AB415

Existing law: (1) authorizes certain persons and law enforcement agencies to request the removal of a vehicle that has been abandoned on public or private property; and (2) requires the person who requests such a removal to inquire into whether the vehicle was stolen and the identity of the vehicle's owner. (NRS 487.230, 487.235) Existing law requires a person who removed an abandoned vehicle to notify the registered owner and any person having a security interest in the vehicle by registered or certified mail that the vehicle has been removed and will be junked, dismantled or otherwise disposed of unless the owner or the person having the security interest responds and pays the costs of removal. (NRS 487.250) Existing law additionally requires a tow operator to notify the registered and legal owner of a vehicle if the vehicle was towed and placed in storage at the request of someone other than the owner or the owner's authorized agent. (NRS 706.4479) Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a junk certificate to a tow operator or automobile wrecker for a vehicle that: (1) has been discarded or abandoned; (2) has been ruined, wrecked, dismantled or rendered inoperative; (3) is unfit for further use in accordance with the vehicle's original purpose; (4) is unregistered or is not reclaimed by the registered owner or person having a security interest in the vehicle within a certain period of time; and (5) has value principally as scrap which