Abandoned cars no longer a problem

When journeying down Island County back roads a year ago, one might have discovered a handful of abandoned cars by the side of the road or parked on private lots. Not any more.

That old junker you thought was worth almost nothing is on average now worth about $300 to Puget Sound scrap processors.

Lois Young, who is in charge of marketing and recycling services at Skagit River Steel and Recycling in Burlington, said that the shortage of metals can be attributed to global supply and demand. The relatively nascent Chinese industrial revolution and growth in South America’s latest steel-seeker, Brazil, has resulted in a significant per-ton increase.

According to Young, iron is now fetching about $300 to $500 per ton on the market.

“It has gone up a couple hundred dollars over the last year per ton,” said Young.

This staggering increase is translating into a thriving market for legitimate, but more prevalently, illegitimate hulk haulers and unscrupulous scrap processors who have made some Puget Sound counties home to illegal trafficking.

According to state law, a hulk hauler is “any person who deals in vehicles for the sole purpose of transporting and/or selling them to a licensed vehicle wrecker or scrap processor in substantially the same form in which they are obtained. A hulk hauler may not sell secondhand motor vehicle parts to anyone other than a licensed vehicle wrecker or scrap processor.”

Unfortunately, properly licensed hulk haulers seem to be in the minority.

“It’s unreal,” said Dave Campbell, co-owner of Island Recycling in Freeland, when referring to the recent spike in illegal trafficking. “People are crawling out of the woodwork. A lot of illegal car haulers are hauling without paperwork.”

If you are having your car hauled, Campbell said, “be sure your hulk hauler is licensed.”

Washington State Patrol Trooper T.J. Giddings said a violator is issued a gross misdemeanor infraction, which on average ends up costing the violator about $200. He can also be prosecuted.

“Unlicensed wrecking yards are tied in with illegal hulk haulers,” said Giddings, who is solely responsible for policing 8,500 square miles of hauling and wrecking activity in Island, Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties.

Giddings said locally there is only a handful of licensed hulk haulers and wrecking yards on record, including A-1 Towing, Christian’s Towing, and Island Recycling in Freeland. All three take vehicles from authorized hulk haulers, but they don’t buy them.

“We have a real strict policy” on accepting cars from hulk haulers, said Tom Hopper, lead tow operator at A-1 Towing. “We require a clear title or an affidavit authorized by the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). If they don’t have any of that, forget it.”

“We don’t purchase vehicles as a rule,” added Hopper. “However, we’ve had an increase in picking up vehicles for free. We used to charge for that.”

Jessica Clark, shop attendant at Christian’s Towing, said about three to four people a day call up asking if Christian’s buys vehicles. Clark said Christian’s does not buy vehicles because of the paperwork required.

“It really gets sticky” when a wrecking yard starts buying vehicles, Clark said.

Although she did not recollect having had any personal dealings with illegitimate hulk haulers, Clark’s heard that “there have been a lot of people bringing in vehicles chopped up. Now, people think we owe them money.”

Campbell said that it’s standard practice for his company to “get the name, license number and hold it for ten days before we issue the check” to sellers.

As a comparison, Budget Auto Wrecking in Kent, a legitimate wrecking yard and hulk hauler that is the largest processor of vehicles in the state, currently pays hulk haulers $180 a ton for cars with the proper paperwork. When Budget is the hulk hauler, the price varies depending on the distance.

Giddings, who is stationed off I-5 in Bow, knows, however, that illegitimate hulk haulers sniff out the unlawful wrecking yards, so they flock there to cash in their goods. Any illegitimate hulk haulers in Island County who want the money usually end up going off-island to get it.

“There are about 10 to 15 (illegal hulk haulers) that may be running in each county,” said Giddings of his area of responsibility. “A good majority are not properly insured. A lot of them have safety violations.”

Dan Raichart, manager of Budget Auto Wrecking, said Illegal hulk hauling “was a bad thing for a while. It’s trickled down now.”

However, two recent examples testify to how widespread illegal hulk hauling has become.

“We held an emphasis on hulk haulers and scrap haulers on April 10 in Sultan,” wrote Giddings in a recent email. “The emphasis lasted approximately four hours and we stopped five vehicles hauling scrap cars and parts. Of those five vehicles, four of them had violations. There were approximately $1,800 in fines issued between three vehicles with one driver booked and his vehicle impounded.”

The multiple violations ranged from load securement violations, no proof of insurance, expired license plates, and one driver had a $10,000 felony warrant and a suspended license.

In another recent email, WSP Trooper Doug Sackman contacted Giddings about what he saw as “a high increase of vehicles hauling scrap metal and hulk vehicles.”

In a two-day operation, Sackman made five stops in and around Snohomish County.

“The main violations that almost all of these vehicles have in common are load securement, debris, brake and lighting violations,” wrote Sackman, “which from a safety stand point is the reason that we are doing this. The frosting on the cake, if you will, is that we are finding hulk violations and obviously stolen vehicles in this attempt to make SR-2 safer for the motoring public.”

Giddings explained that despite the proliferation of illegal hulk hauling and scrap processing, policing has proven difficult because of the sheer square mileage he has to cover and because criminals falsify documents that prove difficult to check.

“It’s very time-consuming because I have to keep track of 40 wrecking yards and four scrap yards for four counties,” said Giddings.

Wrecking yards can be subjected to hefty fines if they are caught dealing illegally. Giddings has issued these citations “three or four times in the four counties” ranging from $17,000 to $50,000.

According to Giddings, one Bothell wrecking yard has seen illegal hulk activity, but when contacted, the business refrained from commenting on the matter.

In terms of hulk-hauler citations, Giddings has “turned in 15 different civil infractions in the last four to six months.”

What’s most troubling to Giddings is that illegal hulk hauling is tied in with other illegal activities.

“Illegal hulk haulers are involved in other activities,” said Giddings. “About 50 to 75 percent are wanted for other things, including drug violations.”