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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - One Yellowknife businessman is taking steps to make sure his store's parking lot doesn't become the next town dump.

In the past two weeks, Warren Pariseau, owner of Canadian Tire on Old Airport Road, has announced his intent to sell 13 cars that have been abandoned in front of his store over the past year.

Warren Pariseau, owner of Canadian Tire, is selling a dozen cars that have been dumped in his parking lot. "If I can get rid of all the cars and be revenue-neutral, I'll be happy," he said. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

Only three have been claimed. This week, Pariseau will estimate the value of the remaining cars, all of which have been on his lot for more than six months, some more than year.

By the end of the month, they will be up for sale.

"To be honest, we've had a lot of calls from people saying, 'When you sell them, give me a call,'" said Pariseau.

The problem of abandoned cars has plagued Pariseau since he took over ownership of Canadian Tire more than a year ago.

"The number one question I get when I got out socially, or run into somebody, is 'What's the deal with the cars in the lot?'" he said. "It's very unique to the North ... It baffles me."

According to Pariseau, the unwanted cars - which numbered upward of 30 on Friday - fall into three categories.

Some have been serviced by the store's repair shop, with the bill gone unpaid and the car unclaimed.

Others have simply been diagnosed, their owners leaving the cars behind.

"There's some cars where the value of the repairs certainly doesn't exceed the value of the car," said Pariseau.

Finally others have simply been abandoned, with no record of the car being serviced or looked at.

"Whether people move or if they don't want to move the car - I have no idea," said Pariseau. "We went through the process of calling everybody we could get a hold of, if we had their contact information."

Under the GNWT's Mechanics Lien Act, Pariseau has acquired ownership of the cars, allowing him to sell them off.

Making a profit isn't Pariseau's main consideration - he just wants to recoup the costs associated with advertising and towing cars that ultimately won't be worth selling.

"If I can become revenue-neutral and get rid of all the cars, then I'm happy," he said.

Mainly, he just wants his parking lot back.

"You're working during Christmas and you're only working with half a parking lot. We're coming up to receiving our plants in the first week of June, which is like the second Christmas for us in terms of how much customer traffic we have coming into the store.

"I'm not prepared to go through that again."

In the future, Pariseau will give customers of his repair shop two weeks to claim their cars after service, with special exceptions made for mine workers completing rotations of two weeks or more or people on vacation.

"If we know what the time frame is going to be up front, then we're going to be flexible," he said.

Pariseau's problem is hardly unique, said Garth Eggenberger, owner of Age Automotives Ltd.

"Everybody (encounters it), including the City of Yellowknife," said Eggenberger. "Everybody comes north with a piece of crap and then they get here and they get a good job and then they buy a new vehicle and of course they abandon the other one."

According to Eggenberger, owners of vehicles new and old entering the NWT for the first time should pay a disposal fee up front.

The money would go toward paying towing companies like Age Automotives for recovering dumped cars, as they are often called upon to do by the City of Yellowknife - for free.

"That's how we end up with all the junk in our yard that we can't do anything with," he said.