How do I claim an abandoned car.

[AUTOMAN]

I have been looking at an abandoned car, but can't find out if I can claim it. The car has been reported to the police and the DVLA, but yet it still stands unwanted and out of road tax. It is a KA, but I was hoping to claim it and either repair and sell it, or just strip it for parts.

Does anybody know how to claim such a vehicle, who's owners moved away over 5 months ago?

If I can get hold of this car, then the cash raised would be useful in the viva restoration fund, as my wife is now telling me that I need all future work on my cars to be funded by me. She goes through fazes like this.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Ian.
AUTOMAN.

[griffonmark]

I once had a car left on my company car park. I contacted the police who didn't want to know. I then contacted DVLA who for £2.50 gave me the registered keeper's details. I wrote to him with a bill for storage and he wrote back saying I could have the car, a broken down Carlton. I gave it to a local scrapyard and got my parking space back.

The vehicle will be some person's property until that person no longer wants it. Under the new environmental laws, I think they were brought in April about 2 years ago, any vehicle no longer wanted by its owner automatically becomes hazardous waste, regardless of condition. At that point the vehicle can only be disposed of by a properly licensed waste disposal company.

I think the first step is to contact the last registered keeper and get their permission to take over the vehicle. There is no way you can own somebody else's car without their permission and if you do it up to sell you could be sued by the owner for the car back. Vehicles are an exception to most stolen goods in that title does remain with the owner. I have handled lots of cases on that basis and they are very complicated to resolve, especially when the new 'owner' improves a vehicle he has obtained in 'good faith'. I remember dealing with a mini cooper years ago that had been stolen and was then sold in good faith to someone who rebuilt the car. The police took the car off him and a 2 year battle ensued over ownership. Eventually the new owner had to buy the vehicle again.

You could try and apply for a reg doc as at one time you would be sent one if the previous keeper did not respond to a letter from DVLA advising them there had been an application. This system may have tightened though with the new reg docs.

Regards

Mark

[droopsnoot]

You went to a lot of trouble over the car abandoned on your private property.

I came into work a couple of years back to find someone had abandoned an old Ford Orion on our car park. After contacting the police and getting the same response as you, I put a notice on the car saying that the owner had 48 hours to remove it (in case it had genuinely broken down and the owner was going to come back, either all apologetic or all violent) and when it was still in place, I called a local scrapyard and got them to take it away. I did consider 'bouncing' it onto the road so it was the councils problem, but I thought it might still be there months later. Now they're a lot more "hot" on removing cars abandoned on the public road.

Granted in this case it was a fair assumption that it was abandoned - the tax disc was expired and didn't match the car registration, and the glass sunroof had been replaced with a sheet of steel held in place with gaffer tape.