Philadelphia has an abandoned vehicle problem. Here’s how you can get deserted cars off your block

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The City of Brotherly Love is plagued with derelict cars lining its streets, clogging curb space, collecting trash and frustrating residents.

These cars create parking problems in a city where finding a spot is often scarce. They also affect the quality of life, leaking potentially hazardous fluids and attracting crime.

In 2000, former Mayor John Street pledged to remove 40,000 abandoned cars off city streets in two months. The mayor’s goal cost $1.6 million and enlisted a fleet of 100 private tow trucks. By the end of the campaign, the city fell short of its goal, but still managed to clear 33,000 vehicles from the streets.

Twenty five years later, junked cars remain a common problem.

Requests for removal of these vehicles have been the most common request of Philly 311. For each of the past four years, the customer service center has received 37,000 complaints on average.

Days after she was elected, Mayor Cherelle Parker wrote an open letter to Philadelphians, pledging to “launch a new approach to addressing quality-of-life issues” like removing abandoned cars as part of her $36 million Clean and Green initiative. From June through August, the city collected 3,017 empty vehicles.

In December 2024, the Department of Justice announced they would be assisting the PPD in their efforts to remove deserted vehicles from the city as a part of the agency’s Collaborative Reform Initiative. The DOJ hopes to streamline the removal of these cars, reducing crime and improving community relations in the process.

Over the past two years, the Philadelphia Parking Authority and Philadelphia Police Department have collectively removed about 21,500 cars, according to data from the agencies.

Here’s what you need to know about abandoned vehicles and how you can get them towed from your neighborhood.

How do you determine if a car is abandoned?

According to the PPA website, cars that haven’t moved for a long period of time, don’t have a license plate or are a clear safety hazard are considered derelict. However, just because a car looks abandoned doesn’t mean that it can be towed.

“Until either the PPA or the police check the tag and see if the car is registered with the state, it’s not considered abandoned,” said PPA spokesperson Marty O’Rourke. “We have cases where cars look like they could possibly be abandoned, but upon checking, they are registered.”

Even if a car has been parked for a long period of time, unless it is unregistered, the city has no authority to tow it. If the vehicle is determined to be abandoned, the police will notify the owner before towing.

For abandoned vehicles that are deemed hazardous, the city says the police can get it towed “as soon as possible.” Examples of unsafe cars include ones with missing wheels, broken windows or leaking fluids.

Philadelphians looking to identify unregistered vehicles can do so by checking if the car has a license plate. Pennsylvania stopped issuing physical registration stickers in 2016, so you can’t rely on looking out for one.

Reporting abandoned vehicles

There are various ways to report abandoned vehicles in the city. Residents can call 311, or use the Philly 311 app or the online form.

To submit a report, you will need to know the following information:

• The car’s exact location
• Whether the steering column is broken
• The car’s condition
• Make and model
• Color
• Body style
• License plate number and state

Philadelphians have historically voiced concerns about how long it takes the city to respond to 311 abandoned vehicle complaints. In the past, wait times ran as long as 142 days on average. Orlando Lam, a city resident, said he had a quicker response after filing the PPA’s nuisance vehicle reporting form.

Lam discovered the parking authority’s reporting feature about a year ago and documented his first abandoned car a few months later. He says the vehicle had four flat tires and expired inspection tags.

The University City resident didn’t expect anything to happen. In the past, he had filed similar reports to Philadelphia’s 311 app, but that “usually took a while to happen.” After about a month, however, Lam was pleasantly surprised to receive an email notifying him the car was towed.

Usually, the parking authority aims to remove nuisance vehicles promptly, O’Rourke said. He added that the agency will coordinate towing within two weeks, sometimes even as fast as a day, depending on the situation. The car still needs to be inspected to confirm that it can be towed.

“Until either the PPA or the police check the tag and see if the car is registered with the state, it’s not considered abandoned,” O’Rourke said. “We have cases where cars look like they could possibly be abandoned, but upon checking, they are registered.”

To report a car that you think is abandoned, you can do so online with the PPA’s nuisance vehicle reporting form or call 216-683-9773.