Dude, Where's My Car?

Maui Cruisers are extremely popular on the Valley Isle.  What are they?  A Maui Cruiser is a term used to describe an inexpensive vehicle that one purchases on Maui after moving here that will get you from A to B (hopefully) and one that you won't mind getting into with your feet caked in bricks of sand (assuming the floorboard hasn't rusted out).

On the Mainland, such a car would be called a Piece of S***.  However, on Maui, said vehicle is  shabby chic!

OK, so here's an all too common situation:  a young guy or girl from the Mainland decides he/she wants to move to Maui and after moving here, purchases a Maui Cruiser for say, $500-$1000.  After 1-2 years of living and working on Maui, he/she has gotten out of their system whatever plagued them enough to leave the Mainland in the first place and escape to the Valley Isle, and they decide to go back home.

What to do with the Maui Cruiser?  It's out of the question that one would pay $1000 to ship the car to Oakland or Long Beach, CA.  If the car is still operable, then one could try and sell it (I actually know one guy who bought a Toyota Tercel cruiser for $650 and sold it three years later for $700)!

Well, say you can't seem to sell the car because it's such a P.O.S. and your flight back to the Mainland leaves in 48 hours, so you decide to abandon the car.  You don't want to take it to S.O.S. Metals and have it recycled because that costs money.  So, you just leave it somewhere on public land in the middle of the night so the taxpayer can pay for a towing company to take it away and have it scrapped.  Of course the police will try to bill the owner of the car, but you removed the plates and ground down the VIN, or even better, you just paid cash for it and never bothered to register the vehicle.  Insurance?  Please!

Take a look guys and gals, the bright orange stickers are placed by the MPD once a vehicle is reported or found to be abandoned.

Car left at the Haiku Community Center parking lot.

Truck on the side of S. Kihei Rd. whose abandoned sticker is on the driver-side window that is now rolled down.

Car left at the intersection of S. Kihei Rd and Welakahao Rd.  At least someone took the wheels and any remaining fuel!

SUV abandoned in public parking lot stall in Paia.

Vehicle on Welakahao Rd in Kihei in the process of being towed.

For more info on abandoned vehicles:  http://www.co.maui.hi.us/index.aspx?NID=834

Hey, you can actually rent a Maui Cruiser here: http://www.mauicruisers.net/