buggywhip maker said:
The two towing companies I called were of no help.
A couple of years ago, some generous person left an old, rusted out, two hundred pound propane tank in my yard, by the road. I called the city and asked them to come remove the item because it was laying in the easement. Their response was, "It's in your yard, it belongs to you. It's your problem." Possession, they say, is 9/10ths of the law. Who are "they," anyway?
I did talk to someone in the sheriff's office and was told to file an intention to claim abandoned property, advertise for 2 weeks in a local paper, and then if no one responds within 30 days of the ad ending, it becomes the claimant's property.
So my neighbor is taking that route. We'll see what happens.
That route will be of absolutely no use in this case, but I had a good laugh, so I thank you for that!
Anyway, lets see,,,, a two hundred pound rusted out old propane tank left on your property is yours to keep, so the same rule must apply for a Lexus Huh?
Of course I've never seen a license or registration on any rusty old tanks, so this may just present a slight problem with your reasoning.
Your reasoning is of course, simply a pipe dream and the only way your friend is going to end up with the legal title to this Lexus is by purchasing it from the legal owner for whatever their asking price may be. In fact, he can post all the ad's he wants and in every paper in the country, but you know what, the car will still not belong to him!
Now I'm in California, but I don't imagine the law will be that different in Florida, so here's what I suggest your friend should do.
either he can
A. Push it off of his property and forget it ever existed
or
B. Contact his favorite towing company and have them tow it off his property. The towing company will usually pull it into their storage yard, at no cost to him. You see how easy that is, problem solved, forget about it!
Now I imagine this will sound like a bad idea to anyone who believes the tooth fairy had intended for them to own this car, but such is life.
Now the towing company will do what is referred to as a "Private party impound" which basically covers their butt, so no one accuses them of stealing the vehicle. Since the towing company is in the business of towing and storing vehicles, they know all the legal avenues they must follow in order to lein sale the vehicle. Since the towing company acted in good faith and picked the vehicle up at the request of the property owner, where the vehicle was parked without the owners permission, everybody's butt will be covered.
This will be comforting to know, when the vehicle's owner returns for it and notices it missing. Because when he/she does, they will most likely be rather pissed off and threaten to sue anyone who had anything to do with their vehicle dissappearing.
So by the towing company having possession of the vehicle, the owner will have no legal grounds to go after the property owner, as they did the right thing by having the tow company pick up the vehicle and store it safely in their impound yard. The towing company becomes solely responsible for the safe storage of the vehicle from the minute they place it on their tow truck and they know and accept this. Because, the owner will be paying for the trouble they go through to do this. The towing company also has so many days, (usually within five to seven days) to begin the legal process of notifying the legal owner that their vehicle is in their possession and how much the charges are to release the vehicle. This paperwork is the beginning of the lein sale process and either the towing company themselves can file all the required paperwork, or they can pay a professional lein company to do it for them.
If the vehicle is worth less than a specific amount ($2,000.00 in California) then the vehicle can be sold to pay for the charges after roughly 45 days. If the vehicle is worth above the set amount, as it sounds like it is in your friends case, then it requires a long lein which will take a minimum of six months before the vehicle can legally be sold to satisfy the charges. Following either the short or long process, the vehicle can be sold with the paperwork generated during the lein process and the DMV will issue the new owner, a new title for the vehicle in exchange for all the lein papers.
That's how it works and there is no way around it.
Your friend can discover all this on his own by simply visiting the government body which is responsible for motor vehicles. It is usually called "The Department of Motor Vehicles" Going to the ad department at the local paper will not accomplish anything. Although, I'm sure they will take his $$$ to run as many useless ad's in their paper as he likes.
Now I know what your thinking, "Why can't my friend file a lein on this vehicle since he's storing it on his property?"
Well he could, if the vehicle owner contracted with him to store or repair the vehicle, or if his property was a legal storage business and he had signs posted which clearly listed the daily storage fee where the vehicle owner would have seen them and known of the fees when he decided to park his vehicle there. However, none of those things have been mentioned, so I assume they do not come into play here.
He'll just have to have a good talk with that tooth fairy if he's not happy with losing what he believed was about to be his new ride. But the bottom line is,,, the only right he has concerning the vehicle, is the right to have it removed from his property.
