An Act Relating to Abandoned Vehicles

Sec. 1. 29-A MRSA §1852,  as amended by PL 2007, c. 150, §2, is further amended to read:

§ 1852. Abandonment defined

For the purposes of this subchapter, a vehicle is considered "abandoned" if the owner or lienholder does not retrieve it and pay all reasonable charges for towing, storing and authorized repair of the vehicle within 7 14 days after the notices to the owner and lienholder are sent by the Secretary of State or 7 14 days after the advertisement is published as required in section 1854, subsection 4. There is a rebuttable presumption that the last owner of record of a motor vehicle found abandoned as shown in the files of the office of the Secretary of State is the owner of the motor vehicle at the time it was abandoned and the person who abandoned it.

Sec. 2. 29-A MRSA §1854, sub-§4, ¶B,  as amended by PL 2007, c. 150, §5, is further amended to read:

Sec. 3. 29-A MRSA §1856, sub-§1,  as amended by PL 2007, c. 150, §6, is further amended to read:

Sec. 4. 29-A MRSA §1857,  as amended by PL 2007, c. 150, §7, is further amended to read:

§ 1857. Limits

If the notification to the Secretary of State required by section 1854 is made more than 7 14 days after receipt of a vehicle described in section 1851, the person holding the vehicle may not collect more than 7 14 days of storage fees. Daily storage charges must be reasonable and total storage charges may not exceed $900 for a 30-day period.

SUMMARY

This bill amends the abandoned vehicle laws by increasing the number of days that must lapse before a vehicle is considered abandoned from 7 to 14. The bill also increases the maximum time a person has to notify the Secretary of State from 7 to 14 days in order to be eligible for additional daily storage fees.