Vehicles not in use

[gnawsome]

How long before one becomes curious as to vehicles parked on road and not used.
At my address there is a car that has not moved since mid December
Next door there is a van that has moved once (that I recall) in 4~5 months.
Neither are illegal but with standing costs as they are I do wonder why they are kept

[Dod101]

How long before one becomes curious as to vehicles parked on road and not used.
At my address there is a car that has not moved since mid December
Next door there is a van that has moved once (that I recall) in 4~5 months.
Neither are illegal but with standing costs as they are I do wonder why they are kept

Well an owner could be away or in hospital or whatever. Otherwise who knows? As long as they are licensed and insured they are not illegal but might annoy the neighbours.

Dod

[didds]

depends on the vehicle obviously but some are £0 VED so the only issue then is remembering to actually "VED" a vehicle every year for £0

And pure speculation of course, maybe the vehicle is insured in order to retain a NCD etc (though id agree that's likely to cost more per year than a NCD saving over a couple of years etc). Multi car policy where its addition is minimal ? Speculation...

( Or do they move daily but at the deepest of night when nobody notices and the parking space is still available on their return... time to go and put a chalk mark on the tyres .. )

[kempiejon]

I had a chum, lived in a 2 up 2 down and worked away often months at a time. He came back from a stint and his car had been nicked. Reported it to the police but as he'd been out the country for months couldn't even guess when it might have happened. Several weeks later walking back from a night out he found his car a couple of streets away. Then he remembered there were no spaces in his road when parked before leaving for the airport.

[didds]

I had a chum, lived in a 2 up 2 down and worked away often months at a time. He came back from a stint and his car had been nicked. Reported it to the police but as he'd been out the country for months couldn't even guess when it might have happened. Several weeks later walking back from a night out he found his car a couple of streets away. Then he remembered there were no spaces in his road when parked before leaving for the airport.

At least he'd been away etc.

my mum managed to do this over the time span of visiting the library - forgot where she'd parked it but thought it was where it wasn't, found it the next day!

[DrFfybes]

my mum managed to do this over the time span of visiting the library - forgot where she'd parked it but thought it was where it wasn't, found it the next day!

I walked home from work one afternoon to find my motorcycle missing.
As I went into the hall to the phone I also noticed my helmet was missing.
Then I walked the 15 min back to work and collected it - I'd had to go into town at lunch so had unusuually ridden to work.

[Lootman]

How long before one becomes curious as to vehicles parked on road and not used.
At my address there is a car that has not moved since mid December
Next door there is a van that has moved once (that I recall) in 4~5 months.
Neither are illegal but with standing costs as they are I do wonder why they are kept

California has a handy law that a vehicle has to be moved every 3 days. I discovered this when I left my car somewhere for 2 weeks to find that it had a ticket on it for overstaying. And a sign on the car saying that it would be towed if I did not move it in another 3 days.

I gather that in a situation like yours you merely ring a number to report the inert vehicle. It is tagged and then if it is still there 3 days later it is ticketed, and maybe towed away.

New York City is more strict as they have "alternate side of the street" parking rules for street cleaning which means that you have to move your car every 48 hours.

I am not aware of any similar provision here.

[didds]

California has a handy law that a vehicle has to be moved every 3 days. I discovered this when I left my car somewhere for 2 weeks to find that it had a ticket on it for overstaying. And a sign on the car saying that it would be towed if I did not move it in another 3 days.

this is where my mind begins to race...

how far do you have to move it?

An inch?

A yard?

A car length?

A street ?

cos if its one of the first two all you'd need to do is with the handbrake off momentarily is push it forwards one day, and back the next!

[Lootman]

California has a handy law that a vehicle has to be moved every 3 days. I discovered this when I left my car somewhere for 2 weeks to find that it had a ticket on it for overstaying. And a sign on the car saying that it would be towed if I did not move it in another 3 days.

this is where my mind begins to race...

how far do you have to move it?

An inch?

A yard?

A car length?

A street ?

cos if its one of the first two all you'd need to do is with the handbrake off momentarily is push it forwards one day, and back the next!

One way they tag the car is with a chalk mark on the tyre. Same with many other parking restrictions. In which case you only have to drive it far enough away to erase the chalk mark, which is not far.

And before you ask it is illegal to simply wipe away the chalk mark.

In this case i moved it a couple of blocks. Usually the complainant is the resident of the house you parked outside, so be out of sight of him.

[redsturgeon]

this is where my mind begins to race...

how far do you have to move it?

An inch?

A yard?

A car length?

A street ?

cos if its one of the first two all you'd need to do is with the handbrake off momentarily is push it forwards one day, and back the next!

One way they tag the car is with a chalk mark on the tyre. Same with many other parking restrictions. In which case you only have to drive it far enough away to erase the chalk mark, which is not far.

And before you ask it is illegal to simply wipe away the chalk mark.

In this case i moved it a couple of blocks. Usually the complainant is the resident of the house you parked outside, so be out of sight of him.

Handy law?

More like an infringement of the rights of the good citizens of the land of the free!

Oh, I just noticed it was California. Move along, nothing to see here.

[U962]

The one I've seen is where a motor dealer runs outs of space on their forecourt so they simply dump their excess cars on a rural verge somewhere for a few months or whatever.
The clue is often that the inside of the car is pristine and totally clear of any personal belongings.

The police are not really interested in these things - it's the local councils that end up sorting it out when they get their "abandoned car" complaints webform filled in by half the local neighbourhood's residents.

[Lootman]

One way they tag the car is with a chalk mark on the tyre. Same with many other parking restrictions. In which case you only have to drive it far enough away to erase the chalk mark, which is not far.

And before you ask it is illegal to simply wipe away the chalk mark.

In this case i moved it a couple of blocks. Usually the complainant is the resident of the house you parked outside, so be out of sight of him.

Handy law? More like an infringement of the rights of the good citizens of the land of the free!

Depends. If on-street parking is difficult in an area then someone storing, rather than merely parking, their car for weeks or months at a time is going to try the patience of those who live there.

Abandoned cars are another blight. I am not aware of any efficient process in the UK for reporting and removing such vehicles. In fact it is not even easy to remove a vehicle that is blocking access to your garage or driveway. It should be just a phone call.

[Mike4]

The one I've seen is where a motor dealer runs outs of space on their forecourt so they simply dump their excess cars on a rural verge somewhere for a few months or whatever.
The clue is often that the inside of the car is pristine and totally clear of any personal belongings.

The police are not really interested in these things - it's the local councils that end up sorting it out when they get their "abandoned car" complaints webform filled in by half the local neighbourhood's residents.

Back when I lived in Reading there was a period of two or three years (while the council presumably tried and eventually got a grip on it) where one (or many) motor traders worked out that they no longer needed a forecourt, they could just park the cars for sale by the roadside in the suburbs with huge "For Sale, call this number" signs in the windows. It must have been quite a successful strategy as there were perhaps 100 or more cars for sale scattered across town at the peak.

Then gradually the numbers reduced and the practice petered out. I never found out how or why.

[DrFfybes]

Back when I lived in Reading there was a period of two or three years (while the council presumably tried and eventually got a grip on it) where one (or many) motor traders worked out that they no longer needed a forecourt, they could just park the cars for sale by the roadside in the suburbs with huge "For Sale, call this number" signs in the windows. It must have been quite a successful strategy as there were perhaps 100 or more cars for sale scattered across town at the peak.

Then gradually the numbers reduced and the practice petered out. I never found out how or why.

Requirement for VED or Sorn in 1998, plus better enforcement?

Alternatively the lack of transferrable VED in 2014?