Amherst, NY Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Chapter 184, Vehicles, Abandoned, dates to a 1973 local law and applies Town-wide outside the Village of Williamsville, which runs its own code. Section 184-2 defines 'abandon(ed)' to include discarded and junked vehicles. Section 184-3 sets four separate abandonment triggers: no valid registration plates for more than six hours on a highway or public place; more than 24 hours in a public place where parking is not legally permitted; more than 48 hours after parking there became illegal, if parking is otherwise permitted there; or more than seven days on someone else's private property without the owner's permission.

Section 184-4 makes it unlawful to abandon a vehicle on any highway, public place, or another person's private property, or for a property owner to allow an unplated vehicle to sit on their own land, with carve-outs for licensed junkyards, fully enclosed buildings, licensed vehicle dealers, and one recreational vehicle per parcel. 10. If an unplated abandoned vehicle is worth $100 or less, § 184-6 vests title in the Town immediately. Otherwise §§ 184-7 and 184-8 require the Building Department to trace the last registered owner and any lienholder, mail notice, and, if the vehicle is unclaimed after five days, sell it at public auction, holding proceeds for the owner for five years before they revert to the general fund.