Reader report: Recognize this car?

| Gatewood | West Seattle news

The photo and report are from Kate:

There is a car on my block that has been there for a week or so, and has not moved. The front and back plates have been removed. I suspect it is a stolen vehicle and that someone may be looking for it. I have reported it as an abandoned vehicle. It is in the Gatewood neighborhood, on 37th Ave SW, just to the south of Holden. It is a black, late 90s, early 2000s Volvo wagon with a lot of bumper stickers. The door to the gas tank is also missing. There appears to be some kind of wood shelves in the back.

Steve December 8, 2016 (8:39 am)

Call the police (non-emergency number). They will come investigate and tow the car away. I have done this more than once with abandoned cars on my street.

56bricks December 8, 2016 (9:27 am)

And then you get notified of the auction the next day. After it sat in the tow yard for over a month!

sb2780 December 8, 2016 (10:34 am)

The great thing is, at least in Tukwila, the police will come out within several hours and tow your car off of private property if it is reported by a neighbor as ‘suspicious’ within a couple hours of it being parked on the property. They will also fail to inform the owner of the property that they are removing the vehicle. In addition, they will also conveniently remove the license plates for you so that when you go to pick it up from impound, at a $350 expense to you, it will not be in a drive-able condition. The police report will also say that the registered owner could not be found, even though your correct name and address is on the police report. The police dispatch will continue to tell you repeatedly that they can’t confirm the number on the plates that were removed from the vehicle because they were taken into evidence. The only officer that can help you is off duty until further notice.

I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but seriously this was the worst way to come back from the airport on Monday, to be dropped of, think your car was stolen, and then find out the police towed it away for no reason?

In all seriousness, I did have an abandoned vehicle parked on my street over the summer, and it took the city 3 weeks to remove it after reporting it.

Ace20604 December 9, 2016 (12:07 am)

Similar experience in Tukwila, parking slightly over 8″ from the curb. The parking strip had 5′ fence directly adjacent to curb. Any closer my side mirror would hit. Gone an hour and thought my truck was stolen. Two fire trucks could have passed. Was told neighbour called it in. I asked if a photograph of the violation was available, told improperly parked Tukwila PD can remove it. About 275 dollars to get it out of tow yard. Missing 400-500 dollars of items from truck never recovered, jealousy C’est la vie

56bricks December 8, 2016 (12:36 pm)

Just my experience. And they found my Jeep after chasing the guy down who ran out of gas. Tons of car theft tools inside, gas cans,lots of fast food wrappers and a couple of crack pipes. I could have been arrested for those when I retrieved the Jeep. It’s all about $$$ for the tow yards. I think the thief’s bail was about 1 tenth of what it cost me to fix the car. And I am now most likely paying his rent,cable bill and free cell phone. Maybe even a safe place to do his drugs.