Inoperable Vehicle on Street (Fairfax: HOA, house, transfer)

[airjay75]

I'm curious what others would do in this situation. My neighbor's twenty-something year old son has a car that he built in his garage and is parked on the street in front of my house - it's really close to my neighbor's driveway, and I have room to park in front of my house but, still, the car is definitely partially, if not completely, parked in an area on the street that is in front of my property (which, yes, is perfectly legal, but annoying - see previous thread I started if you're interested in more discussion). The guy used to drive the car once in awhile, but I haven't seen it move in at least a couple of months. The license plates and state inspection expired in October (2016). He built the car in his garage after he crashed his previous car (drag racing, I believe), and I'm pretty sure he just transferred the plates from the old car to the new car. He has told other neighbors that this car is also for racing. I have doubts the car is even legal to operate (aside from the expired plates), but I don't know anything for certain. I suppose he could have gone through whatever process exists to make a car you built yourself legal in Virginia, but I sort of doubt it.


The car is definitely an eyesore and, if it were parked in their driveway or in front of their own house, I probably wouldn't think to do much. (Generally, they can't do this because they have a car they park in their garage, a second car they park in their driveway, and a third car they park in front of their house). But, since it is clearly an inoperable vehicle with the expired plates, I am tempted to call the police and report it at some point. I think I want to give it some time since the plates expired pretty recently - I'm thinking maybe if the plates continue to be expired in 6 months or so, it would be pretty reasonable to report it at that point.


I'm just curious what others would do in this situation. Call the police now? Call the police after a certain period of time? Do nothing and learn to live with it? I'm sure some people would say talk to the neighbor, but I don't really view that as a viable option. There are a couple of reasons for that, but I won't go into it unless someone wants to hear more.


(This is Fairfax County, by the way. Posting this in the NoVA forum since I'm interested in advice on this in the context of local laws and norms, which I think can vary.)

[boyd888]

You can all the police (non-emergency line) and they will come mark the car and ticket it for the expired stuff. The police will come tow it after 4 days if not moved/fixed.

Parking Restrictions and Related Issues*- Fairfax County, Virginia

If your neighbor gets the car reinspected there's nothing you can do about it as you don't own the rights (or view) to parking on the street in front of your house. You could also get four tire dollys and move the car in front of your neighbor's house some night if asking them nicely is out of the question.

[airjay75]

Originally Posted by boyd888

You can all the police (non-emergency line) and they will come mark the car and ticket it for the expired stuff. The police will come tow it after 4 days if not moved/fixed.

Parking Restrictions and Related Issues*- Fairfax County, Virginia

If your neighbor gets the car reinspected there's nothing you can do about it as you don't own the rights (or view) to parking on the street in front of your house. You could also get four tire dollys and move the car in front of your neighbor's house some night if asking them nicely is out of the question.

Thanks. I probably could have been clearer in my opening post. I'm very familiar with the laws in Fairfax County and what I can and cannot do. I'm looking more for input on what I should do, i.e., what would others do if faced with a similar situation.

[Mnseca]

One of our neighbors once reported us for having a an "inoperable vehicle" in front of OUR house. It was a brand new car, actually, and not an eyesore, but had lost its front license plate after a fender bender earlier that week. Apparently that qualified. We got a note from some county agency saying we were in violation and needed to fix or remove the car. We were livid, of course. In your case, it seems warranted though.

[airjay75]

One other thought for those who may be unaware. If the car was ticketed, there would really be two ways for them to avoid having the car towed. One, renew the registration and inspection, or, two, park the car either in their garage or in their driveway with a cover on it. If they did this, it would probably just result in one of their other cars being parked there, so it could end up being an exercise in futility if I did report it. One argument for just doing nothing, I suppose.

[froglipz]

Talk to the neighbor, express your feelings, give them an opportunity to fix the problem. If they don't, call police report inoperable vehicle, it will be ticketed and eventually towed.

Or you could do nothing.

[airjay75]

Originally Posted by Mnseca

One of our neighbors once reported us for having a an "inoperable vehicle" in front of OUR house. It was a brand new car, actually, and not an eyesore, but had lost its front license plate after a fender bender earlier that week. Apparently that qualified. We got a note from some county agency saying we were in violation and needed to fix or remove the car. We were livid, of course. In your case, it seems warranted though.

Yeah, I don't think I would ever report an inoperable vehicle if it had only been there for a week or even a month. Even if a car is truly an inoperable junker, I would always give my neighbors some time to figure out what they need to do with it. To me, it becomes more of a problem when the car just stays there parked month after month and seems like it isn't ever going anywhere.

I will add to the story that before my neighbor built this car, the exterior body of his previous car that was crashed sat in their driveway for about 3 or 4 months. I did end up calling the police (or code compliance office, can't remember which) at that point. Several other neighbors and I had discussions about it and I had no problems giving them some time to figure out what to do with it, but after a certain point, I just thought it was sort of ridiculous that this crashed car (that I and other neighbors all thought was an eyesore) did not appear to be going anywhere.

[Harpaint]

Originally Posted by airjay75

One other thought for those who may be unaware. If the car was ticketed, there would really be two ways for them to avoid having the car towed. One, renew the registration and inspection, or, two, park the car either in their garage or in their driveway with a cover on it. If they did this, it would probably just result in one of their other cars being parked there, so it could end up being an exercise in futility if I did report it. One argument for just doing nothing, I suppose.

Well maybe one of the other cars wouldn't be an eyesore at least. And possibly the parent's wouldn't want to park their car on the street and would make the kid get rid of it or fix it. The more you inconvenience them the more chance they'll deal with it.

[airjay75]

Originally Posted by Harpaint

Well maybe one of the other cars wouldn't be an eyesore at least. And possibly the parent's wouldn't want to park their car on the street and would make the kid get rid of it or fix it. The more you inconvenience them the more chance they'll deal with it.

Yes, definitely potential outcomes as well. Their other cars are not eyesores. However, the car I think would end up on the street if they did swap them out is a very large pickup truck that would take up a lot more street space than the current car, but I know it's also very new and so I doubt the dad would want to park it on the street long term. That said, my neighbors (including the parents) generally seem to be the type of people who do as little as possible when it comes to taking care of their home and being respectful of their neighbors, so I have little confidence that they will do anything more than they have to to remedy the problem. They are perfectly nice people when I have spoken with them, but just generally clueless about how things like say, a dog barking for hours on end might not be enjoyable for your neighbors, or disposing of your Christmas Tree by just leaving it in your side yard to decompose for 2 years in a row next to a trailer (the trailer is prohibited under HOA rules) might not be appreciated by neighbors who care about maintaining their property values. Just a few examples.

[HokieFan]

If it appeared to me that it hadn't been moved in a couple of months, I would report it.

Originally Posted by airjay75

However, the car I think would end up on the street if they did swap them out is a very large pickup truck that would take up a lot more street space than the current car, but I know it's also very new and so I doubt the dad would want to park it on the street long term.

Or not...

I guess the question should be, what would you rather see parked in front of your house?