when one make an abandoned car report

[WhyMe]

do they contact the owner and tell them ?

So in front of my moms house cars tend to park there for a week or more at a time. there has been a lot of construction in her area where they are putting up multi family housing . so 6 units get 6 spaces for 9 cars and the overflow goes all over.

So mom complains to me and i report its via the online portal to the Seattle police abandoned vehicles. did it 5 times last year. The last 3 times i did it, the cars moved themselves in a day. seems kinda odd that they all would move a day from me putting in the compliant. i wonder if they contact the owner and tell them about the issue.

in the past they would send a parking enforcement before they did anything. this could take a week or two. So do people get a call or email these days to the registered owner?

 

[Kira]

Are these cars road legal? And, are these cars parked in compliance with parking ordinances?

Sounds like building codes are not addressing the realities of car ownership.

My brother lives in a town where the big apartment building nearby, once attractive to many automobileless people due to the train station, is inhabited entirely by car owners today.

 

[talest]

Depends. If a car is really abandoned.. well okay maybe they will put a sticker on it or something first, the police agency, advising whoever that if car is not moved by such and such date that it will be impounded, at which time maybe a notice will go out to registered owner.. I've seen cars left along the highway sometimes they have a sticker on the driver door window and then they are not there anymore. Whether the owner moved them or they were towed, and by who, nobody really knows unless it's your car that happened to.

Surely, procedures vary by agency and place. Like if your car gets towed off a private property (illegal parking at McDonalds, CAMCAR etc.) Do they tell the police? No, you call the company and come get it... Police got your car, they initiated the tow? You may need to get a "release" which is sure to make the tab go up, the clock is ticking..

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by WhyMe
So in front of my moms house cars tend to park there for a week or more at a time. there has been a lot of construction in her area where they are putting up multi family housing . so 6 units get 6 spaces for 9 cars and the overflow goes all over.
People park on the streets where population density is high, that's a fundamental aspect of living in the city.

I live in the city and my neighbor has a SUV, a work van, a car and a travel trailer and a single lane three car driveway. Part of being a decent neighbor is not calling the cops immediately.

If the car has valid registration it pays for the right to park on the street where it is legal to do so, even for long periods of time.

 

[Lyman]

Around here you can park for 72 hours at a time. They will generally leave you alone till someone reports it. Parking enforcement will come mark tires and 72 hours later it might get towed. Key word "might"

 

[PimTac]

You live in Seattle?

Good luck with that. They have a hands off policy on that kind of thing.

 

[atikovi]

Originally Posted by WhyMe
So in front of my moms house cars tend to park there for a week or more at a time.


She doesn't own the street. Absent a sign saying anything to the contrary, anyone with a legally registered vehicle can park there for as long as they want. What if mom went out of town for 2 weeks, left her car on the street, and found it was towed after a week because a neighbour reported it abandoned?

 

[WhyMe]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by WhyMe
So in front of my moms house cars tend to park there for a week or more at a time.


She doesn't own the street. Absent a sign saying anything to the contrary, anyone with a legally registered vehicle can park there for as long as they want. What if mom went out of town for 2 weeks, left her car on the street, and found it was towed after a week because a neighbour reported it abandoned?


not according to the city of seattle

https://www.seattle.gov/transportat...ions/72-hour-on-street-parking-ordinance

these people park and not move their car for a week or more before i report it.

 

[atikovi]

That's some harsh rules, 72 hours? Surprised nobody has tried to challenged it.

 

[talest]

Ever had your car towed for street sweeping, got it towed, then had a parking ticket under the windshield when you got it out of the tow yard?

As to parking tickets in general.. they can come at virtually any time. Yeah, there are still some spots places where there arent any markers as to if an owner or resident has their car parked there, and they fill up fast. Can leave the car parked there for awhile. Once, they left a stolen car there and the police came and got it. So they must have went around with the ALPR on. It was a Buick Century they stole.

If there is no signage indicating you cant park somewhere, then you should be fine. That would be, in essence, free parking. I knew someone had a car parked for months, and by months I mean almost a year, on a street like that (no signage on one side) until it finally got towed. And I mean, not even moved one time, not even up a space or anything. So that person was just asking for it. Then wanted to know where the car went..

Same for side blocks vs avenues. I had a car parked in front of my house for about 9 months once before I initiated the tow. Yeah, it was my car, but it was parked on a public street. Got someone else's car towed that way because they had an expired inspection sticker. Moved my car right in behind once they towed it away. Called it Illegal Parking, since the car had expired inspection. Illegal car. Unsafe. All that. But when it was there.. was never a problem.

Nevermind those who park in driveways..

 

[Hall]

Most localities have a limit on how long a car can park on the street (in the same spot). Can't speak for Seattle but I'll bet you they have a limit as well. This only applies to vehicles with license plates and up-to-date registration too, of course.

That said, no one "owns" any spots on the street, even when it's right in front of their own home....

 

[fsdork]

Originally Posted by atikovi
That's some harsh rules, 72 hours? Surprised nobody has tried to challenged it.


It's the same here in Alberta. Once the car moves, the clock is reset. Most of the time, my household has one vehicle street parked, so I just make sure the less frequently used ones get priority in the driveway.

 

[rubberchicken]

Semi-related: I used to write and maintain programs for a municipal government that managed parking tickets. Anytime they hired a new developer in that IT shop, they were handed the parking ticket system to cut their teeth in the organization. I couple of oddities stand out: they made 800% more revenue on parking tickets than on parking meter fees. Parking was very tight in the more popular areas, and they were more than happy to heavily patrol those areas because it helped out the local citizens, and generated a lot of revenue. Parking enforcement was provided with what was called the "Boot List"- essentially a printout of the top offenders for parking tickets. If a vehicle had more than 3 outstanding parking tickets in 30 days, they got on the boot list, and the Parking Enforcement was somehow rewarded by spotting big offenders.

A funny story was one time a Parking Enforcement officer called for a tow for a vehicle that had maybe 5 tickets, probably $150-200 outstanding. Tow truck shows up and they refuse to tow it because it was a Lamborghini Countach , and nobody knew the proper way to hook it up. In this area all parking enforcement tows went to the city impound, and the rates were regulated by the city, and the tow company was held liable for damages. (you know this was a long time ago as the rules were far more reasonable than today). For some reason the few wheel boots they had at the time could not be fitted to the car either. They were told essentially to leave the car alone as it was a waste of time, so everybody went off to do their thing. But it ticked off the parking enforcement officer, so she decided to pay the Lambo dealer in the area a visit, and got copies of the procedures to tow the Lambo. She also contacted her favorite tow company and made arrangements to get a flatbed with a driver that was a bit more flexible. A few weeks later they got another chance and successfully towed the Lambo. Her efforts paid off really well, so she went to the area Porsche, Ferrari , Rolls Royce / Bentley dealers and picked up copies of proper tow procedures.

Another funny tidbit- an expensive car gets booted for many outstanding tickets. The owner either had access to a tow truck, or bribed a tow truck from outside the city to pick up the car and tow it to his house, where he proceeded to use a cutting torch to remove the boot. The problem is those boots are expensive, and Parking Enforcement does not take kindly when somebody tries to game the system. They just called the police and had a warrant issued for his arrest, and they actually did arrest him at a later time. So what was probably $250+ in parking fines turned into thousands as he had to hire a lawyer, go to court, pay the fines, pay for the boot etc. It was not a well thought out plan since they had his tag number, which led directly to the owner.

 

[SevenBizzos]

In a higher population density area like that, parking on the street is expected. It looks like the planner required one parking spot for each unit, so that's good. I'm surprised the on street parking ordinance is that tight. I know when I'm in Chicago, you'll see cars that obviously haven't been moved in months or maybe years.