Multiple abandoned cars, what are my options?
Discussion
Okay not your usual I have stumbled across an abandoned car and want to claim it as mine thread!
Without giving too much info away, I am in a posistion where there are multiple abandoned cars and they are 100% abandoned cars, the tax disc has expired on all vehicles and it is in years not just a few months, most are not roadworthy and there is no chance the owners want the cars back.
None of the cars have tax/mot, most have just been sitting rotting away, now the time has come to remove the cars and clear some ground.
Note none of the cars are exotic or worth ££££'s, probably the best car is a 2001 Rover 75! 'Best' in the loosest terms!
I dont own a car trailer, so cant be towed away, so what are my options? Ebay or get a scrapyard to collect? If scrapyard how much would they pay roughly?
If I go the Ebay route, what problems might I come up against? the cars have no paperwork, keys, tax or MOT, can the cars just be sold for spares?
Without giving too much info away, I am in a posistion where there are multiple abandoned cars and they are 100% abandoned cars, the tax disc has expired on all vehicles and it is in years not just a few months, most are not roadworthy and there is no chance the owners want the cars back.
None of the cars have tax/mot, most have just been sitting rotting away, now the time has come to remove the cars and clear some ground.
Note none of the cars are exotic or worth ££££'s, probably the best car is a 2001 Rover 75! 'Best' in the loosest terms!
I dont own a car trailer, so cant be towed away, so what are my options? Ebay or get a scrapyard to collect? If scrapyard how much would they pay roughly?
If I go the Ebay route, what problems might I come up against? the cars have no paperwork, keys, tax or MOT, can the cars just be sold for spares?
If you can be bothered to strip the best bits off and put them individually on ebay then you'll probably make the best cash but it's a chunk of work. Easiest would be to get a breaker to take them away, scrap is pretty valuable at the moment so you'd get some payment for very little effort.
First thing to do is to contact the RK, and the easiest way to do it is to get the DVLA to write a letter to them telling them you want to become the RK. There's a form for that, the V762 I believe.
Once you are the RK you will have the address of the previous owner, and can contact them to talk about what to do with the cars. Bear in mind that even if you are the RK you aren't the owner, and if the owners are upset about you stripping and scrapping the cars on your land it might be theft.
Once you are the RK you will have the address of the previous owner, and can contact them to talk about what to do with the cars. Bear in mind that even if you are the RK you aren't the owner, and if the owners are upset about you stripping and scrapping the cars on your land it might be theft.
Tread very carefully. If any of the cars are abandoned due to being used in criminal activity or reclaimed by their rightfull owners any time in the future you could find yourself in very deep trouble.
If you want them cleared because they're an eyesore report it to the council. If you want to profit from their destruction then you're leaving yourself open to taking without consent and selling stolen goods. Five to ten years sharing a six by eight cell with a bloke who calls you "Mary" when the lights go out isn't worth the price of scrap in my opinion, but if you want to risk it then it's up to you.
If you want them cleared because they're an eyesore report it to the council. If you want to profit from their destruction then you're leaving yourself open to taking without consent and selling stolen goods. Five to ten years sharing a six by eight cell with a bloke who calls you "Mary" when the lights go out isn't worth the price of scrap in my opinion, but if you want to risk it then it's up to you.
Edited by Liquid Knight on Sunday 29th May 11:53
Alfa GTV said:
Without giving too much info away, I am in a posistion where there are multiple abandoned cars and they are 100% abandoned cars, the tax disc has expired on all vehicles and it is in years not just a few months, most are not roadworthy and there is no chance the owners want the cars back.
I appreciate that LKs advice will be legally correct and wouldn't want to suggest breaking the law but given the above and how hard it would be to prove that the OP was the beneficiary of a quick cash disposal (scrap option could be fairly untraceable) there is perhaps a point at which you can be too cautious..............Call the council if you want rid. Ultimately you cannot say with 100% certainty that those cars are actually abandoned, and therefore could get yourself into an awful lot of trouble if you remove them yourself.
I've had similar problems in the past and the only way I was able to get around it was to contact the owners and ask them politely if they would mind having them removed. That generally involved asking around in the street I live in and eventually I would find out whose car it is. Generally as soon as I mentioned an abandoned car to the owner, the car would be gone within a couple of weeks. Especially when I pointed out that there are some people who will take cars away for free.
I've had similar problems in the past and the only way I was able to get around it was to contact the owners and ask them politely if they would mind having them removed. That generally involved asking around in the street I live in and eventually I would find out whose car it is. Generally as soon as I mentioned an abandoned car to the owner, the car would be gone within a couple of weeks. Especially when I pointed out that there are some people who will take cars away for free.
It was the other way round for me. I bought a "Barn find" Mk1 Triumph Vitesse estate in 1999 (my first project) the tax disc ran out in 1982 and there was no paperwork or record of the car on the updated (in 1992) DVLA database. I restored the car, got a V.I.C check, sent it to the DVLA only to get a letter back saying the car was stolen in 1982 and never recovered. This meant it was legally the property of the insurance company and I had to buy it from them and put the car on a "Q" plate, then apply for an age related plate.
If the car's have been on private property for over six months and a day and there is evidence to prove that; then the property owner has a right to take posession. The chap I had bought the Vitesse from did this because he had bought the barn, found the car and the expiration date of the tax disc and amount of dust was proof the car had been there long enough to legally do this. Neither I or the owner of the barn were prosicuted but from the sounds of things (or how I have interprited this thread) the OP is looking to take possession and sell parts or scrap vehicles he has happened to come across and appear to be abandoned.
This is theft by finding, theft of a motor vehicle and sale of stolen goods. It's as simple as that.
If the mod's would be so kind as to move this thread to the "Speed, Plod and Law" forum the guys there will be a lot more helpful than I have been.
If the car's have been on private property for over six months and a day and there is evidence to prove that; then the property owner has a right to take posession. The chap I had bought the Vitesse from did this because he had bought the barn, found the car and the expiration date of the tax disc and amount of dust was proof the car had been there long enough to legally do this. Neither I or the owner of the barn were prosicuted but from the sounds of things (or how I have interprited this thread) the OP is looking to take possession and sell parts or scrap vehicles he has happened to come across and appear to be abandoned.
This is theft by finding, theft of a motor vehicle and sale of stolen goods. It's as simple as that.
If the mod's would be so kind as to move this thread to the "Speed, Plod and Law" forum the guys there will be a lot more helpful than I have been.
Steve H said:
Alfa GTV said:
Without giving too much info away, I am in a posistion where there are multiple abandoned cars and they are 100% abandoned cars, the tax disc has expired on all vehicles and it is in years not just a few months, most are not roadworthy and there is no chance the owners want the cars back.
I appreciate that LKs advice will be legally correct and wouldn't want to suggest breaking the law but given the above and how hard it would be to prove that the OP was the beneficiary of a quick cash disposal (scrap option could be fairly untraceable) there is perhaps a point at which you can be too cautious..............Liquid Knight said:
MrLou said:
Maybe not, but I bet he could find someone who'd take it away for him and probably thrust a few notes in his hand for the opportunity.
Theft by a third party is still theft. You'd still be looking at a prison sentence when (not if) you get caught. If I had a bunch of abandoned cars on my land I'd get rid to a scrapper, anybody comes back and I'd tell them that they can charge me for disposing of the car if I can charge for the storage up until this time!
freecar said:
If I had a bunch of abandoned cars on my land I'd get rid to a scrapper, anybody comes back and I'd tell them that they can charge me for disposing of the car if I can charge for the storage up until this time!
Since it's no longer going to be legal even to clamp cars parked on private land I suggest you tread very carefully!Why take the risks outlined by Liquid Knight above? A car is just about the most traceable form of property there is.
Ozzie Osmond said:
freecar said:
If I had a bunch of abandoned cars on my land I'd get rid to a scrapper, anybody comes back and I'd tell them that they can charge me for disposing of the car if I can charge for the storage up until this time!
Since it's no longer going to be legal even to clamp cars parked on private land I suggest you tread very carefully!Why take the risks outlined by Liquid Knight above? A car is just about the most traceable form of property there is.
If somebody abandons a vehicle until the tax runs out on my land, it's gone.
If somebody would complain I'd bill them £100 a day for the storage of their vehicle.
It's quite simple to say you don't have the right, but what right does somebody have to access somebody elses land? To then leave their property there so the land owner couldn't touch it? Pull the other one, it's got bells on.
There is no profit either it is called covering costs, of storage!
Contact the DVLA for the addresses as you have a bill for the keeper, send bill with line on the bottom, "failure to remit within 30 days will result in the disposal of the vehicle to cover costs"
Dispose!
freecar said:
I don't believe the risks outlined by liquid knight.
If somebody abandons a vehicle until the tax runs out on my land, it's gone.
If somebody abandons a vehicle until the tax runs out on my land, it's gone.
If a vehicle is abandoned on your property you need to report it to the Police before anything else. As the vehicle may well have been abandoned because it has been used in a crime or stolen itself. If you scrap a vehicle that has been abandoned without checking with the Police first you may well have destroyed evidence vital to an ongoing Police investigation. Obstructing an officer or perverting the course of justice so you can make a few quid from a scrap car?
That'd be five years of your life taken care of (depending on the offence the vehicle was used for).
Once you have reported the vehicle to the Police and they have checked it out, you can then take a civil route after the Police have had a reasonable amount of time to try to contact the owner of the vehicle.
Just because it is on your property it does not gift you right to interfere with or dispose of someone elses property without their prior consent.
By taking away someones property with no intention of returning you are commiting theft. It's as simple as that.
Public property....
"Theft by finding" http://onlinecrimefiles.com/item/40
The situation the OP was describing was cars he happened to come across on public land and therefore it would constitute theft by finding.
In your example the vehicle is abandoned on your own property and without contacting the Police first you want to either dispose of the vehicle for profit or charge the owner storage for profit. Destroying the vehicle or selling any parts off of it you are denying the rightful owner access to their property permanently and therefore commiting theft (of a vehicle), anyone who may have purchased any items from you will have recieved stolen goods as well the scrap yard that disposed of the vehicle itself. As well as a criminal conviction anyone who paid you money for stolen property can take you to civil court to be compensated for their loss and subsequent defemation of character. A scrap yard was recently fined £100,000 for scrapping a stolen car. That would come out of your pocket when (not if) they take you to court.
While mixed metal is at £80 a Ton it's well worth the risk eh?
Edited by Liquid Knight on Tuesday 7th June 13:34
Liquid Knight said:
lots of stuff
Other than contacting the police to see if it is needed for crime I wouldn't give a toss about anything else you said.Frankly if a copper turned up on my doorstep telling me I'm wanted in relation to disposing of a vehicle, I'd say "prove it"
I can't honestly see any police officer wasting his time and mine running around after an old scrap car. They barely turn out to burglaries and vandalism, let alone a field where a car was allegedly left.
Unless I've missed the post, the OP want's to clear some ground which I assumed meant "his" ground. If it is public land then surely the council will turn up double quick and remove, if private and left for years then chuck em away.
Or tell the police that "do-as-you-likeys" came and took them, no chance on them following up on that!
Edited by freecar on Tuesday 7th June 13:46
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