New York City has seized more than 38,000 'ghost cars' in less than four years

Published on Jun 16, 2025 at 4:14 PM (UTC+4)
by Daisy Edwards

Last updated on Jun 16, 2025 at 4:14 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Tom Wood

The Mayor of New York City announced that the city has seized more than 38,000 ‘ghost cars’ in less than four years, which is a landmark achievement.

A ‘ghost car’ is a vehicle that has no license plates or has altered plates so that they’re completely unrecognizable to traffic cameras and police readers.

Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, established a task force of NYPD officers whose primary role was to remove these ‘ghost cars’ from the streets.

The abandoned vehicles have been a menace on the street, but not for much longer, the consequences for the ghost vehicles will be crushing…

EXPLORE SBX CARS – Supercar auctions starting soon powered by Supercar Blondie

Ghost cars are a bit of a problem on the streets of NYC, and we don’t mean the Ghostbusters kind – these are illegal license plate-less cars or cars with altered license plates that are made to skirt the law.

However, these ‘ghost cars’ will be a problem no longer, as New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on June 12th, the NYPD has seized more than 38,000 ‘ghost cars’ in less than four years.

This follows the mayor’s implementation of a special New York Police Department task force comprising 15 specific officers whose primary role is to remove the unlicensed cars from the streets.

In the last six months alone, the task force has removed over 10,745 license-plateless cars from the streets of NYC.

Two wheeled ghosties like motorbikes have been a rising concern due to the fact that they are easier to get away on, and the crackdown helped to reduce grand larcenies by 85 percent.

The illegal vehicles have to face the wrath of a 50,000 lb bulldozer, and with the specific task force, it looks like the ghost cars’ days of haunting the streets of NYC are almost done.

DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie

user

Daisy Edwards is a Content Writer at supercarblondie.com. Daisy has more than five years’ experience as a qualified journalist, having graduated with a History and Journalism degree from Goldsmiths, University of London and a dissertation in vintage electric vehicles. Daisy specializes in writing about cars, EVs, tech and luxury lifestyle. When she's not writing, she's at a country music concert or working on one of her many unfinished craft projects.