Abandoned Off-Lease Vehicles

[SantoC]

We have had a vehicle dropped off by a customer and never retrieved by leasing company for more than a year. We have tried repeatedly to address through lease company, and they have no record of vehicle. Any thoughts on how to rid or claim vehicle due to length of abandonment?

HELP!

[fburrows]

I would try to trace the VIN through the Department of Motor Vehicles. If you do not have any luck there then I would call a dealership that handles that brand of cars and see if they can get any ownership information from the manufacturer. If you can locate the owner then they will be happy to pay a storage fee to recover the vehicle.

Laws vary state to state and if someone from New Jersey has any specific info they should reply. Generally you can probably get a mechanics lien for a storage fee for as long as the vehicle has been there. Generally you have to advertise the vehicle in the paper and hold a public auction that generally doesnt attract anyone. You can bid at this auction in case anyone shows up and bids a dollar. Then you can acquire a title for the vehicle. There are companies that handle this process for a fee and unless you have a lot of time on your hands it will probably make sense to hire someone to do all the paper work for you. The body shop manager or service manager probably already knows of a service that does this since it happens a lot more in service with cars that are not worth repairing.

I had an owner show up one time with $3000 in cash ten minutes before the auction. The main thing is to do things legally, because if you screw up there will be someone out there that wants to sue.


------------------
Frank Burrows ABS
fburrows@absdata.com