Abandoned Cars in Hawaii

In Hawaii, it is easier to dump your old car by the side of the road than have it legally disposed—an attitude that’s causing big headaches for the authorities. Every year, the state spends hundreds of thousands of tax payer’s money to tow away abandoned vehicles and there are still an overwhelming number of them rotting in the fields and among the trees.

Hawaii is full of transplants who are constantly moving on and off the islands. When people leave Hawaii for the mainland, they often leave their cars behind because it is economical that way. The proper procedure is to either sell the car or have it junked. But as David Morgan quips, “it’s easier to paddle the Molokai channel than deal with the Hawaii DMV.”

Image credit: Thomas Strogalski

“Selling a car requires 3 documents — a registration, safety inspection and title,” explains Morgan. “Acquiring and keeping these documents up to date is difficult, expensive and time consuming. Obviously, it shouldn’t be.”

Anybody who wishes to lawfully sell his vehicle needs to jump through countless hoops, and navigate through a maze of absurd rules. For instance, Morgan writes: “You can’t get a registration renewed without a valid safety inspection, and you can’t get a safety inspection without an up to date registration.”

To make matter worse, some islands are running out of space to dump cars, leading to a proliferation of roadside clunkers that has became a blotch to the island’s beauty.

But German photographer, Thomas Strogalski, finds beauty in junk. While on an assignment in Maui, Hawaii, Strogalski found some spare time to photograph old vehicles, long abandoned and consumed by foliage and vines. “I am fascinated by the thought that in the end nature will take over man,” Strogalski told Colossal. “With peace, lasting continuity, flexibility in harmony with permanent adaptation, nature seems to reclaim what one wants to take away from it.”

Abandoned Cars in Hawaii