Unclaimed vehicles at Koidula checkpoint may be auctioned off
Authorities are solving the issue of vehicles apparently abandoned at a parking lot near the Koidula border crossing in southeast Estonia.
This can include auctioning off vehicles if unclaimed after two-to-three months.
The state Transport Administration is next month to start removing vehicles which remain beyond the allotted time. The parking lot's maximum legal stay is 72 hours.
The Koidula checkpoint is in Võru County and on the Estonia-Russia border.
The authority last week announced a deal with private sector firm Svenai OÜ to carry out the work of removing the vehicles and taking them to a secure storage area,
"As this is our parking lot, and at the entrance is a sign stating parking is allowed for 72 hours and separate signage that the date and time of the start of parking must be placed in a visible spot, if we go there and do not find this in a visible place on any car – be it a so-called junk vehicle or a vehicle in use – then we automatically have the right to remove that car," said head of the Transport Administration's supervision department, Siim Jaksi.
Jaksi added that the legal basis on which the Transport Administration could remove vehicles came into effect at the start of this year, with amendments to the Traffic Act entering into force and specifying the circumstances in which a parked vehicle may be removed to a secure storage zone in Võru, over 40 kilometers away.
The vehicle can remain at least two months in that secure area before being auctioned off.
"If within 30 days the vehicle's owner has not come to retrieve their car — we find this out from our contractual partner — then we send the vehicle owner a warning that we will begin dealing with the stored vehicle. We will also provide a new deadline, of at least one month, to come for the vehicle and pay the removal and storage costs in order to get the car back," Jaksi went on.
If the vehicle remains unclaimed by the end of that time-frame, storage will already have cost the authority up to €500 per car, he noted.
These costs are paid to OÜ Svenai, "and to cover those costs we will put the vehicle up for sale, under the Law of Obligations," Jaksi added.
Other parking options are available near the crossing, he noted, mainly a paid parking lot close by.
Those who opt instead to leave their cars on the roadside or in nearby forest, either municipal or private land, can see their vehicle removed also, as the landowner has the legal right to do so.
The Transport Administration in spring began identifying and notifying the owners of long-term parked vehicles in Koidula's free parking lot, leaving a notice on the car as well as informing the owners by email where possible.
Vehicles registered from as far afield as Spain, Germany and the U.K., as well as in Finland, Latvia, Sweden, Ukraine, were found, in addition to those registered in Estonia.
Of a couple of dozen emails he has sent, Jaksi said, he has received one reply.
At the same time, some owners have apparently started claiming their vehicles: While on August 5 there were 52 cars parked in the lot according to administration data, as of August 27 the number had fallen to 39.
The agency's legal service is currently drafting the exact procedure for how to remove the cars and how their compulsory sale will proceed if no one comes to retrieve them from Svenai OÜ's parking lot, Jaksi added.
When a vehicle is removed from Koidula, the Transport Administration documents its condition, notifies the police and the owner about its location and retrieval costs, and transports it to a storage site in Võru, with further notification sent to the owner via registered mail, email, and phone.
The charge for removing a vehicle will be €152, with storage and guarding fees of €21 for the first day and €4.25 per day thereafter, capped at €85 per month, making a total service cost for one vehicle stored for a month come to €237, exclusive of VAT.
If a vehicle ends up being auctioned, the total costs will be deducted from the auction proceeds, which will be deposited for a year. If the owner does not make contact during that time, to retrieve the funds, they will be transferred to state coffers.
The maximum amount of the contract concluded between the Transport Administration and OÜ Svenai is €29,999, valid to the end of 2026 or until the contractual limit is reached, whichever comes first. The rationale here is that the Transport Administration is not obliged to order work up to the contractual maximum, and instead this will be done according to actual needs.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mait Ots
