End of the road for auto bazaar?

A beat-up white Chevy van (yours for $1,100) is parked next to an E500 Mercedes station wagon (priced to move at $35,800), which is a few cars away from a cherry 1960 T-Bird ($9,850).

Not your typical lineup at the car lot. But then, this is not a typical car lot.

It's the do-it-yourself used-car bazaar along a busy section of El Camino Real in Palo Alto, a string of 50 or more vehicles parked by the side of the road with for-sale signs in their windows.

It's popular and convenient, unofficial and unregulated.

It's also likely doomed.

Lawmakers passed a bill now awaiting the governor's signature that would allow cities to cite and tow the cars. The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, says the practice causes congestion and is unsafe.

The measure would allow local police to enforce the state law that prohibits used-car sales on state highways. For now, only California Highway Patrol officers and Caltrans have that authority. El Camino Real is a state highway. Although the CHP technically could enforce the law within city limits, it typically leaves such traffic enforcement to local authorities.

Buyers, sellers upset

Buyers and sellers are upset by the prospect of losing their personal used-car lot. They like the convenience and no-fuss nature of the practice - just park your ride and stick a sign in the window. Plus, it's free, and no salespeople!
"It seems bizarre to me," said John Fitzgerald, a private fiduciary from Mountain View who was looking for an older Mercedes among the cars parked along El Camino this week. "There is a whole set of laws to govern traffic safety, why regulate this? Don't they have better things to do than come down here and tell some guy he can't sell his car?"

Too bad, says the Palo Alto Police Department. If the bill becomes law, officers will tag and tow, a department spokeswoman said.

"If it's part of the vehicle code, we'll definitely enforce it," said Sgt. Sandra Brown.

The bill passed Monday; the governor has 10 days to act on the measure.

There are pockets of these unofficial car lots scattered all over the Bay Area - and presumably the state - including 19th Avenue in San Francisco and Monterey Highway - a stretch of Highway 82 in San Jose. But the impromptu auto mart along El Camino across the street from Palo Alto High School, and a similar portion of the road that runs through Millbrae, are among the biggest. In Palo Alto, it stretches for about a half-mile, taking up much of the un-metered parking space in front of Stanford University athletic fields.
Walking along the gravel path next to a rose-entwined fence, one can peruse a wide range of vehicles, from late model $20,000 BMWs to a weathered 1992 VW Jetta with 158,900 miles on it, priced at a somewhat optimistic $3,325.

First-time fan

Juve Lopez, 24, looking over the cars with his mother, said he was in the market for an affordable commuter. He happened to be driving by and saw the for-sale signs. It was his first encounter with the El Camino car bazaar, and he opposes regulating it.

"No, I don't think this law is a very good idea. The safety thing is sort of understandable," he said, gesturing to the cars whizzing by a few feet away. "But this seems like such an easy thing for people, especially if they don't have Internet access and don't want to go to a lot."

Several shoppers questioned whether the auto-dealer industry may have been behind the bill. But Yee, who accepted $2,000 in campaign contributions over the past two years from the California Motor Car Dealers Association, according to state records, denied that.

"Auto dealers did not bring this to my attention," Yee said. "It was brought to my attention by the city of Millbrae. They felt this was a traffic hazard along El Camino. That's the reason this bill came about."

Millbrae Mayor Marc Hershman is pleased about the bill. He said the dozens of cars parked along the portion of El Camino that runs through his city take away parking spaces from businesses, and take away sales from local car dealers.

"The cars are clogging the public right of way," he said. "These used-car dealers are hurting our local businesses."

The bill does not apply to city streets. San Jose City Attorney Rick Doyle said the city has not enforced the ordinance that outlaws car sales on local roads because a federal court in 2000 ruled that such laws violate free speech. It was after that ruling that the unofficial used-car sites began to proliferate. Many cities either repealed similar ordinances or instructed their police departments not to enforce them.

Constitutional issues?

Lawmakers believe the legislation is constitutional because it addresses a public-safety issue, and Doyle said San Jose would enforce the new law on state roads within the city limits.

"It may raise some constitutional issues," he said, "but we would enforce it. There just needs to be some public-safety rationale for the law, and not just because there's a sign in a car window."

Robert LaMont soon may be taking the sign out of the window of his 1991 Chevy van, which he's had parked on El Camino across the street from Palo Alto High School for a month or so. He was asking $1,100 for it, but said he is thinking about accepting an offer of about half that.

LaMont, 19, said he has received more calls from would-be buyers who saw the van parked on El Camino than he has from a posting on craigslist. He also likes the free-enterprise feel of the impromptu marketplace.

"It seems like the government is always trying to crack down on people doing their own thing," he said.

The El Camino car emporium indeed has worked well for LaMont. He's had the van he's about to sell for a couple of years. Where did he buy it?

source : www.mercurynews.com