This Thursday, “RTL Info answers your questions” is interested in the questions of Ali, who noticed an abandoned car in his neighborhood. This one degrades and doesn’t even have a license plate. He therefore wonders what to do to get rid of it.
You have probably already seen, along the roads, these visibly abandoned vehicles. They deteriorate and sometimes take up parking spaces. This is what Ali denounces, who lives in Watermael-Boitsfort. He noticed an abandoned car, near his house, in a bad state and without license plate. This irritates her, because she occupies the public highway and is deteriorating, day by day. What should be done in these cases?
First reflex: call the police directly. It is she who has all the tools to identify the owner of the car. In particular, it will record the license plate, if not, the chassis number. The police will conduct a neighborhood investigation to find out who owns this vehicle.
When the owner is identified, he obviously risks a report, if the vehicle is not in order. He also and above all risks paying for the repair of the car, at his own expense.
In Brussels, there is an application called “Fix my Street” which allows you to directly report to the authorities these abandoned cars in public spaces. A similar application exists in other cities as well.
What happens if the police cannot identify the owner? The vehicle will then be removed from the public road. If no one claims the car after six months, the municipality becomes its owner and does what it wants with it.
This evacuation can nevertheless take time, if the municipality does not have an agreement with a convenience store. Some municipalities can also sell them, at low prices, or at auction.
Namely: a vehicle that is not roadworthy cannot remain on the public highway for more than 24 hours.