Colo. Rev. Stat. » Title 18
Colorado Revised Statutes

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-4-512 (2024)

Abandonment of a motor vehicle

✓ C.R.S. 2024: the 2025 and 2026 sessions are not included
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section CO-LEGleg.colorado.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

(1) Any person who abandons any motor vehicle upon a street, highway, right-of-way, or any other public property, or upon any private property without the express consent of the owner or person in lawful charge of that private property commits abandonment of a motor vehicle. (2) To "abandon" means to leave a thing with the intention not to retain possession of or assert ownership over it. The intent need not coincide with the act of leaving.

(3) It is prima facie evidence of the necessary intent that:

(a) The motor vehicle has been left for more than seven days unattended and unmoved; or

(b) License plates or other identifying marks have been removed from the motor vehicle; or

(c) The motor vehicle has been damaged or is deteriorated so extensively that it has value only for junk or salvage; or

(d) The owner has been notified by a law enforcement agency to remove the motor vehicle, and it has not been removed within three days after notification.

(4) Abandonment of a motor vehicle is a petty offense.

Source: L. 71: R&RE, p. 432, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 40-4-512. L. 2021: (4) amended, (SB 21-271), ch. 462, p. 3180, § 219, effective March 1, 2022.

Cross references: For the towing and storage of abandoned and illegally parked motor vehicles, see part 18 of article 4 of title 42.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1 case, 1997–1997 · leading case: Nat'l Advert. Co. v. Dep't of Transp. of the State, 932 P.2d 871 (Colo. Ct. App. 1997).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Nat'l Advert. Co. v. Dep't of Transp. of the State, 932 P.2d 871 (Colo. Ct. App. 1997). · cites it 2× “See § 18-4-512, C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 8B) (to abandon motor vehicle means to leave it with intention not to retain possession of or assert ownership over it); § 18-13-112, C.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.