Sharjah to sell hundreds of abandoned luxury cars at auction

Owners of brands including Range Rover, Lexus, Porsche and Mercedes have been given four days to claim their cars

Cars abandoned in Sharjah's Abu Shagara area. Jeffrey Biteng / The National

Sharjah Municipality plans to sell hundreds of confiscated cars at a public auction after they were abandoned by their owners.

The owners have four days to claim their cars before they are sent for auction on April 30.

On Tuesday, the emirate’s municipality urged owners of more than 440 vehicles to visit its inspection and control department in industrial area 5 and take their vehicles.

The cars have been in a compound lot for more than six months. In the past, luxury vehicles were abandoned by heavily indebted people who fled the country to avoid paying their dues.

“They have four days to visit the inspection and control department to rectify the reasons for impoundment,” the municipality said in a post on Instagram.

The municipality said it was cracking down on the owners of dirty and neglected cars to improve the appearance of the streets.

Most unclaimed cars towed away in the past two years have had Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia number plates.

Brands include Range Rover, Lexus, Porsche, Jeep, Cadillac and Mercedes, among others.

Some of them were seized between 2016 and 2019.

Last month, authorities in Abu Dhabi said they would sell abandoned cars and those illegally parked in multi-story car parks and Mussaffah’s M18 area.

In Dubai, motorists who leave their cars parked in the same spot for long periods of time get a text message warning from the municipality before they are removed. The cars are sold at auction if they are not claimed within six months.

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