More Than 8,600 “Ghost Cars'' Towed in City Since 2022

YS Gold 

During a New York City Council meeting on Monday, NYPD Transportation deputy chief Michael Pilecki said that 8,600 so-called “ghost cars” have been towed since the beginning of 2022, and the city is running out of space where to store them. 

Ghost cars are vehicles whose plates have been defaced or removed, making them undetectable to law enforcement. 

The reason for the dearth of storage space has to do with the elimination of the largest tow-pound in the city, which was located at Manhattan’s Pier 76. Governor Andrew Cuomo forced the closure of that pound—making way for park and commercial space—leaving only the three smaller pounds in Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens, each with only 200 spaces.

Short of impounding the vehicle, NYPD officers have issued 130,000 summonses for ghost cars, and made 1,700 arrests of those driving such vehicles.