In the church parking lot, there is a dead mid-90's Grand Cherokee that's been sitting there for a least 3 weeks. The owner has pulled the tags. There is also a white plastic bag hanging on the driver's door (suspended by the raised window).

Obviously it is abandoned.

What are the church's options at this point?

I was thinking of putting a CL ad saying 'free car..haul it yourself' but it's not my place.

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

My suggestion would be to contact the local police, say it is abandoned and w/o tags. They should handle it from there.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

2nd the police, it could be evidence in a crime or just abandoned. if you haul it away the owners can come back and sue you or you could be destroying evidence. unless you have a towing sign clearly visable you have no right to move it without the police

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1982 300CD Turbo (Otis, "ups & downs") parts for sale
2003 TJ with Hemi (to go anywhere, quickly) sold
2001 Excursion Powerstroke (to go dependably)
1970 Mustang 428SCJ (to go fast)
1962 Corvette LS1 (to go in style)
2001 Schwinn Grape Krate 10spd (if all else fails)

good advice. thanks guys

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

I've dealt with this a couple times.
If you are in C.H. NC (?) In NC 99% of parking lots are considered private property & the PD will not do anything unless and until it's on a public roadway or right of way. If you want it towed FREE - roll it to the shoulder or street. A police Lt. in Cary told me about that with a word of warning - DO NOT cause any obvious damage or take anything out of it. Use your own discretion with ball caps pulled low, gloves, etc. Once the PD sticker then tow it, it's their responsibility.

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1987 300D (230,000 mi on a #14 head-watching the temp gauge and keeping the ghost in the machine)
Raleigh NC - Home of deep fried sushi!

I would call the non emergency line from another county, and ask what they can do about a car that's been abandoned, and get info from them. Then, when they ask the location, say it's in "the church parking lot"

They should give u a little spheel about it, then hang up, and if you like what you heard, call your local non emergency line and hope you hear what you like...

X2 on pushing it onto the street, except it's not easy to move a jeep unless you disconnect the driveshaft by removing 4 either 8mm or 5/16" bolts (forgot) on the rear diff. Should move easy enough then.

~Nate

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95 Honda Shadow ACE 1100.
1999 Plymouth Neon Expresso. 2.4 swap, 10.5 to 1 comp, big cams. Autocross time attack vehicle!
2012 Escape, 'hunter" (5 sp 4cyl)

if a small animal (ie roadkill) happened to get up in the back of a wheel, it would probably smell bad after a few days. Might make you (or the cops) think there is a body in the car somewhere.

Its a private parking lot so your probably SOL with the cops and if you call than they will have a record if it being in your church's possession. Are the keys in the bag? If so drive it to the nearest side street one night and leave it, the city will handle it from their. If not I hope your friends with someone who owns a tow truck, do the same.

Once its on a city street they will ticket, tow, attempt to contact the owner, and if that fails auction it.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Put gloves on and roll it into the street when no cars are comng..

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Call a towing company.

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-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

In Texas such cars are considered litter and are picked up as such. It is somewhat complicated, but a call to the Police is the place to start. They are then towed to a lot, auctioned and thus 'recycled'.

By the way, you don't know for sure if the owner took the tags or if someone else did. And maybe the owner thinks he is doing nothing wrong by leaving it there.

I knew a guy once that was griping because a 7-11 had his car towed after it broke down there. He was amazed they would have it towed just because it had been there for six weeks!

In Nevada it could be handled by a property owner release (POR). Basically whoever controls the property attests that the vehicle has been sitting abandoned on the property for a minimum of 5 days. Then you can call your friendly local junkyard and they will haul it off. No money changes hands, the junkyard handles the paperwork to obtain legal ownership of the car, and then they proceed to junk it.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

There was an abandonded car at the train station parking lot for, oh 3 years or so. Cops would not touch it despite being asked many times.
Finally someone set it on fire and it was gone the next day.

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95 E300D working out the kinks
77 300D, 227k, station car
83 300CD 370k, gone away
89 190E 2.6- 335k, no more
79 VW FI Bus- 145k miles, summer driver
59 VW Beetle ragtop- 175k miles
12 VW Jetta- 160k miles

Winning post.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

There was a 97 Mercury Marquis parked behind some bushes off of a dirt road here recently. The car looked to be well kept and had about two or three pairs of nice looking tennis shoes sitting on the back seat. I called the Sheriffs Dept and the Deputy came out to look at it. He called his friend at the local repo company and gave him the info on the car. The car was gone the next day. Seems some folks around here hide their car from the repo man.

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Jim