GLENDALE, AZ -- Towing company owners say they are hauling away more abandoned cars due to the economy, but it's a plan that could backfire on the people who try to ditch their rides.
"In six years, I've never seen this many abandoned cars," said tow truck owner Daniel Turner. "A lot of people can't pay to get their vehicles fixed."
Dozens of cars end up at Turner's AE Recovery and Towing lot every month.
"You can't have cars piling up on people's properties that don't belong to them," said Turner. "It's not their responsibility that you parked it there to remove it."
Turner says a year ago, he picked up two or three cars a week, and most of them were old and dilapidated.
Now, he's towing away about five abandoned cars a week, and of those, he says three are high end.
"We're starting to see a lot more of the nicer cars coming into the lot, verses the old junkers," said Turner. "This one's actually not a junker. I like this car. I'm going to restore it and make it my own."
Just because you've abandoned your vehicle, doesn't mean you've abandoned your responsibility. You're still going to have to pay off the car that has since become someone else's property.
Collection agencies will come after the owners of all the cars that haven't been paid off. If the owners do claim them, they'll end up spending up to $600 a month for the time they were stored in Turner's lot.
If they don't claim them, he parts them out, gives them away or keeps them.
He says his favorite is a 2002 Jaguar convertible.
"It's a beautiful car," said Turner. "The bank was just too late getting back to me on it."
