part with some pennies,hence why I know all of the above and he said "take it as the council are going ot charge me otherwise and I will never get the clamping/storage fees etc paid back"
So,I am collecting it for him on my low loader on sat,much to the relief of all parties including the surrounding units who have complained to the landlords.
In a situation like this surely I claim it legally as I have been asked to remove it and tried every avenue(two weeks of pi$$ing about trying to find out about it!)
Any ideas? Ta.

[Huntsman]

WeirdNeville said:

planetdave said:

It's a free car Nev.

And once you have title anyone with the keys would be stealing it. However I believe that usually you might just have to have a new set of locks in case the keys aren't in the ignition.

No, it's theft.

If the car is left there you can't just assume that no-one owns/wants it. As far as I know there is no way to transfer the ownership of a vehicle legally without the consent of the current registered keeper. That's why you need them to send off their part of the V5 to the DVLA.

Back to the real world: Face it it's a shagged out car with zero value and trying to claim ownership of it will only end in tears/vast expenditure. Give it a proper burial and get it crushed by the council....

Quite right. 'It stealing by finding' and you can be had up in front of the beak for it.

You can claim it but you have to be able later to demonstrate that you made a reasonable effort to find the owner, such as ads in local paper.

[Pitheman]

I'm a bit late...

But this is a serious question. OKay so there is a volkswagen golf in my building. It located in the basement and the owner left it there for a few years because he didn't want to take it with him to Germany. The car seems old since there is massive dust on it and the tires are flat. The car is in the garage of my apartment building and I don't know what to do with it. I want to keep it, but then contacting the owner and stuff would be impossible since who knows where he is now?

What I want to know is if it is possible to claim the vehicule in Quebec without contacting the previous owner.

Is there a certain law where if a vehicule is 10 years or over abandoned then it is claimable? or something like that?

What is the V5 thing that everyone talks about? Is it the engine?

And lastly, I want to know all my rights before even thinking of owning the vehicule. No one knows yet that it is abandoned and the keys are with the landlord!

So is it possible?

Thank you!

[BigBen]

Pitheman said:

What is the V5 thing that everyone talks about? Is it the engine?

The V5 is the engine, very popular in European cars and an ideal compromise between an I4 and a V6 giving the best of both worlds albeit at the expense of smooth running, longevity and fuel economy.

[bmw2002]

BigBen said:

Pitheman said:

What is the V5 thing that everyone talks about? Is it the engine?

The V5 is the engine, very popular in European cars and an ideal compromise between an I4 and a V6 giving the best of both worlds albeit at the expense of smooth running, longevity and fuel economy.

Ah yes, but the V62 is the thing to go for, even better if its got the DVLA upgrade.

[hornetrider]

Pitheman said:

I'm a bit late...

But this is a serious question. OKay so there is a volkswagen golf in my building. It located in the basement and the owner left it there for a few years because he didn't want to take it with him to Germany. The car seems old since there is massive dust on it and the tires are flat. The car is in the garage of my apartment building and I don't know what to do with it. I want to keep it, but then contacting the owner and stuff would be impossible since who knows where he is now?

What I want to know is if it is possible to claim the vehicule in Quebec without contacting the previous owner.

Is there a certain law where if a vehicule is 10 years or over abandoned then it is claimable? or something like that?

What is the V5 thing that everyone talks about? Is it the engine?

And lastly, I want to know all my rights before even thinking of owning the vehicule. No one knows yet that it is abandoned and the keys are with the landlord!

So is it possible?

Thank you!

Is the car yours? No. In which case, leave it the feck alone. I dare say the 'landlord' would have something to say about your plan.

[agent006]

Pitheman said:

What is the V5 thing that everyone talks about? Is it the engine?

V5 is the reference code for the UK registration document.

[Pitheman]

Is there a certain law where if a vehicule is abandoned for 10 years then a person can easily take it by just signing a paper for it. I saw it on another site this is why i am asking?

[Pitheman]

Also is there an easier way to contacting the owner since I can't really contact the previous owner?
There has to be a way!

[11110111]

bit of a thread resurection...

I want to claim ownership of an abandoned, damaged and untaxed car.

I have reported the car to the local council and on the e-mail I have stated I want to claim ownership if the original owner does not contact them.

Apparently I need to write to the owner to see if they will relinquish ownership to me, how do I find out their details?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

11110111

[randlemarcus]

11110111 said:

bit of a thread resurection...

I want to claim ownership of an abandoned, damaged and untaxed car.

I have reported the car to the local council and on the e-mail I have stated I want to claim ownership if the original owner does not contact them.

Apparently I need to write to the owner to see if they will relinquish ownership to me, how do I find out their details?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

11110111

Re-read the thread you necro'ed

DVLA, apply for new v5 in your name etc etc. Please note this doesnt mean you OWN it, it merely marks you as the registered keeper.

[jshell]

In the past I've been overseas working for up to 2 months at a time. According to some of you brightsparks you could just wander along and claim my 'abandoned' car??

Thieving feckers! Every in the UK wants it all for nothing...

[lost in espace]

If you apply to become the registered owner of the car DVLA will write to the owner and tell them of the proposed change in registered owner. If they have moved you will be OK I suppose, but if not and they contact the police and tell them you have stolen the car that is when you will need a valid reason for taking it, I suppose in payment for a debt ie parking on your land.

I speak as a layman in these matters.

[GC8]

*nods*

It shows a lack of breeding: don't you think?

[300bhp/ton]

WeirdNeville said:

planetdave said:

It's a free car Nev.

And once you have title anyone with the keys would be stealing it. However I believe that usually you might just have to have a new set of locks in case the keys aren't in the ignition.

No, it's theft.

If the car is left there you can't just assume that no-one owns/wants it. As far as I know there is no way to transfer the ownership of a vehicle legally without the consent of the current registered keeper. That's why you need them to send off their part of the V5 to the DVLA.

Back to the real world: Face it it's a shagged out car with zero value and trying to claim ownership of it will only end in tears/vast expenditure. Give it a proper burial and get it crushed by the council....

But it's not zero value. Depending on the condition and age it might be worth £400-£1000 easy to sell. And to some people that's actually quite a lot of money. Ok if it isn't for you, but we aren't all rich you know.

[Scraggles]

jshell said:

In the past I've been overseas working for up to 2 months at a time. According to some of you brightsparks you could just wander along and claim my 'abandoned' car??

Thieving feckers! Every in the UK wants it all for nothing...

on the other hand, if a car has not moved from it's spot for years due to no air in the tires, thick dust etc, what would happen if the owner is dead and never coming back or had forgotten about it ?

[R11ysf]

Scraggles said:

jshell said:

In the past I've been overseas working for up to 2 months at a time. According to some of you brightsparks you could just wander along and claim my 'abandoned' car??

Thieving feckers! Every in the UK wants it all for nothing...

on the other hand, if a car has not moved from it's spot for years due to no air in the tires, thick dust etc, what would happen if the owner is dead and never coming back or had forgotten about it ?

Then it becomes the property of the deceased's estate. At no point does it ever legally pass on to someone who just fancied it.

For the sake of argument let's assume this is the car and then re-think your suggestions.

[jshell]

lost in espace said:

I speak as a layman in these matters.

Yes you do.

It's 'registered keeper' on the V5, not 'registered owner'. You are not the owner until the real owner relinquishes the property. It's theft. Pure and simple.

[jshell]

Scraggles said:

jshell said:

In the past I've been overseas working for up to 2 months at a time. According to some of you brightsparks you could just wander along and claim my 'abandoned' car??

Thieving feckers! Every in the UK wants it all for nothing...

on the other hand, if a car has not moved from it's spot for years due to no air in the tires, thick dust etc, what would happen if the owner is dead and never coming back or had forgotten about it ?

As R11ysf says above.

[Accelebrate]

Interesting topic.

There's a motorbike in the underground garage of the building that I work in, it hasn't moved whilst I've been working there (getting on for two years) and according to colleagues it's been there far longer than that. It isn't taxed or insured and the owner is believed to be an ex-employee of another company (who no longer inhabit the building) who has now moved abroad.

Every 6 months or so the building owners have a 'bicycle cull' and get a company in to remove any bikes that are left there over the weekend, I believe the company who removes the bikes does so for free and then makes a profit by selling on the bikes that they remove. Apart from being dragged around a bit to clean underneath it nobody has ever removed the motorbike or had it crushed, always amuses me a little because it's worth less and takes up more room than some of the bicycles that have been 'culled' in the past.

Given that the previous owner no longer has access to the building or garage, is believed to be abroad and probably has no interest in the old bike he used to commute about on I predict it'll remain there for quite a few years to come. I wouldn't personally accuse anyone who took the appropriate steps to try and claim it as being out of line.