Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on January 18, 2004 01:45 PM
Your locality may be different, but I'm aware of localities in various states that have laws exactly as I cite.
Knock yourself out looking at Westlaw, Findlaw, Groklaw, but it won't change what exists.
In my location, and in other locations, if you have an unregistered car on your front lawn sitting on cement blocks, that car is abandoned as defined by the law, no matter how much the author is in love with the car. Exactly as the author describes. And it doesn't have to be a front lawn. It can be a rear yard or side yard as long as it is visible from the street or from a neighbor's house.
If the unregistered car is sitting on a public street, and not moved for 24 hours, that's illegal "storage", not abandonment. And I've heard of situations in quite a few localities on this as well.
Your second example states either register the car sitting on blocks, or put it in storage. No, and depends. Registering a car also requires a safety inspection in all 50 states. And an emissions inspection in some of the states or localities. If it is sitting on blocks, it is unlikely to be running, therefore will fail emissions. And it will fail anyway if you don't get the car to the inspection station. And safety? Forget it. As for storage, guess what? Try that in California. Don't know if it still applies to the entire state like it used to, but in certain localties it still applies. You can't have an unregistered car, no exceptions. You may succeed in towing it into the state without getting caught, but if someone sees it and reports it, you have a choice of paying a fine and registering it, or removing it from the state.
iirc, they passed the law originally to make sure that every car in the state passed emission requirements, and that no one imported (and kept) a polluting car in the state for any reason. There was quite a bit of discussion at the time that this was targeted directly at weekend non-professional racers that brought their cars to the racetrack and legally raced (among others). It was an all-out assault on polluting cars during the dark days.
Antiques are dealt with differently in certain situations, and must still be registered and road worthy in others.
Condition doesn't matter when it comes to deciding if it is abandoned. In most cases, if it is on the road with plates removed by owner/no registration, it is by law defined as abandoned. If it is stolen and the plates are removed, and there is no owner or insurance claim, it is abandoned. If the owner removed the plates and left it on the street, it is not just abandoned, but becomes the property of the locality.
If the car is stored on a front lawn that is not normally considered a parking spot, that violates a different law. Building department.
If the car is stored in a driveway instead of a garage, the car is in violation of fire codes because it is blocking access to the building by the fire department in case of a fire.
If that Model T is sitting on blocks on a front lawn in many localities, regardless of how valuable or collectible it is, if it isn't registered, the property owner will be hit with fines. It needs to be garaged or put in storage, and in some localities will be exempted (nearly always still requiring storage when not in "use") from abandonment, including California.
I don't believe I qualified the age of the car relative to abandonment, but was talking specifically about the situation of the author's 67 Chevy. The same laws would apply to a brand new Ferrari sitting out on cement blocks on someone's front lawn.
Learn about Linux
Download Linux
Get Linux help
Re:Limited ownership of cars
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on January 18, 2004 01:45 PMKnock yourself out looking at Westlaw, Findlaw, Groklaw, but it won't change what exists.
In my location, and in other locations, if you have an unregistered car on your front lawn sitting on cement blocks, that car is abandoned as defined by the law, no matter how much the author is in love with the car. Exactly as the author describes. And it doesn't have to be a front lawn. It can be a rear yard or side yard as long as it is visible from the street or from a neighbor's house.
If the unregistered car is sitting on a public street, and not moved for 24 hours, that's illegal "storage", not abandonment. And I've heard of situations in quite a few localities on this as well.
Your second example states either register the car sitting on blocks, or put it in storage. No, and depends. Registering a car also requires a safety inspection in all 50 states. And an emissions inspection in some of the states or localities. If it is sitting on blocks, it is unlikely to be running, therefore will fail emissions. And it will fail anyway if you don't get the car to the inspection station. And safety? Forget it. As for storage, guess what? Try that in California. Don't know if it still applies to the entire state like it used to, but in certain localties it still applies. You can't have an unregistered car, no exceptions. You may succeed in towing it into the state without getting caught, but if someone sees it and reports it, you have a choice of paying a fine and registering it, or removing it from the state.
iirc, they passed the law originally to make sure that every car in the state passed emission requirements, and that no one imported (and kept) a polluting car in the state for any reason. There was quite a bit of discussion at the time that this was targeted directly at weekend non-professional racers that brought their cars to the racetrack and legally raced (among others). It was an all-out assault on polluting cars during the dark days.
Antiques are dealt with differently in certain situations, and must still be registered and road worthy in others.
Condition doesn't matter when it comes to deciding if it is abandoned. In most cases, if it is on the road with plates removed by owner/no registration, it is by law defined as abandoned. If it is stolen and the plates are removed, and there is no owner or insurance claim, it is abandoned. If the owner removed the plates and left it on the street, it is not just abandoned, but becomes the property of the locality.
If the car is stored on a front lawn that is not normally considered a parking spot, that violates a different law. Building department.
If the car is stored in a driveway instead of a garage, the car is in violation of fire codes because it is blocking access to the building by the fire department in case of a fire.
If that Model T is sitting on blocks on a front lawn in many localities, regardless of how valuable or collectible it is, if it isn't registered, the property owner will be hit with fines. It needs to be garaged or put in storage, and in some localities will be exempted (nearly always still requiring storage when not in "use") from abandonment, including California.
I don't believe I qualified the age of the car relative to abandonment, but was talking specifically about the situation of the author's 67 Chevy. The same laws would apply to a brand new Ferrari sitting out on cement blocks on someone's front lawn.
#