Ever wonder the story behind the abandoned cars you see in parking lots? TikTok user Tiana (@tiana.com) posted a viral TikTok revealing that she owns one of “those cars.”
The car is covered in dust and dirt and grime. The tires are a bit deflated, and it looks like it hasn’t been driven, let alone started, for months. Maybe folks have taken to using their finger to write little messages in it or vandalize it. Or maybe it’s just been left as some type of modern, concrete resting art exhibit for folks to appreciate.
Tiana explains her reasoning for making this type of contribution to a parking lot.She says her vehicle’s transmission died and, instead of dealing with the problem by calling a tow truck, she simply left it in this parking lot.
Her TikTok begins with her driving her vehicle over to the abandoned car. She speaks into the camera and gives her viewership the rundown.
Right at the top of her clip, a text overlay reads: “pov: u left ur car in a random parking lot for 9 months.”
“My car transmission died and instead of like, doing something about it, I just left it in a parking lot, and it’s been there for 9 months,” she explains.
Tiana says she hasn’t checked on the car in 8 months. “I don’t know if it’s still there now, I really hope it didn’t get towed,” she adds. “I’m gonna go check on it right now, and if it’s still there we gotta go to the DMV and do some paperwork, so… I am praying, manifesting that the car is still there.”
She pulls into the parking lot, praying. “I am here let’s see if the car is still here please, please God, please.”
Tiana gasps. “Wait a damn minute…wait,” she says, looking around before her eyes widen and her mouth opens. “It’s still here! It’s still here what? There she is.”
9 months, no tow
The TikToker shares her shock that the vehicle was never towed away, while expressing continued frustration that she has to deal with it now.
“Actually can’t believe that the car’s still here it’s been 9 months just parked in a parking lot and it didn’t get towed,” she says. “Now I gotta do the thing that I’ve been putting off for 9 months, which is going to the DMV. It’s crazy guys. I don’t even want to sell my car, like I’m trying to junk it… I don’t want money. I just want it out of my sight, and I have to go to the DMV.”
In another clip, Tiana explains that she was finally able to get the car junked. She paid $600 for a tow truck company to remove the car and received a check for the vehicle, but says that it didn’t even cover the cost of getting the whip towed out of the lot. For the brief amount of time the vehicle appears on camera, there doesn’t appear to be any significant damage to the car’s exterior.
How to get rid of a vehicle
If you’ve found yourself in a similar situation to Tiana’s, there are probably some better ways to go about maximizing the amount of money you could get for junking it.
Contacting local mechanics and providing them with a vehicle accident report could save you some money. If they check out the car and see it’s mechanically sound, they could eat the cost of the tow truck (sometimes they have their own vehicles or have agreements with local towers where they can get cheaper prices.) Other car junk removal services predicate their entire business on this practice as well that can help you, unlike Tiana, not lose money on getting a car removed from a parking lot.
Despite some of Tiana’s viewers who called her out for leaving the vehicle for 9 months, others said they were in similar positions.
“I’m literally going through the same situation but I hope I don’t have to pay the dmv $600,” one wrote.
Someone else said, “I instantly followed you when you said you left your car for nine months. I did the same thing once and saw it every day on my way to/from work. The transmission went out too! Never got towed.”
Another person added, “Nah your real for this. When mine broke down i damn near did the same thing.”
@tiana.com ceo of ignoring my problems until they go away🤭❤️ (they didn’t)
♬ original sound – tiana
@tiana.com FINALLY RID OF THE BROKEN WHIP😭🙏🏼
♬ original sound – tiana
However, there were others who thought that a better solution would’ve just been for her to repair her Hyundai.
“The way the trans went out in my car and I got it repaired because i couldn’t afford a new car,” one user said.
Another TikToker added, “I have the same Hyundai car and my transmission went out recently. I bought another one for $540 gonna have my compadre help me swap it. Need my car for work.”
And there was someone else who left their car somewhere for even longer than Tiana did: “my nissan trans went out and it’s been at a nissan dealership for almost 2 yrs bc they couldn’t fix it and i don’t care to get it lmao.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Tiana via email for further comment.
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