La. R.S. § 32:476 Abandoned Motor Vehicles; Sale By Municipalities and Parochial Authorities; Procedure

• Library: Louisiana Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current with changes from the 2023 Legislative Session
• Year: 2023
• Citation: La. R.S. § 32:476

A. Whenever any motor vehicle belonging to a known or unknown person has been seized or is otherwise held by any municipality or any parochial authority for illegal parking, stationing, or abandoning of such motor vehicle on the public streets, ways, roads, and highways within the state, and the same has not been claimed for a period of three months or more, then the motor vehicle shall be considered as having been abandoned to the municipality or parochial authority and the municipality or parochial authority may dispose of such motor vehicle and collect the costs and charges of removing and storing said vehicle in the following manner:

(1) The municipality or parochial authority shall send a registered or certified letter, return receipt requested, to the owner of said vehicle, within ten days of the date the vehicle was seized. Said governing authority shall send a second letter to the vehicle owner upon the expiration of the three-month period provided for in this Section. Any such letter shall be sent to the owner of the vehicle at his last known address informing him that the municipality or parochial authority is holding said vehicle. The owner shall also be informed in such letter that the vehicle shall be sold to the highest bidder unless said owner, on or before the date of sale, claims the vehicle and pays to the municipality or parochial authority all costs and charges imposed by the municipality or parochial authority for the removal and detention of the vehicle. A copy of the letters shall also be sent to any person or firm known to be the holder of a mortgage on said vehicle.

(2) Before the sale of any such vehicles, the municipality or parochial authority shall have them appraised by a competent appraiser and shall publish a notice of the proposed sale of said vehicle or vehicles in the official journal of the municipality or parish not less than three times within a ten-day period prior to the date of said sale. The published notice shall contain a complete list of the vehicles to be sold, the date and place of said sale, and notification that said vehicles will be sold either individually or in globo to the highest bidder therefor, all in the discretion of the municipality or parochial authority.