Under RCW and City Ordinance, vehicles cannot be left abandoned in the public "right of way".  However, parking a currently registered vehicle on the shoulder of a public street is generally legal, unless the vehicle is obviously abandoned and/or the registration is expired more than 45 days.

Other than a properly signed “no parking” zone, a car must be abandoned on the public right of way (shoulder of the road) for police to initiate removal. 

Things that we look for to help established as abandoned: Flat tires, broken windows or missing parts needed to safely operate it, debris built up on or under the vehicle to indicate it hasnt' been moved in a while, licensed to an address outside of the area where it is parked.  (not an exhaustive list, just examples)

In response to a complaint of an abandoned vehicle, and based on call load, the police will respond and check to make sure that it is actually parked in the right of way.  If not, we cannot take any type of enforcement action. 

If it is parked on the public right of way, we will put a sticker on the window that will require the owner of the vehicle to move it.   We will return sometime after 24 hours to make sure that it has been done.   If not, we may impound the vehicle pursuant to RCW 46.55.085.      If you know who owns or where the vehicle belongs, please list that in the service report.  You can use this link to report the abandoned vehicle.

Please be patient.  We do make an effort to take care of the problem, but since the request has to go through many hands before it is assigned, it may take a while to respond.  Many times, it has been moved already and we will close out the request.

 Things to consider before filing a report: 

1. Vehicles parked over 24 hours are not automatically considered abandoned. Under a reasonableness standard, we use the totality of the circumstances to initate impound procedure. 
2. In most cases, you do not own exclusive rights to parking in front of your house if it is public right of way.  If the person that owns the vehicle is your neighbor, try to work it out before you submit an abandoned vehicle request.   For "on-going" parking disputes, the police should only be called as a last resort.