LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Abandoned cars litter Louisville streets, a problem city officials and LMPD have attributed to the city's overcrowded impound lot. In a continued effort to empty the Frankfort Avenue property, LMPD is hosting an in-person auction Wednesday.
LMPD hosts online auctions regularly to sell cars that have not been picked up from the impound lot. Major Emily McKinley said this will be the first in-person auction since before the pandemic.
"The live auction does get vehicle off the lot faster, the cars get off the lot that day," she said. "So tomorrow we will take payments for those vehicles."
LMPD will be selling around 60 vehicles. Model years range from 1990-2021, and include trucks, sedans, SUV's and even a piece of John Deere machinery.
McKinley said the impound lot can hold roughly 1,800 vehicles, but right now has about 1200.
The lot has faced ongoing overcrowding issues, leading to problems picking up more abandoned or wrecked cars from Louisville streets. As recently as a few months ago, city leaders said the lot was over capacity.
The city said 89 cars were picked up during an amnesty period where people could pick up their cars without fees. LMPD has also been selling vehicles through online auctions.
McKinley said many other vehicles have been removed through other efforts.
She said LMPD has worked with insurance companies to communicate about totaled cars that need to be picked up.
"Technically these cars were owned by insurance companies but they were not coming to pick the vehicle up, there was a miscommunication in letting them know the car was here," McKinley said. "So we've started communicating with them on a daily basis."
McKinley said they have a new software program for bar coding and tagging cars, and they've worked to extend their contract with tow company Suburban to store cars on their lot.
McKinley said police have also collaborated with the Commonwealth Attorney's office to release more vehicles held for investigations.
"There were several vehicles that cases has lapsed and we no longer needed the vehicle so those cars had been released," she said.
McKinley said criminal holds currently make up about 500 of the 1200 cars at the lot, where the count used to be closer to 700.
Those cars aren't eligible to be auctioned. McKinley said vehicle owners have 45 days to pick up a vehicle before it could possibly be sold.
"After 45 days, that vehicle is eligible to be auctioned," she said. "None of the other vehicles on your lot have exhausted the 45 day window."
"Our goal would be eventually to auction off every single one of the vehicles here," she said.
McKinley said LMPD hopes to have auctions periodically, as more cars become eligible for auction.
While online auctions provided a wider audience, McKinley said previous in-person auctions had crowds of regulars many who can pick up cars that day.
"We could auction a car off to someone from Alaska is we wanted to," she said. "But this provides for a quicker way to get vehicles off the lot."
The auction is being held at the Frankfort Avenue impound lot Wednesday, April 6th at 10 am.
Buyers are responsible for hiring a private wrecker or tow company to remove vehicles from the lot, and they have until Friday at 5 pm.
McKinley recommends arriving early, as parking could be a challenge.
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