Rare car mysteriously abandoned at one of the world's largest airports for six years has racked up a huge amount of debt in parking tickets

Authorities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil discovered a rare car abandoned in the parking garage of the airport’s Terminal 2.

No one knows exactly how long this car’s been here, but we can hazard a guess based on the amount of tickets it has collected.

There are also a few other conclusions we can draw.

And, for a very simple reason, we also know no one will be able to move it in the foreseeable future.

When the car was abandoned

The words ‘rare’ and ‘Honda Civic‘ don’t often go together but they probably should here.

Because one, this is a 2008 Honda Civic EX-L Coupé model, which is not exactly one of the best-selling variants of the Civic; and two, because this model was never officially sold in Brazil.

A few weeks ago, somebody realized that this car had been sitting in the parking garage of Terminal 2 at Rio de Janeiro International Airport for at least six years.

It was covered in rust, and the tires were saggy, but the tickets were the real giveaway.

As reported by Domingo Espetacular, the car had no license plates, and surprisingly, the ignition keys were found resting on the driver’s seat.

A parking ticket from Cabo Frio dated 2019 indicates it was driven within the state before being left at the airport in 2020.

Also, based on stickers and documents found inside, the car appears to have been registered in New York, traveled through Belize and Guatemala, and potentially covered over 15,000 km to reach Brazil.

Some people suggest it likely had to be shipped by sea to bypass the impassable Darien Gap.

If we look at the daily rate and multiply it by the number of days it’s been sitting here – at least 2,100 – we can safely calculate a debt of approximately $35,000 in parking tickets.

Ouch.

The reason it can’t be towed away

Like most major hubs, Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão Airport operates under a complex hybrid system that makes it public, military, and private at the same time.

Technically, the vehicle is on private property, which means the company cannot simply remove or sell it without following strict legal procedures, including identifying the owner and initiating formal notifications.

However, these steps are currently hampered by data protection laws.

It’s a Catch-22 situation.

But, with our Hercule Poirot hat on, we’d be tempted to conclude that the owner doesn’t want to be found.

With that in mind, we wouldn’t be surprised if this car sat here, abandoned at Rio de Janeiro Airport in Brazil, for another 2,100 days.

Why people often find cars abandoned at airports

“What’s the best place to hide a car? In an airport long-term lot. Like where’s the best place to hide a grain of sand? On the beach,” Lee Child wrote in one of his Jack Reacher novels.

There are several reasons why people often stumble upon abandoned cars at airports.

First, if you abandon a car on the street or in a shopping mall, sooner or later it’ll be towed away.

At an airport? It might take months, years, or forever.

In general, the most common reason is that the owner never came back, either on purpose or because they couldn’t.

Several countries impose strict bankruptcy laws where unpaid debt is a criminal offense, and so owners literally flee the country and leave the car behind.

On other occasions, the owner simply finds themselves incapable of coming back to retrieve the car and no one is there to pick it up.

This happens a lot more frequently than we think when somebody passes away.

Even if there’s will – and often there isn’t one – bureaucracy can become a silent but lethal killer.