Marvin Mandel, Governor                          1487

costs. Whenever the State Treasurer finds that monies in the special
funds are in excess of reserves likely to be needed for the purposes
thereof, he may transfer the excess to the general fund, but in such
event claims against the special fund, if the special fund is tem-
porarily exhausted, shall be met from the general fund to the limit
of any transfers previously made thereto pursuant to this subsection.

(e)    Any motor vehicle left for more than ten days in a garage
operated for commercial purposes after notice by registered mail,
return receipt requested from the addressee, to the owner to pick up
the vehicle, or for more than ten days after the period when, pursuant
to contract, the vehicle was to remain on the premises, and any motor
vehicle left for more than ten days in the garage by someone other
than the registered owner or left by a person authorized to have
possession of the motor vehicle under a contract of use, service,
storage, or repair, shall be deemed an abandoned vehicle and reported
by the garagekeeper to the police department. Any garagekeeper who
fails to report the possession of the vehicle within ten days after it
becomes abandoned within the meaning of this subsection, no longer
has any claim for servicing, storage or repair of the vehicle. All
abandoned vehicles left in garages may be taken into custody by the
police department and sold in accordance with the procedures set
forth in this section, unless the motor vehicle is reclaimed and garage-
keeper is paid. The proceeds of the sale shall be applied first to the
garagekeeper's charges for servicing, storage, or repair, and any
surplus proceeds shall be distributed in accordance with subsection
(d) of this section. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to
impair any lien of a garagekeeper under the laws of this State, or
the right of a lien holder to foreclose. For the purposes of this sub-
section "garagekeeper" means any operator of a parking place or
establishment, motor vehicle storage facility, or establishment for
the servicing, repair, or maintenance of motor vehicles.

(f) (1) Any person, firm, corporation, or unit of government upon
whose property or in whose possession is found any abandoned motor
vehicle, or any person being the owner of a motor vehicle whose
title certificate is faulty, lost or destroyed, may apply to the police
department of the jurisdiction in which the vehicle is situated for
authority to sell, give away or dispose of the vehicle to a scrap
processor or wrecker.

(2)    The application shall set out the name and address of the
applicant, the year, make, model, and serial number of the motor
vehicle, if ascertainable, together with any other identifying features,
and shall contain a concise statement of the facts surrounding the
abandonment, or that the title of the motor vehicle is lost or de-
stroyed, or the reasons for the defect of title. The applicant shall
execute an affidavit stating that the facts alleged therein are true
and that no material fact has been withheld.

(3)    If the police department finds that the application is executed
in proper form and shows that the motor vehicle has been abandoned
upon the property of the applicant, or if it shows that the motor
vehicle is not abandoned but that the applicant appears to be the
rightful owner, the police department shall follow the notification
procedures set forth in subsection (c) of this section.