An awkward parking lot can quickly lead you to the impound lot to recover your vehicle. The fine to be paid is often hefty. But sometimes procrastination is much worse than having to shell out a hundred dollars.
“Where is my car?” This is a question that hundreds of motorists ask themselves every day. When you can’t find your vehicle where you had parked it a few hours earlier, the first reaction is often to cry foul. Then to wonder – when you don’t already know – if parking was authorized at the chosen location. And it is indeed very often awkward, abusive or even dangerous parking that explains why your vehicle has disappeared. Car kidnappings abound every day in major cities, where finding a place to park can sometimes be an impossible task. Once your car has been sent to the pound, normally the closest to your parking location, a time trial begins to recover it.
A paid time trial since in addition to the fine for inconvenient parking amounting to 135 euros, impound fees come every day to salt the bill a little more. In a big city like Paris, Lyon or Marseille, they flirt with 30 euros for each day that your vehicle is impounded. The price to pay can very quickly soar beyond 200 euros.
But there is a worst-case scenario. If you haven’t been able to collect your car from the impound within 10 days – compared to 15 before the change in procedure in 2021 – you simply risk never seeing it again. The State has the right to sell your vehicle. All vehicles? No, those meeting specific criteria.
The law stipulates that the State has the right to sell on two conditions: the car must be between 13 and 30 years old and its value must not exceed 765 euros. To estimate the amount of the vehicle, an expert is appointed once the 10-day period has passed. If he considers your car to be worth less than 765 euros (and that it is over 13 years old), then the State has the authorization to sell it without your consent. Does this mean that you no longer have any chance of seeing the car you parked a few days earlier? There is a possibility of recovering it, by approaching the organization in charge of the sale. But it will cost you an additional 129 euros, which must be added to the amount of the fine and the daily guard costs. A price to pay that may well exceed the value of your vehicle!
