The original owners jet or drive away, leaving cars, cameras, wheelchairs - even an artificial limb.
By JEAN HELLER
Published May 28, 2003
TAMPA - A 1987 Chevy Spectrum isn't exactly a new Corvette, but when Rex Osborn had a chance to grab one for $100 at a Tampa International Airport auction of abandoned vehicles, he figured the price was right.
"The body was great, the interior beautiful," said Osborn, a Tampa maintenance engineer. "No rust, no scratches, no dents."
Soon after he left the lot, the engine blew.
"The junkyard was about a mile away," he said, "so I drove it over there and sold it for scrap. Got my $100 back."
All things considered, Osborn wasn't that upset. When you buy something that's been abandoned at an airport, expectations are tempered.
TIA holds auctions periodically to get rid of the cars, luggage, cell phones, medical equipment and personal effects either lost or deliberately left behind by some of the millions of people who pass through TIA each year.
The mantra is, "Buyer beware." There are no guarantees. You can find a gem - one man bought a 2.4-carat diamond ring appraised at $4,640 for $3,300 - or a dud.
Osborn came up with both. He lost his car, but he bought a digital camera for $60 that a dealer later told him was worth more than $300.
More remarkable than the bargains, perhaps, is the array of property left behind.
How, for example, does one forget to take a wheelchair, or oxygen tanks? Or a baseball autographed by former Baltimore Orioles third baseman and Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson? Why pick the airport as a place to abandon a car?
It's not hard to imagine someone forgetting a camera or a DVD player or a cell phone, or even a full set of golf clubs. But an artificial limb? A microwave oven?
"It's amazing what people leave behind," said John Landers of Tampa, who left this month's auction with a bulk lot of adult clothing he got for $50, an array of medical items for $15 and a lot of infant items for $25.
"I got canes, walkers, a wheelchair and oxygen tanks," Landers said. "I'll keep some of it and sell the rest."
Because Landers has grandchildren, the infant items will come in handy, with the possible exception of a stroller in which a child had - how shall we put this delicately? - a major accident.
"I can't believe they'd even sell it like that," Landers said.
The items are pretty much sold "as is," said Sharon Weaver, TIA's director of administration, who oversees the auctions.
"We go through everything to get rid of perishables or anything dangerous," Weaver said. "We find a lot of porn in the abandoned cars. And liquor. And hypodermic needles. We remove cameras when we find them and destroy the film. We also remove weapons and turn them over to the Sheriff's Office for destruction."
Deputies are also called when a body is found in a car. That has happened four times in the past several decades, in both long-term and short-term parking.
The auctions help TIA recoup some of the cost associated with the abandoned property.
For example, Osborn's Spectrum was abandoned in February at the USAirways hangar (which itself was abandoned by the airline) and had amassed $995 in impound fees.
A 1989 Honda Accord abandoned in the remote economy parking lot had amassed $273 in parking charges and $1,348 in impound fees. It drew a winning bid of $100 from Israel Crespo of Tampa, who was not asked to pay any of the charges or fees.
He got the Honda home. Three days later, he reported, "It's running good."
In all, the eight cars sold at auction had accumulated $1,653 in parking fees and $12,063 in impound charges. Their sale netted $6,050, less than half, and that doesn't include the cost of the auctioneer.
Weaver isn't sure why people abandon cars at the airport, but in some cases it is clear that was their intention.
"Sometimes they leave the title inside," she said.
Paul Sireci, chief of the airport police, said the first thing his department does with an abandoned car is check to make sure it isn't stolen.
"We write a letter to the title holder to see if he wants the car back, and if he doesn't, and there's a bank involved, we see if the bank wants the car, or the insurance company," Sireci said. "If not, then it goes to auction. A lot of them are junk. We had one with the hood inside the car. Reminded me of cars I had when I was younger."
At the most recent auction, the airport received the best price for a 1998 Chevrolet Malibu, for which a bidder paid $2,300.50.
"The prices were higher than what we usually get because there were only eight cars, and we had more bidders than merchandise, and they bid the price up," Weaver said.
It's possible to imagine someone dumping a junker car at the airport, but who would forget a $4,600 diamond ring?
"I'm only guessing here," Sireci said, "but I'd say it was involved in a relationship that went very bad."
