Owners of impounded vehicles may get an extra 10 days to reclaim their cars, if a “grace period” proposed at a City Council hearing on the auction process at the city?s impound is implemented.
“I?m worried that people will lose their car because of a communication breakdown,” said Councilman Jack Young, sponsor of the council hearing that asked the city Department of Transportation to explain auction procedures.
“People are losing their cars,” he said.
Young, D-12th District, said he was troubled by complaints that stolen cars were being auctioned off before owners could be reached.
“I was contacted by someone whose car was stolen then sold at auction, even though he went through the process of trying to contact people and find out where his car is,” he said.
“Can?t we give people grace period, 10 extra days?” Young asked.
Department of Transportation officials promised to consider the councilman?s proposal.
Young?s question came after a lengthy presentation to the council by officials fromthe Department of Transportation, the city agency responsible for managing the impound lot.
The report noted vehicles spend less time on the impound lot, down from an average of 168 days in 2003 to 43 days in 2006. The report also said that claims payment related to damage and stolen property had dropped significantly since 2003.
“The lot was completely mismanaged,” said Alfred Foxx, head of the DOT. Since 2003, the city has sold almost 40,000 vehicles at privately managed auctions, an official said.
The majority were not cars seized for parking violations, but those impounded by police.
Asked by Young if the auction process had proper safeguards in place to ensure motorists could file grievances, Foxx said his agency was open and transparent.
“We make mistakes, but we don?t cover things up. If something goes wrong, we investigate,” he said.
