Members of Community Board 10 in the East Bronx are taking action against a plague of long-term parked vehicles with license plates that are out-of-state, fake, made of paper or covered-up — and ones with no plates at all.
Some are untraceable “ghost” cars that remain parked in the same space for weeks or even months, despite it being illegal to park for more than seven days in New York City. Large commercial trucks also clog up the streets of CB10, even though it is illegal to park them on residential streets for even one night.
Some of the cars, trucks and RVs scattered among East Bronx streets are covered with tarps, severely damaged or booted — suggesting that they’re not moving anytime soon.
The issue goes far beyond the loss of parking spaces. Throughout the city, ghost cars are a challenging and costly problem because owners can easily evade tolls, fines and other required payments and, in some cases, may be linked to fraud.
And the scourge of seemingly abandoned cars is hardly unique to CB10, which includes Throggs Neck, Co-op City, Pelham Bay and Westchester Square. Last year, Mayor Eric Adams created a new task force to specifically address the issue.
Adams announced in September 2024 that 15 NYPD officers were assigned strictly to tackle ghost cars, an effort he said has removed 100,000 vehicles from the streets since 2022.
However, CB10 seems to be an easy target for those looking to keep a vehicle off the radar for the long run.
That’s likely because it is close to major highways and has few posted parking restrictions, according to CB10 District Manager Matt Cruz, who heard numerous complaints from constituents and begun tackling the problem firsthand.
In his travels around the district, Cruz has identified 15 “problem blocks” and logged more than 70 complaints to 311, keeping track on a spreadsheet he updates almost compulsively, both on and off the clock.
The Bronx Times accompanied Cruz on a drive through the district on Aug. 21, where he added at least a dozen more vehicles to the tally in less than an hour.
The Bronx Times observed parked RVs that appeared to have people living inside; abandoned semi trucks with trailers; a truck with registration and inspection both expired; a damaged SUV with NYPD tag and boot; at least five vehicles with no plates; a classic car with boot on the rear tire; a sedan with make and model removed; and several license plates from South Carolina, Rhode Island and Virginia, in addition to the usual New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
For Cruz, these vehicles don’t just clog up the streets; they’re likely a disturbing sign of illegal activity in the district and citywide.
“I’m not letting up on this,” he said.
‘Plate and Switch’
The Bronx has the highest concentration of ghost cars among the five boroughs, according to a recent study by the City Council Oversight and Investigations Division (OID).
The new report,” Plate and Switch,” detailed a field investigation of 3,500 vehicles across the city in March and April, which found untraceable parked cars were “a persistent citywide problem” that fell most heavily on the Bronx.
The study looked at all vehicles, not just those that were parked too long. But it found widespread issues with non-New York plates not registered to the vehicles (nearly one in five of 768 total).
Thirty percent of the ghost cars were in the Bronx, followed by 28% each in Brooklyn and Queens.
Of the 242 Bronx ghost vehicles, 20% had mismatched or “no-hit” plates that did not match registration, 11% had temporary plates and 10% had no plates at all.
The study also found that the government is losing significant amounts of money because ghost-plated vehicle owners cannot be easily traced. Those surveyed in the “Plate and Switch” collectively owed more than $80,000 in city fines, and ghost cars were found to be more often used in violations for speeding in school zones, blocking fire hydrants and other unsafe actions.
‘We need help’
While Cruz does not have vehicle investigation tools at his disposal, he said he hopes his spreadsheet will highlight the scope of the problem and assist law enforcement as they try to keep up with vehicle owners.
Sanitation and police both deal with ghost cars, but most of the burden falls on the NYPD, which handles those with license plates, legitimate or not. DSNY handles only severely damaged vehicles with no plates that are destined for the landfill.
Still, DSNY has recently removed a significant number of derelict vehicles from the streets of CB10.
In 2024, the agency tagged 230 vehicles, 128 of which went unclaimed and were subsequently towed. Thus far in 2025, the agency has tagged 175 vehicles and removed 76, a DSNY spokesperson sent via email to the Bronx Times.
The NYPD has increased its enforcement in the last year. Within the 45th precinct, police have towed 11 cars with temporary plates (up from five) and booted or towed 113 with out-of-state plates (up from 45), according to the NYPD public information office responding to the Bronx Times’ inquiry.
Despite these efforts, Cruz said owners remain determined to keep their vehicles off the radar. If one does get tagged by the NYPD, often the owner just moves it around the same street, he said.
Cruz said police are trying, but owners still feel they can go undetected. “When the cat is gone, the mice will play.”
A CB10 resident who declined to have her name published said the problem of overparked and ghost cars “has been going on for years and years” in her part of Brinsmade Ave.
Since the area has no alternate side parking rules, people often feel free to leave vehicles of all conditions for an excessively long time — for example, a mini-bus that hadn’t moved for more than six months, she said.
“I know the 4-5 [precinct] has a lot on their plate. They work hard,” the resident said. “But a little more effort should be put to this.”
She said she has lived in Throggs Neck for 38 years and considers it a good neighborhood, however, “This will create a bad neighborhood,” she said. “Things like this will damage a community.”
After calling 311 “many, many times,” she said she now plans to report all incidents in person at the precinct.
“We need help,” she said. “I’m assuming that it’s not just on my block.”
Opportunity for fraud
Cruz said the long-term parked cars likely point to, at a minimum, insurance fraud and a black market for out-of-state plates.
Indeed, the “Plate and Switch” study found that some popular online sellers wander into “somewhat murky” territory by selling plates that may be intended as collector’s items but are easily used to commit fraud.
The report detailed online shops, including on Etsy and Craigslist, that sell real license plates from various states that appear to be authentic but not registered to any owner. In one case, the site OfferUp marketed them to New York City area buyers as “useful for anyone without permit/license.”
The investigation also found means of purchasing out-of-state registration. For instance, a shop in Harlem explicitly marketed Virginia registration to New York drivers. “Having trouble registering your car in NYC? We can get you plates!” read its Instagram ad.
These kinds of vendors are “offering products and services that facilitate widespread evasion of registration laws,” according to the report.
Intentionally or not, these shops undermine those working to enforce state registration and parking laws.
As Cruz adds to his daily log of problem vehicles, he said he has become concerned for his safety, even going out mostly at night to avoid being seen.
But he said he won’t give up anytime soon. Cruz said constituents can help by providing the 45th precinct with the nearest residential address of problem cars, along with the make, model and plate numbers (if they have one). He also said providing contact information — not remaining anonymous — is critical so police can follow up. “We are under assault in this area.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
