Abandoned Car

A

Anti-Chris

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I have a little situation and I have no clue on how to go about handling it.
On the 1st of July tenants moved out of my house they were renting and new tenants moved in.
Yesterday when I went to do a little maintenance, I realised that the previous tenant left a vehicle in the yard. Now apparently he is not the owner of the vehicle and he tells me the owner lost the keys and it is very expensive to get keys for the vehicle...
He told me they will remove the car when he gets the keys...
I informed him that it is unacceptable and that he needs to remove the car ASAP.
What can I do in this situation? I dont know if the car is stolen or something. It is a BMW X5. I know the previous tenant were doing tow in services when he lived there and it is kind of bothering me and his story doesn't seem legit...
This guy is a chancer, still owes me R6K for a municipal account and he always have excuses and never tells the truth.
I need to get the owner of the cars details. Can anyone help if I have a registration number?
 
Anti-Chris said:
I have a little situation and I have no clue on how to go about handling it.
On the 1st of July tenants moved out of my house they were renting and new tenants moved in.
Yesterday when I went to do a little maintenance, I realised that the previous tenant left a vehicle in the yard. Now apparently he is not the owner of the vehicle and he tells me the owner lost the keys and it is very expensive to get keys for the vehicle...
He told me they will remove the car when he gets the keys...
I informed him that it is unacceptable and that he needs to remove the car ASAP.
What can I do in this situation? I dont know if the car is stolen or something. It is a BMW X5. I know the previous tenant were doing tow in services when he lived there and it is kind of bothering me and his story doesn't seem legit...
This guy is a chancer, still owes me R6K for a municipal account and he always have excuses and never tells the truth.
I need to get the owner of the cars details. Can anyone help if I have a registration number?
Click to expand...

I can pull eNatis info on the car if you send me registration number via inbox.
 
blowdart18 said:
Contact the police or local metro, tell them the story and they will come pick up the vehicle.
Better sitting in the pound then at your house.
Click to expand...
If OP is in Cape Town then I doubt the police will help if the car isn't stolen.

A similar thing happened to me a few years ago. A guy I knew used one of my minibuses for business and left his bakkie at my house. After a week he brought the van back with dents and he also had my tyres changed - he thought I wouldn't notice the tyre change. I told him to fix the van and put back my original tyres or else I refuse to let him have his bakkie back (I had the keys).

He left on foot and I never saw the idiot again (up to this day I haven't heard of him). After a few weeks I started freaking out because the guy didn't bother with the bakkie so I called the police. They came and had a look at the registration and chassis numbers and told me the bakkie has not been reported stolen and its also not standing on public property. They told me it is my own problem to sort out.

After a few more weeks I sold that bakkie for parts to recoup my R7k for the tyres and to have a friend panelbeat out the dents.

Whether the guy died or went to prison, I have no idea. It's likely someone took him out because I realised only afterwards he's a massive conman.
 
Metro should be able to assist in some way with this. Had a similar situation where a car was parked on private property for more than a week. We called metro and gave them the registration.
Metro rocked up and ran the plates and got the owners details and were able to track him down and get him to remove the car under threat of impounding said vehicle.
 
Honey Badger said:
If OP is in Cape Town then I doubt the police will help if the car isn't stolen.

A similar thing happened to me a few years ago. A guy I knew used one of my minibuses for business and left his bakkie at my house. After a week he brought the van back with dents and he also had my tyres changed - he thought I wouldn't notice the tyre change. I told him to fix the van and put back my original tyres or else I refuse to let him have his bakkie back (I had the keys).

He left on foot and I never saw the idiot again (up to this day I haven't heard of him). After a few weeks I started freaking out because the guy didn't bother with the bakkie so I called the police. They came and had a look at the registration and chassis numbers and told me the bakkie has not been reported stolen and its also not standing on public property. They told me it is my own problem to sort out.

After a few more weeks I sold that bakkie for parts to recoup my R7k for the tyres and to have a friend panelbeat out the dents.

Whether the guy died or went to prison, I have no idea. It's likely someone took him out because I realised only afterwards he's a massive conman.
Click to expand...
I was seriously considering towing the car to where I am staying and then selling it for spares to recoup my costs, but since I am not sure whos car it is, I dont feel comfortable doing this. Also what is the legal implications?
 
The car is at my house in Brits, North West, but it has a GP registration...
 
Anti-Chris said:
I have a little situation and I have no clue on how to go about handling it.
On the 1st of July tenants moved out of my house they were renting and new tenants moved in.
Yesterday when I went to do a little maintenance, I realised that the previous tenant left a vehicle in the yard. Now apparently he is not the owner of the vehicle and he tells me the owner lost the keys and it is very expensive to get keys for the vehicle...
He told me they will remove the car when he gets the keys...
I informed him that it is unacceptable and that he needs to remove the car ASAP.
What can I do in this situation? I dont know if the car is stolen or something. It is a BMW X5. I know the previous tenant were doing tow in services when he lived there and it is kind of bothering me and his story doesn't seem legit...
This guy is a chancer, still owes me R6K for a municipal account and he always have excuses and never tells the truth.
I need to get the owner of the cars details. Can anyone help if I have a registration number?
Click to expand...


type out an ultimatum - send it registered mail to him
tell him he's got 7 or 21 days to remove the vehicle - if not it will be sold to recover outstanding money!

Don't get caught buying a stolen car! - The Automobile Association of South Africa

With almost 15 000 hijackings and 60 000 vehicles stolen in South Africa in 2016 alone, there is a good chance that the second-hand car you are considering buying could be stolen – particularly if one considers the fact that approximately half of these stolen and hijacked vehicles are sold back...
www.aa.co.za www.aa.co.za

How to check if a vehicle is stolen

Before you are able to check whether a vehicle has been listed as stolen, you will need the following information:



  • Year, make and model
  • Engine number
  • VIN/chassis number
  • Registration number
  • Colour
  • Mileage


Armed with this information, there are a number of ways to run a background check on a car, for example:

  • The SAPS or the Metro Police will be able to check whether a vehicle has been stolen and that the VIN/chassis and engine numbers are in accordance with the vehicle’s registration documents. This information is provided free of charge.
  • www.vehiclecheck.co.za allows you to verify the VIN, year, make, model and variant of a vehicle. The report provided will also tell you if the vehicle has been listed as stolen by the SAPS. The cost involved is roughly R100.
  • www.carvalue.co.za is backed by TransUnion and supplies information such as mileage and car finance status as well as its status with SAPS. You have to register online to access the information and the cost is around R150.
 
Anti-Chris said:
I was seriously considering towing the car to where I am staying and then selling it for spares to recoup my costs, but since I am not sure whos car it is, I dont feel comfortable doing this. Also what is the legal implications?
Click to expand...
@Grant might know what procedure to follow - he once posted a guide on how to claim an abandoned vehicle legally as your own.
 
Give final notice to remove the vehicle within 7 days but following the settlement of the outstanding debt for municipal services.
Say in the notice that the vehicle will be sold to recover debt and recoup storage costs.
Put a final date in the notice

Firstly ensure that the vehicle is his then go ahead

If not his get metro to take it away as you suspect its a stolen vehicle.
 
lift the car up on some portable wheels and drag it into a public spot (preferably where it is not allowed to be parked)
Call Metro and tell them there is a car parked illegally.

Job done!
 
Okay... It gets even more interesting....
Managed to get the registered owners details from the police....
Turns out it is registered to a company called "Fuzzies Motors". Aparantly Fuzzies Motors was liquidated about 8 years ago... Now what?
 
Anti-Chris said:
Okay... It gets even more interesting....
Managed to get the registered owners details from the police....
Turns out it is registered to a company called "Fuzzies Motors". Aparantly Fuzzies Motors was liquidated about 8 years ago... Now what?
Click to expand...
Here's the post by @Grant I was referring to. I'm not sure how much will change since it's standing on your property and not on public land. Give it a shot, you've got nothing to lose.
 
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