Your car will be back in a month

Frits Pieper

11 jun 2020

Rent a car

You know them: those white envelopes with a thick purple border.

Or better yet: hopefully you don't know them.

In any case, they are letters from the CJIB.

That is even striking to us. Most fines (around 10 to 20 per week) are not sent to us by post. We receive an email from the CJIB that new fines are ready on the server. We can download them and file an objection with the Public Prosecution Service.

If the objection is granted, the tenant will receive the fine at home.

In the white and purple envelope.

The white and purple envelope was for us this time.

In weighty language it stated that the police had confiscated one of our cars.

Unfortunately, that does happen sometimes. We are called and can pick up the car the next day.

In this case we could not pick up the car the next day.

The car would be transported to Soesterberg. After 1 month we could pick up the car again in Soeterberg, after paying a high fine. If we did not do that, the car would be confiscated, and the car would be sold, to pay the outstanding fines of the renter.

If I wanted the car back earlier (than in 1 month), that was possible. Then I had to pay all outstanding fines of the renter (over € 1200), plus a fine and transport costs to Soesterberg of € 680.

Huh?

I thought: Whoa, that's not going to happen! Are we going to sell our car? Are they really happy at the justice department?

But that just happened.

It turns out that there is a law that stipulates the following: if the police stop someone with many outstanding fines, the car that person is driving at that time may be seized, regardless of whether or not the driver is the owner of that car at that time.

I have no idea which farking civil servant came up with this piece of legislation, but he wasn't quite right. And the political parties that voted for this bill weren't quite right either.

Because imagine the following. You lend your car to your neighbor. The guy has a few outstanding fines, but you don't know that. The neighbor gets pulled over. And your car is gone. For at least a month. And you can only get it back if you pay €680.

So next time your neighbor asks, "Can I borrow your car for a minute?" feel free to send him to Adje RemWe've used that axe before.

Your neighbor can pick out a car here.