Hey all,

So I need options for what I can do about this 91 300E that i'm pretty sure is abandoned. My friend bought this car back in 2006 and it was in fairly decent condition and we did all sorts of stuff in it, it had lots of memories, but in 2009 his mom sold it while he was gone because he was using another car. He was really upset about it because she went about it not even asking him so ever since he's always talked about finding it and buying it back from the people who bought it, he even still has the key for it.

Well, we found it, sitting next to some government housing with a big hit on the right side, right window is broken so it's open to the whole world and it was really dusty inside and looking like it hadn't been driven in a good while, I decided to go about it the right way. I left a note saying I was interested in the car and left my phone number, came back about a month and a half ago to visit my friend and decided to go see if the car was there still, sure enough...it was, with my note exactly how I left it, and since there is no passenger window and there was a sand storm in Palm Springs a few weeks ago the whole dash and center console was covered in sand and you couldn't even read the "P, D, N" ect.. and it's rained a few times also..

It was kind of depressing to see it like this, asked a good amount of people who came out of the complex if they knew who owned the car and all we got were shrugged shoulders -_- My friend and I were almost tempted to roll it 25 feet into a red zone curb so it can be towed and we can possibly get it at an auction or calling the manger of the housing or something and say it needs to be towed?? I don't know...i don't know what I can do Just would really like this car but can't get in touch with the owner.. It's like the BMW 5 series all over again!!! UGH >_<

Any advice or input would be awesome! Thanks all

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2007 BMW 328XI

If the mother sold it without consent, how was the title or registration transferred? Who is the current legal owner? If your friend is still the current legal owner, he could use his key to start it and drive away. Does it have his plates on it or another set?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

See if the registration was ever transfered.It may still be in the sellers name. Or find the current owner using the licence plate number or anything in the dash to identify him. If the car is truly abandoned the push into the red zone was not a bad ideal if nothing else works.

It's probably abandoned for a reason. Sounds like it was abused, and it may be seized up, harness shot, blown head gasket or who knows?

Rent a pickup from Uhaul (no one ever pays attention to them) and take some good jumper cables, a can of starting fluid and the key and see if it will start. If not it's probably, sad to say, a lost cause.

If it starts and seems to run okay (don't try to drive it, just let it run and cycle through the gears with your foot on the brake to see if the transmission still works at all), then apply for an abandoned vehicle title through the DMV. Your friend already has a colorable claim so he should be able to start the process. Once you have the application you can get a permit to move it legally for repairs.

Was it you who tried to acquire an abandoned 5 series not too long ago?

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

If he still has the plate # and registration info, can he log into the California DMV system and see if the car is still registered and titled in his name? He should do this anyway, since he might have accumulated a large amount of tickets in the car's name, which may come back to bite him.

Why would anyone want this piece of **** ?

Ask the manager of the housing complex. He or she might know who the owner was, if they were a tenant. If that works, now you have a link to the owner.

If they don'y know whose it is, find out who does their towing for them, and see if you could get the manager to call them to remove it. Might help if you talk to the tow service and volunteer to pony up for the tow, in exchange for the ability to buy the car from them after it is declared abandoned at their shop. Laws about abandoned cars vary from state to state, so looking up your state's system would be a fine idea.

No matter how you slice it, the odds that you or he will ever be the owners of that vehicle again are pretty slim, but if it's worth some time and money, you may be able to finagle it.

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

Because it's better than seeing a fine car be wasted on some ghetto bunnies.

We would love to start it and drive it away!! haha He was a minor when he had the money to buy, but had to work that and his mom went and picked it up for him, so the title was put in her name and he meant to change it but thought it'd be fine so didn't transfer it..

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2007 BMW 328XI

We've been tempted to throw a battery in it and see if it starts, but I think we may see if the manager knows the owners, the car sits across from the curb of the apartments so it might not be under the jurisdiction of the apartments? If it's the city I guess best thing to do is just roll it to a red zone curb which was like 30 ft behind it.

lmfao "ghetto bunnies" boy you sure did nail it! haha

I'm going to look into abandoned car process in Ca now too... it'd be awesome to have this car back...

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2007 BMW 328XI

Pushing it into the red zone may be the last time you ever see it. If it gets absorbed as abandoned by a municipality, it may never see light of day again. Much easier and more cost effective to crush that kind of stuff.

__________________
On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

If the apartment management has no idea who owns it, then maybe just have a repo guy pick it up and put it on your friends property where it can sit until legally abandoned and title can be applied for.

__________________
On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

Call me crazy but putting a battery in someone else's car and driving it off is awfully close to grand theft auto. If the car was SOLD 3 years ago, it has another owner somewhere and it is their property. Try to find the new owner and go from there. Pushing it out into the street so it gets towed I'd imagine is also quite illegal since it is not your property. My car was sitting in a driveway with a broken transmission. Would I want the guy who sold it to me in 2008 to push it into the middle of the street and having it towed and/or claiming it is somehow his? Maybe I'm not connecting the dots...

There was a new owner, the car moved on. If the paperwork was never transferred you might have something but the OP states it was SOLD in 2009 to a new owner.

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Only illegal if you get caught. The owner is probably long dead from crack poisoning or in jail for distribution.