Seized Cars (article)

1916

Article in todays IT, I didn't think as many cars were impounded every year

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0308/1224265795583.html

Seized cars reflect effects of recession
A garda checks cars in the Garda vehicle compound in Tallaght. Unless their owners come to claim them in the next six weeks, there is a strong chance that they will be crushed and discarded.

THEY SAY a car can tell you a lot about its owner.

One assumes a Honda Civic hatchback kitted out with a racing stripe, alloy wheels and tinted windows belongs to a young man with something of a need for speed.

A Toyota Previa people carrier, with baby seats in the back, is most likely owned by somebody with a growing family.

But what do the owners of a sporty silver 2004 BMW X5 SUV and a functional white 2006 Opel Combo CDTI van have in common?

The BMW has business cards advertising the work of a compliance specialist on the front seat, a best of Rod Stewart CD sitting just below the dash and novelty-sized piggy bank abandoned on the back seat.

Among the items littering the Opel are a Tweety Bird air freshener, a Joe Cocker album, an empty packet of butter cookies and a sign suggesting the owner has an involvement in a dairy business.

What these vehicles, a range of hatchbacks, saloons and trucks parked in the same west Dublin yard, share is a strong chance that they will be crushed and discarded inside the next six weeks unless their owners come to claim them.

They have all been impounded by gardaí under Section 41 of the Road Traffic Act because their owners have decided not to, forgotten to, refused to, or cannot afford to pay the appropriate tax or insurance.

Section 41 entitles gardaí to take a vehicle off the road if they discover that tax or insurance has been left unpaid for three months or more.

Section 20 of the same Act says that they can also impound a vehicle if it is deemed to no longer be roadworthy.

Last year, a total of 2,154 vehicles were impounded and sent to the Garda vehicle compound in Tallaght for not having tax or insurance.

Some 1,687 of these were collected by their owners, but 467 were not, and ended up being taken away and scrapped – in what gardaí describe as an “environmentally-friendly fashion”.

The same problem persists across the State. In the 26 counties last year, gardaí took possession of 27,161 vehicles under Section 41 – an increase of 2,000 on the previous year – of which some 5,000 were crushed.

Motorists who have their car impounded under Section 41 are charged €125 for the first 24 hours or part thereof and €35 per 24 hours thereafter.

A Garda spokesman says that the impounding of cars under Section 41 is not a money generating exercise but a means of trying to make the roads safer.

He says that a lot of discretion is shown to motorists, but that many offenders are now using fraudulent tax and insurance discs and that it is public who pay the price when these people make mistakes.

Further down the brick-walled Tallaght yard, an array of perfectly respectable family saloons, camper vans, mopeds, and any number of old bangers wait in line, all victims of their owners’ failings, and all in a race against time to avoid the crusher.

Among the 200-odd vehicles currently awaiting their fate is a 2007 Kilkenny-registered street sweeper.

“It’s a 2006 vehicle with a false 2007 plate,” says Garda Richard O’Leary. “It was possibly a mistake, but it can’t be put back on the road, taxed or insured until an investigation is complete.”

Next to it sits a large Iveco truck, which was impounded earlier that morning for not being taxed and carrying a load seven tonnes in excess of what it was supposed to. As well as Section 41, the yard also plays home to a number of imported vehicles impounded under Section 140 of the Finance Act because their owners failed to pay VRT.

A subdivision of foreign-registered cars, including a sparkling BMW 318G and a Honda Legend with a plush leather interior also wait in limbo, but their owners are likely to have to pay a ransom of thousands, rather than hundreds, to have them released.

About 20 yards away sits a blue 2000 Nissan Delivery van, which was last taxed in July 2007.

On the front seat sits a brand new Ralph Lauren polo shirt with tags still intact, a shining wristwatch, a card for a Radisson Hotel gym, builders hats, newspapers and a toothbrush.

“The owner of that one went out of business,” says Garda O’Leary.

“A lot of people can’t afford to tax or insure the vehicles anymore, so they are just surrendered to us . . . Once it gets to three weeks it’s very unlikely anyone will come back for it.”

Muckie

Theres gonna be some fine cars scrapped. Shame really. Wonder will
parts from theses cars(nice alloys) disappear before they go to the Scrapyard in the sky!

Cookie_Monster

why squash them, surely they could auction them off for funds?
also 2200 doesn't seem like a lot to me.

1916

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

.. 2200 doesn't seem like a lot to me.

2,200 in Tallaght (I assume not specifically relating to the very immediate area), 27,000 nationwide

Cookie_Monster

1916 wrote: »

2,200 in Tallaght (I assume not specifically relating to the very immediate area), 27,000 nationwide

should have read it properly

peasant

Surely, crushing these vehicles is a monumental waste of money?

If only half of the 5.000 crushed vehicles still represent some value ...say 10k on average, that's still 50 million.

How can they send that much down the crusher?

Eoin

peasant wrote: »

Surely, crushing these vehicles is a monumental waste of money?

If only half of the 5.000 crushed vehicles still represent some value ...say 10k on average, that's still 50 million.

How can they send that much down the crusher?

I'd love to know if there is some legal reason that they can't be redeployed in some way (other than as a coke can); it really does seem like such a massive waste.

Jip

I'm sure there is, and probably some part of it is down to liability of the state after they sell it, do they provide warranties, what happens if someone has a serious crash due to an unseen defect etc etc.

I suppose with the sale of garda owned vehicles they know the full story behind each one unlike any of the seized ones.

cadaliac

"A Garda spokesman says that the impounding of cars under Section 41 is not a money generating exercise but a means of trying to make the roads safer."

FFS !!! :rolleyes:

More lies.

keithclancy

Jip wrote: »

I suppose with the sale of garda owned vehicles they know the full story behind each one unlike any of the seized ones.

Yeah, they can vouch that its totally kackered :P

Ad would go:
Ex Garda car for sale, 4/5th gear rarely used, dents scratches all over. Nice Eau de Junkie smell in the back.

L1011

Selling them would be a supreme hassle in obtaining replacement documents, keys, etc as well as the fact that you're then selling someone a car that a disgruntled ex owner of has keys for (albeit unable to start the engine with if its a modern ECU that can have old keys removed) and has no recorded service history.

For some of them it'd be worth it as there are some fairly valuable motors going in but for most, it wouldn't. That tarted Civic wouldn't clear enough being sold with no S/H and the chance the previous owner would just 'borrow' it back to cover the admin for instance.

peasant

Ok ..so maybe selling them whole isn't such a good idea, but they still shouldn't be crushed though.

Give them to FAS and let them be dismantled in automotive courses. The (controlled) sale of the parts (via a governement e-bay style website, no warranties implied or given) could pay for the course, the website and all the people employed in making the system work.

But that would be creative, so we wouldn't expect those in charge to come up with it.

keithclancy

peasant wrote: »

Ok ..so maybe selling them whole isn't such a good idea, but they still shouldn't be crushed though.

Give them to FAS and let them be dismantled in automotive courses. The (controlled) sale of the parts (via a governement e-bay style website, no warranties implied or given) could pay for the course, the website and all the people employed in making the system work.

But that would be creative, so we wouldn't expect those in charge to come up with it.

They did it with NAMA, maybe setup a Government spare parts company ala scrap yard.

smash

What's a BMW 318G?

J K

cadaliac wrote: »

"A Garda spokesman says that the impounding of cars under Section 41 is not a money generating exercise but a means of trying to make the roads safer."

FFS !!! :rolleyes:

More lies.

What is their commission these days. Is it 10% or 20% of each car they seize?

congo_90

Why not send them to the scrappies for breaking? As others said break and sell to the motor trade reconditioned.

veetwin

J K wrote: »

What is their commission these days. Is it 10% or 20% of each car they seize?

I heard it was 30% plus 50% of any fines paid;)

Atlantic Dawn

J K wrote: »

What is their commission these days. Is it 10% or 20% of each car they seize?

Don't think the Garda themselves get commission through the offical channel but perhaps the tow truck company they use throw them the odd few shillin"G"s

CharlieCroker

Jesus Folks, don't believe everything you read in the press!!

First mistake is if a car is out of tax for 2 months, it can be siezed. The act was amended, iirc in 2006. As for insurance, it can be siezed if its out by 1 minute.

Second, nobody in their right mind is going to scrap a 2006 X5 or anything else thats of any value. All vehicles are inspected by a qualified Garda vehicle inspector who will determine if the vehicle has any value.
a) If it has, the vehicle is either sent to auction or sent out to tender in the trade.
b) If it has no value, it is sent for destruction.

Anything sent for destruction is crap anyway. A lot are bought by scumbags for €10 to €150 to joyride in or transport criminals etc. with no tax, insurance or NCT and can be disposed of later (normally by burning it out). (think 1993 renault clio, escort, Kadett etc)