Going Once, Going Twice: Tinton Falls Auctions Impounded Vehicles

We humans can be forgetful. Sometimes we leave behind a pen at the bank or our sunglasses at a restaurant -- and if you're a parent you've undoubtedly experienced missing sweatshirts and gym clothes.

But over at the impound lots behind there are about 40 vehicles that have been abandoned by their owners and are about to be auctioned off in an online sale that starts at 9 a.m. on Nov. 5.

"We never run out of product to sell," said Gerry Turning, the borough administrator, of the twice-a-year-sale that began in 1996. He said that since the borough started auctioning off vehicles that had been impounded, Tinton Falls has raised "in excess of $2 million."

A quick tour of one of the impound lots on Tuesday morning showed a Lexus SUV, a Jeep Cherokee and Wrangler, along with a white minivan and assorted sedans and suv's awaiting the auction block. There were even a couple of New York license plates and a Budget rent-a-truck.

Turning said most of the vehicles had been impounded due to the failure of the driver to produce either registration or insurance for the vehicle. Drivers are responsible to pay the $90 to tow the car to the lot and then $25 for every day it sits there until documentation is produced.

Those fees go directly into the borough's coffers and the proceeds from the auction go to the police department, said Turning, "which works out to be about 50-50." Since the borough spent about $40,000 to build the two lots 15 years ago, Turning said it's cost no additional money other than the occasional replacement of locks for the gates.

Some vehicles have also been involved in what Turning called, "the commission of a crime." Regardless, the vehicles become titled through the borough and are auctioned each May and November through U.S. GovBid, an online site that "allows government agencies to sell surplus and confiscated items at public auction," according to its Web site.

Turning said that they've had some vehicles go for over $10,000 and others for a few hundred dollars, but ultimately, "everything goes."

Along with the vehicles, the borough will auction off a motorcycle and a few bicycles as well as everything found inside the confiscated vehicles. Turning opened a shed locked within the impound lot and pointed to a bag filled with tools, cd's, binoculars and jumper cables and containers filled with change with some pieces of jewelry mixed in.

"This is one of those stories where one man's junk is another man's treasure," said Turning.

The auction runs from 9 a.m. Nov. 5 through 7 p.m. Nov. 9 at U.S. GovBid.