Security & Theft Anybody familiar with califorina laws, I NEED ADVICE.....

[joeminute]

About 5 years ago my neighbor had some work done on their driveway. after all said and done the company left the catipillar 246 skidsteer behind...it was just parked there like a "eye sore"for all these years. so i finally decited i got to do something. so i went down and got the SN off the tractor. i checked it and no nobody claimed it was stolen. i was thinking about putting a lean on it for storage all thses years but io dont know if i can. does any body have any suggestions, how can i claim it if i take it am i responcible for the theft.. its on public property. ?????????

 

[bcp]

If it is on public property, how can you make a storage claim?

Report it as an abandoned vehicle.

Bruce

 

[KiotiKowboy]

You stated it's on "Public Property." How can you claim storage?

Edit - You beat me to it

 

[tcreeley]

Call the company and offer to buy.

 

[George2615]

If it's on your neighbors property they could place a storage lien on it but they have to notify the company first and give them 30 days to removed the property. If they get no response they can claim it as abandon property. If it's on public property all you can do is complain to the town about the eyesore. I doubt you will have any way to claim it as abandon since it's not on your property.

I went through a similar thing a few years ago. I bought a piece of property from a guy and paid him to clear the land with his JD450 dozer. When he was done he left the dozer parked on my property but off to the side. Since it was there I used it quite a few times for various tasks. I called him a few times for over a year to come and get it. 5 years later it was still there. One day I talked to a lawyer and asked about filing a lien claim on the dozer as abandon property. I was told I had to notify the owner in writing and give him 30 days to remove from property or I would consider it abandon and take ownership. I sent the letter certified mail so he had to sign for it. Less than a week later he came and got it.

 

[oosik]

Hmmmm.... Must be nice to be a contractor and able to leave a piece of equipment "stored" and not use it for five years. When i worked for the government we had the task of removal and crushing of abandoned vehicles. We did this thru a contractor. When an abandoned vehicle was reported to us we were required to notify the registered owner and give 30 days for them to get vehicle. No response - we gave a list of abandoned/notified autos to the contractor and he, again, had to notify the registered owner that he was holding a vehicle of theirs and failing response the vehicle would be crushed after 30 days. It was a complicated process and had many technical & legal requirements. We were often threatened with law suits - you have NO IDEA how many folks claim there valuable vehicle was stolen, that they never received notification and then claim we had them crushed!!! It got to the point that we were taking multiple photos of each vehicle and having to obtain independent appraisals of each vehicle prior to removal & crushing. We were processing & crushing 2500-3000 vehicles per year. This small program was a real thorn & PITA.

 

[Zebrafive]

Hmmmm.... Must be nice to be a contractor and able to leave a piece of equipment "stored" and not use it for five years. When i worked for the government we had the task of removal and crushing of abandoned vehicles. We did this thru a contractor. When an abandoned vehicle was reported to us we were required to notify the registered owner and give 30 days for them to get vehicle. No response - we gave a list of abandoned/notified autos to the contractor and he, again, had to notify the registered owner that he was holding a vehicle of theirs and failing response the vehicle would be crushed after 30 days. It was a complicated process and had many technical & legal requirements. We were often threatened with law suits - you have NO IDEA how many folks claim there valuable vehicle was stolen, that they never received notification and then claim we had them crushed!!! It got to the point that we were taking multiple photos of each vehicle and having to obtain independent appraisals of each vehicle prior to removal & crushing. We were processing & crushing 2500-3000 vehicles per year. This small program was a real thorn & PITA.

On a different note; I got a certified letter about ten years ago from a police department about 150 miles away. They stated they had my truck in impound and would sell it in 30 days if I did not pay their fees. They only quoted my license plate number. I called the detective and told him go ahead and sell it and send me the money minus their fees. He was confused and asked why I would do that for such a new truck. I told him because it was sitting safe in my garage. Impound guy wrote down the license number wrong.

 

[oosik]

In our impound/crushing operation we had all sorts of problems like zebra five has indicated. To further complicate our ops, we took pics of license plate(if still on the vehicle) and VIN numbers. Our ops in this area turned into a venture into the field of high technology. Do any of you have any idea how expensive a camera is that can take pics of VIN numbers, under all conditions, can be!

We had one secretary whose sole job was to research VIN number locations on all vehicles & try, try, try to keep all the required records in order.

This operation was located in Anchorage, AK. You have no idea how often I heard the statement - "Yes, that was my vehicle and I sold it to Joe Smith, so from where I sit, here in Alabama, I really don't see that it concerns me any longer". This entire operation just made me want to puke!!!

 

[Clint S]

My uncle stores some of his equipment at our farm. He purchased a mew tractor and traded in two of his old ones. Needless to say over a year later one of the tractors still sits here. We deal with the owner of the place alot and have mentioned it a few times and he always says he will be over to get it next week and never come. I have a feeling that if we stopped reminding him he would forget it was here . I would hate to ruin the relationship with the guy and again it is not on our way, but we may need to send a letter to him or just uncover it and start using it.

 

[GolfAddict]

Just go get it and start using it. If someday someone actually comes looking for it, you can remind them that 5 years ago they left it parked at your place for safekeeping.