1124                             Laws of Maryland                      [Ch. 502

title. The sales receipt at such a sale shall be sufficient title only for
purposes of transferring the vehicle to a scrap processor for demoli-
tion, wrecking, or dismantling, and in such case, no further titling
of the vehicle is necessary. From the proceeds of the sale of an
abandoned motor vehicle the police department shall reimburse itself
for the expenses of the auction, the costs of towing, preserving, and
storing the vehicle which resulted from placing the abandoned motor
vehicle in custody, and all notice and publication costs incurred pur-
suant to subsection (c) [subsections (a) and (b)] of this section.
Any remainder from the proceeds of a sale shall be held for the
owner of the vehicle or entitled lienholder for ninety days, and then
shall be deposited with the State Treasurer in a special fund which
shall remain available for the payment of auction, towing, preser-
vation, storage, and all notice and publication costs which result
from placing other abandoned vehicles in custody, whenever the pro-
ceeds from a sale of such other abandoned motor vehicles are in-
sufficient to meet these expenses and costs. Whenever the State
Treasurer finds that moneys in the special funds are in excess of re-
serves 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 temporarily exhausted, shall be
met from the general fund to the limit of any transfers previously
made thereto pursuant to this subsection.

(e)    Vehicles abandoned in garages, etc.—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 garage keeper to the police
department. Any garage keeper 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 garage keeper's charges for
servicing, storage, or repair, and any surplus proceeds shall be dis-
tributed in accordance with subsection (d) of this section. Nothing
in this subsection shall be construed to impair any lien of a garage
keeper under the laws of this State, or the right of a lienholder to
foreclose. For the purposes of this subsection "garage keeper" means
any operator of a parking place or establishment, motor vehicle stor-
age facility, or establishment for the servicing, repair, or mainte-
nance of motor vehicles.

(f)    Disposition of vehicle to scrap processor or wrecker.—(1)
Any person, firm, corporation, or unit of government upon whose
property or in whose possession is found any abandoned motor vehi-
cle, or any person being the owner of a motor vehicle whose title
certificate is faulty, lost or destroyed, may apply to the police depart-
ment of the jurisdiction in which the vehicle is situated for author-