An abandoned car wreck on State Highway 33 near Te Puke. Photo / Mead Norton
A “concerning” rise in cars abandoned on Western Bay of Plenty roads is frustrating authorities, motorists and residents who fear the “eyesore” wrecks could cause an accident.
More than 180 abandoned vehicles were removed from district roads and state highways in the past year, roading authorities reported.
The Western Bay of Plenty District Council was concerned “more and more vehicles” were being abandoned each year, including 18 in the past two weeks.
Removing the vehicles was expensive, with towing and storage costing more than $23,000 in less than two years.
Residents told the Bay of Plenty Times the roadside wrecks created a public safety hazard, “an accident waiting to happen”, and a bad look for visitors to the district.
Disgusted visitor Richard Macdonald, from Auckland, wrote to the Bay of Plenty Times this month that he was shocked by the “horrible sight” of five wrecked cars, apparently stripped for parts, along State Highway 29 west of McLaren Falls. All had been removed by Friday.
Truck driver and Lower Kaimai Range resident Tony Brooke said there had been at least five abandoned and stripped vehicles parked on SH29 over the past three weeks.
“I understand the police can’t remove crashed vehicles until they have investigated the matter but when vehicles are not removed fast enough they get trashed and stripped, which I see all the time when I’m travelling around the district.”
He said a Nissan Tiida parked near his gate was partly damaged but later got stripped of its wheels and number plates.
“The windows were smashed, all doors were left wide open and everything inside had been ripped out.
“There was a lot of trash inside the car, and some of that rubbish and bits of the car were scattered along the edge of the highway near a stormwater drain.”
Brooke said he drove to the Tauranga police station to report the matter. The wreck sat for a period until it was finally removed last week.
“I was so worried about rubber-neckers possibly veering off the road, I even put some cones around the wreck so people wouldn’t crash into it.”
Brooke feared the stolen registration plates could be used to commit crimes.
Brooke’s neighbour Josh Hawkins agrees.
He said where the Nissan Tiida was parked was an “eyesore” and a major safety hazard as it obscured motorists’ view when turning on to the highway.
He said another car sat on the side of the road between Omanawa and Ruahihi Rds for three weeks in November.
He shared concerns about scavengers stripping the vehicles.
Another Lower Kaimai Range resident, who owns a small transport company and spoke on the condition he was not named, said he saw abandoned vehicles getting stripped all the time.
“It’s absolutely an accident waiting to happen and the longer these vehicles sit there they become a target for thieves and lose any potential resale value.”
Dougal Elvin, the council’s compliance and monitoring manager, said there had been 164 vehicles abandoned in the district in the last year, up from 147 vehicles in the previous year.
“It’s a concerning trend for us as it’s an expensive exercise to dispose of these cars, especially when people could just sell their unwanted cars to a wrecker and make some cash.
“We’re seeing more and more vehicles being abandoned. In the last two weeks alone, 18 vehicles have been reported as abandoned.”
He said the council could remove vehicles abandoned on land it managed. Vehicles with no identifiable owner or value that had essentially been scrapped were sent to a metal recycler.
“We’ll try to contact the last known owners based on registration records, and if we don’t hear from them within 10 days – it’ll be crushed. Vehicles abandoned beside state highways are covered by Waka Kotahi- NZ Transport Agency,” he said.
He said just under $13,200 was spent on towing and storage fees in the 2021-22 financial year, plus more than $9800 so far in 2022-23.
He said the costs of towing and storing abandoned vehicles were passed to the last registered owner.
Elvin said owners who abandoned a car could face a big bill if they were caught.
“It’s an expensive exercise to dispose of them, and they’re a hazard to other people on the road. You can deregister the vehicle online and sell it to a scrap dealer to make some cash.
“Some abandoned cars are stolen, and in that case, the police or owners will move the car.”
Senior Sergeant Wayne Hunter, head of the Western Bay of Plenty road policing team, said the police had no responsibility to remove vehicles, other than those involved in a crash and impeding traffic, which would be towed to a safer position.
Hunter said this happened about two or three times a week in the district, costing about $200 a vehicle and paid for out of the road policing budget.
If the vehicle was not insured it was the local council’s responsibility to remove it, but if the owner had insurance they were responsible for getting it removed in conjunction with their insurance company, he said.
Hunter shared residents’ concerns about the time it took to remove abandoned or dumped vehicles but said if the vehicle registration was current, the council had to give the last registered owner sufficient time to remove it.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency regional manager of maintenance and operations Rob Campbell said 18 abandoned vehicles had been removed from state highways in the Western Bay of Plenty in 2022, up from 11 the previous year.
Another four vehicles had been removed so far this year.
“There are also others on the network which are being monitored and could be removed next week,” he said.
“Abandoned cars are both a risk to the safety of other road users and the environment.
“Waka Kotahi appeals to owners to take responsibility for the removal and disposal of their vehicles. There is considerable cost to the public once a vehicle has been abandoned, which diverts resources away from the important job of maintaining our roads and highways.”
Campbell said once its road maintenance contractors became aware of a possible abandoned vehicle, they contacted Waka Kotahi to find the registered owners and notified police.
“They will remove the vehicle within two to three weeks from the first attempt to inform the owner ... Where the owner cannot be identified, the vehicle is removed and taken to a secured storage facility. The cost of removal/disposal of the vehicles is covered under the lump sum contract we have with our contractors.
“The contractor will try to recoup the cost of removal from the registered owner, who is ultimately responsible for paying the removal costs.”
Campbell said there was no regional breakdown of these costs readily available.
Insurance Council of NZ spokesman Christian Judge said if an insured vehicle was stolen and then abandoned, the insurers would likely cover the vehicle recovery costs, but these would not be covered if a car was abandoned by the owner.
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