Abandoned Volvo

Re: the abandoned Volvo 760 turbo wagon I posted about earlier: After I sent a registered letter to the owners offering to buy the car (which has been sitting unlocked in a motel parking lot for over a year) I got the card back in the mail indicating the letter was delivered to the intended recipient. They never made any attempt to contact me. I talked to one of the owners of the motel and he said he'd talked to the other two co

-owners and they said they're not going to do anything about the car--i.e. apparently just let it sit there indefinitely (until it deteriorates beyond feasible repair). Pisses me off. Since it's on their property, I can't really mess with it, but obviously neither they nor the car's owner care about it. Still seems like I should be able to get it away from those dummies somehow--while it's still worth something.

Reply to
James Goforth
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James, I get the uneasy feeling it isn't worth anything and hasn't been for years. The people who abandoned it and are not responding were responsible for the maintenance - if such a car were offered for sale I would never consider buying it at any price. It has likely not had regular oil changes, may have plain water run in the cooling system, may have been overheated. Any of those things can cost more to repair than the car is worth. In any event, there is a reason they abandoned it - maybe more than one reason. As the owner of a 765T I can attest the parts and labor to resurrect one of those beasts could be prohibitive.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

So move it off their property... "abandon" it in in front of your house, or in the parking lot of another business.

Reply to
James Sweet

in the parking lot of another business.

Do I treally have to state the obvious? It's *their car*, and what they do or don't do with it is no one else's business. Has this country really fallen to the level of 'How can I steal this car legally?'...?

Reply to
Michael Cerkowski

Yes, I wouldn't pay much for the car just because of all the unknowns. If I couldn't get it for cheap it would be foolish to even mess with it. You can get a lot of money in them "real quick." But the body and interior are remarkably good--I just wanted to resurrect it more as a labour of love rather than an economically feasible and practical matter. I know parts for those aren't cheap. The paper work in the glove compartment indicates the car's owner purchased it less than a year before she abandoned it. Possibly never even got it paid off if she borrowed from the bank. I'm going to see if there's a loan against it if I can. I just like tinkering with cars, have a degree in automotive tech. and always thought those Volvo wagons were cool. It actually looks like it's fairly easy to work on in terms of there being plenty of room under the hood (compared to a lot of cars). It may be possible that one of the owners/managers at the motel has designs on it themself, although I doubt it.

Reply to
James Goforth

in the parking lot of another business.

If the motel owners do not own the car, then what they have sitting in the parking lot could be considered an attractive nusiance. They have previous knowledge that it is abandoned, and becasue they have not taken steps to remove it, if someone gets hurt becasue of it being abandoned there (like a child playing on or in it) then they can be liable.

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvo '93 960 Estate

Reply to
Randy G.

house, or in the parking lot of another business.

They've been given ample opportunity to claim it. I'm not saying sneak it off and hide it in a garage somewhere, just move it somewhere that you can claim it if the current owner does not.

Reply to
James Sweet

A good body and interior is worth a grand to me, haven't been able to find one though, usually that's the first thing to go.

Reply to
James Sweet

The body is good on ours (spent most of its life in Phoenix) but the interior has shattered into hundreds of plastic chunks and there are too many cracks in the dash to count. It now is a hauler - stuff from the building supply store, stuff to the dump, dogs wherever, me to work....

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

It's kind of remarkable that the motel owers have never even bothered to lock the thing (speaking of children playing on or in it. To cut right to the chase, one would have to wonder what the motel owners would do if the car just disappeared. Call the cops? Why?--it's not their car. Maybe the owners came back and got it. Hypothetically speaking, (and I don't think I'm going to do this), what if I simply went and took the thing. Took it to my house, about 60 miles away. And then I just called the authorities and told them the story, how it's been sitting in a motel parking lot for over a year, very obviously abandoned, the owners of the motel refuse to touch it or address it in any way, and how I sent the car's owner a registered letter offering to buy it which they recieved and signed for and never replied to, and how I've checked with the DMV in the county where it's registered and determined there is no lein against it. And how I'd now like to have them declare it abandoned and apply for a title in my name. Seriously...what would happen to me?

Reply to
James Goforth

Seriously? If you did that, it would be the same as calling the police and saying, "Hey. I just took a car that doesn't belong to me and it is sitting right here on my property. What are you going to do about it?"

If you wanted to be underhanded, you could send aa fried to the motel, let him trip on it, and tell the motel owners that he is going to sue.... but... he might reconsider if they let him tow the car off...

But really? Go to a local wrecking yard, and ask them what they do to trace down the owner of a car when it is in eh condition of ownership as this one. Maybe they know how to deal with it, and the car can be yours.

And vry seriously, becasue you have discussed this in an open forum, and becasue Googlew groups has an archive, the authorities could get you not only for theft and psoissession of stolen gods, but also of conspiracy which is a felony. I have yet to see a car worth the risk of going to jail and being Bubba's bitch...

my $.02

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvo '93 960 Estate

Reply to
Randy G.

Yo, Jimbo.

Talkin' like dis, it coulda lead to eh...dificulties, ya know what I'm talkin bout, paison? Ya evah watch da Soparanos? Dijya see when Tony sez to Christopher how hez gonna be talkin to da crews trou him soas nuting could be traced back to him?

Ya tink da feds aint got no computers, Jimbo?

Sheesh!

Seriously, if seeking the professional counsel of a reputable, licensed attorney in your jurisdiction is unwarranted in your opinion (perhaps due to cost considerations) a trip to a local law school where the librarian, or perhaps a student will help you find the applicable law, both common law I.E. what the decisions have been in your jurisdiction, and what the letter of the law is would seem to be the prudent first step toward a reasonable solution to this matter.

On da odder hand however...

Reply to
Steve

You despicable fellow! I will have you know Bubba is good people, and hey the man's got his needs, you know!

:)

Reply to
Steve

Just tow it and file for a lost title thru a small tote the note car lot. Probably cost ya a hundred bucks and its yours. If you just want it for parts just take it, strip it and dump it.

Reply to
bob

Ladies and gentlemen, we have our co-conspirator!

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvo '93 960 Estate

Reply to
Randy G.

Maybe bad things. I work with an engineer who bought a rusted trailer for $25, and searched the title back to Mississippi, where the trail went cold. No title; he couldn't register it. But one day he decided to take a load of trash to the dump in it and he passed a motorcycle cop. The next thing he knew he was pleading guilty to the felony of pulling an unregistered trailer within the Glendale AZ city limits.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

OK, howz about I just take it to my house and tell the cops someone abandoned it there? ;-) Which, technically, "someone" did: me! Actually, I am going to the junkyard tomorrow just to see if they've ever encountered a similar situation. After all this time, I would imagine the car's owners have probably pretty much just forgotten about it. A friend in the Twin Cities told me today people do that a lot up there (just abandon a car when it quits). I think that's the case here, and in this (unusual) case they got away with it because the law was never called to address it--it was just allowed to sit there indefinitely. Maybe they figured that it wasn't a big deal to just leave it, since a car like that someone eventually would likely take the initiative to try to gain ownership. And it would be extremely unlikely for them to expect it to actually still be there after all this time.. I never said where it was when I sent them the letter. They might think it's in a salvage and towing company with a bunch of towing and storage fees accrued. They have washed their hands of it a long time ago.

Reply to
James Goforth

If you HAVE to obtain it easily and legally just call the city and report it as abandoned and tell em you own the property and would like it removed. Then wait for the city auction and you can legally buy for pennies nad receive and salvage title.

Reply to
bob

A _FELONY_ for pulling an unregistered trailer!? Now I have TWO reasons for not wanting to ever live in AZ!

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvo '93 960 Estate

Reply to
Randy G.

I'm trying to guess the other. Unreal heat in most of the state? Prominent Mafia presence? Proliferation of hostile life forms (rattlesnakes, scorpions, gila monsters, black widow spiders, cholla cactus...)? It cracks me up how we don't have the the official pests of other places: we don't have brown recluse spiders (Loxosceles Reclusa), only the slightly more toxic Arizona Brown Spider (Loxosceles Arizonica). We don't have Lyme disease, only Arizona Relapsing Fever... although both are borreliosis. Y'all c'mon down!

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

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