Workers from Car Medic showing the ELV procedures taken to handle an abandoned car taken into their depot in Bandar Teknologi, Kajang. (Additional pix if needed)
KAJANG Municipal Council (MPKj) will collaborate with the country’s first automotive vehicle treatment facility authorised by Selangor Department of Environment (DOE) to solve the backlog of complaints on abandoned vehicles in the municipality.
Effective Dec 1, Car Medic Sdn Bhd will help the local council dispose of deregistered abandoned vehicles via End Life Vehicle (ELV), an automotive vehicle recycling method that has high environmental quality standards.MPKj will not incur any additional cost with this approach.
The local council’s present method of auctioning the vehicles to scrap metal dealers is not only in poor demand and causing storage problems, it is also bad for the environment and can contaminate water sources.
MPKj president Najmuddin Jemain said the local council had a depot to store abandoned vehicles in Bandar Baru Bangi, with a maximum storage capacity of 300 vehicles.
He said there were 5,533 public complaints of abandoned vehicles in the municipality since 2016 and MPKj was only able to tow away 928 vehicles.
“The rest are on the waiting list. We need to dispose of the vehicles in the depot before we can tow away more vehicles.
“Starting Dec 1, Car Medic will tow abandoned vehicles to the MPKj depot for its deregistration process.
“Once the process is complete, Car Medic will tow vehicles to its depot for ELV recycling.
“Components that can be salvaged will be removed while the rest of the parts will be extracted or dismantled, and sent to the respective licensed waste collectors authorised by DOE,” he said at the ELV launch at Car Medic depot in Bandar Teknologi, Kajang.
Najmuddin said the biggest hurdle in disposing abandoned vehicles was the vehicle deregistration process, which needed much paperwork.
He added that a majority of abandoned vehicle owners would not claim their vehicles once they were towed.
“Since 2016, only five owners have reclaimed their vehicles.
“Once a vehicle has been towed, there will be a compound and towing fee that the owner needs to pay before claiming it.
“Many owners hold on to the vehicles for its sentimental value and would argue with the tow truck operators during the towing process,” he said, adding that it was rare for the owners to claim it back.
Najmuddin encouraged those who want to dispose of their vehicles safely to deregister and surrender it to Car Medic.
He also said that Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia was working with Car Medic to collect data and do research on ELV for further improvement.
