Once the easy money is done, the end of bubbles can come quickly. The luxury cars left at the airport is a story I have heard about Ireland too.
Some late 2008 news stories.
Irish economy problems.
agonist.org
independent.ie
Emigrants abandoning luxury cars at airport
Sunday November 09 2008
People are driving to Dublin airport, emigrating and abandoning their cars in the airport car parks.
The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has confirmed that they have employed a contracted company to deal with the cars -- and are in contact with banks and lending companies, requesting them to repossess abandoned vehicles.
They have also confirmed that among the cars left behind at the airport are luxury models, including the five series BMW.
The cars are being left in both the long-term and shortterm car parks by people who have not even bothered to contact their banks or insurance companies to inform them that they will not be continuing with their repayments.
With over 18,000 cars occupying Dublin car parks every day, the cars often go unnoticed for some time before they come to the attention of the authorities.
When contacted, a spokesman for the DAA confirmed the trend. "From time to time, abandoned cars are being left in the airport-in both the long and short-term car parks. Sometimes we are contacted by gardai, other times we are contacted by someone enquiring about a particular registration plate and, if the car has been leased, we may be in touch with the relevant banks or insurance companies.
"We also have a licence plate recognition system in place so we can find out if certain cars are in our cark parks. We have it sub-contracted out to a company where, after a certain period of time, the company will come in and take the car.
"There are all different types of cars -- they are not necessarily old bangers. Five series BMWs, for example. We can't keep track of all the reasons the cars are left. You never know individuals' circumstances, particularly if they are from a different country.''
"It's up to the company who owns it -- be it the bank or an insurance company -- to follow it up and come in and retrieve the cars. They will then have to produce legal documents proving ownership of the car," he said.
With charges costing as much as €40 per day for the short-term car park, the DAA has said banks may be left to foot the bill for their customer.
"Whoever is deemed to be the legal owner of the car will have to look after the bill. So if an individual has left the country and a bank claims ownership, they will have to deal with the issue. The cars can be left there from ten days to anything up to a couple of weeks."
In recent times, the economic slowdown has seen a surge in car repossessions, with thousands of indebted owners failing to keep up with their loan repayments.
In August, Ireland's biggest motor auctioneers, The Merlin Motor car sales group, reported a 50 per cent increase in the number of repossessed cars in the past year, with reports of brand new high-end makes being taken back in huge numbers.
Up to 8,000 vehicles nationwide have been repossessed in the past 12 months alone -- and banks are having to write off about a third of the value of each car in order to account for the losses they make on the loans.
Meanwhile, the ESRI projects that the outflow of people from the country will reach 20,000 next year, a level of not seen since 1990.
The return of emigration highlights a sharp downturn in domestic labour market conditions, with the ESRI projecting that the numbers of those unemployed will increase by 60,000 or 60 per cent between 2007 and 2009. |
