Getting your car out of the pound in Abu Dhabi.

Okay so not so many of you are going to need this, well hopefully. But since my escapade I have talked to a number of people who have had interesting accidents here in the UAE. Including passport confiscation for hitting a camel!

Anyway if you have the unfortunate circumstance of having your car impounded in Abu Dhabi, here is a little advice and directions.

The Abu Dhabi police have contracted Al Sahraa towing to take cars to the pound in BaniYas. Although my car was impounded in Abu Dhabi city it was subsequently transported to BaniYas (at my cost).  When you are ready to collect your car, after whatever arbitrary or court decided period, you can’t just go and get it.  My insurance company said I had the documents I needed (proof of fine payment etc.,) but when I eventually found the place I, along with a stream of others, was turned away and made to go back to a major police station (Mussafah would do, but I opted to go back to Moroor) to get a clearance form.

The clearance form is available in the traffic court building, nominally at counter 15. However, counter 15 is impossible to find (of course). In the fines and violations hall there are only 14 counters and you are pointed off down a corridor which eventually circumnavigates the building and brings you back to where you started. The best way to find it is to enter the building at the main impressive glass entrance. Look for a staircase on your left leading up to the Traffic Court. Instead of ascending, go down a few short steps in the staircase beside it which leads towards the body of the building. You quickly come to a T. To the right is a short corridor with a kind of reception desk which may be staffed and beyond the main corridor that circumnavigates the building. But we are not going that way instead you turn left at the bottom of the aforementioned short stairs and you are again immediately at another T. Here left would take you to some cleaning or other kind of room, so right is the way this time. The corridor is short and soon has a branch to the left which is to a door to the outside (more on that door later), directly opposite this exit is an open door into an office with about 4 desks and an annex room off the left. This room is counter 15. There seemed to be a lot of people sitting around, some in uniform, some in national dress and some in suits, all of them worked there. One guy in a suit spoke English and passed on my request for the release form. It was quickly looked up on the computer to verify that sufficient time had passed, then a page printed, rubberstamped and countersigned by the annex superior. Five minutes and I was out of there. (But I had found this room on a previous visit and it had taken me 30 mins and a number of circumnavigations to get there so be on your guard.) Remember counter 15 is a room, and it is not labelled or marked.  I took the exit directly in front of the room and as I exited the door looked back to see if it had any identifying features to help find it again. Unfortunately the only name on the door was “prison” so I doubt I would convince many people to take that shortcut.

Okay, back on the road to the BaniYas Vehicle Pound.  Now I tried to do my homework about where this place was before I ventured out there. Not much luck. Nobody could tell me an address. The best I got was that it was in BaniYas, go around 3 round-abouts, turn right and it is opposite YasMart.  Now if you know BaniYas you would probably know YasMart, but for me and the people I asked it was a mystery. Through a combination of Googling and Google Earth, I was able to put the roundabouts together on a map and locate a visual image of what looked like a vehicle graveyard. So I had a location, sort of. I had phoned the Al Sahraa tow agent there but he didn’t speak any English and couldn’t tell me the location. The head office did speak English but told me to call the first guy for directions. I explained that didn’t work and that was when I got the roundabouts explanation.

I found YasMart and did my u-turn to end up in front of what looked like the pound. There were lots of tow trucks parked outside, a mosque and an office for the Abu Dhabi Environment office or something (that was clearly not the towing business). I called the office again and the best explanation I got was to go around the mosque and I would find it. There are two little entrances past the mosque which lead into a weird compound of small business sheds all numbered, very decrepit and largely shut up.  To cut a long story short, as I did drive up and down the road a couple of times, let me explain. The buildings and entrances that you see opposite YasMart is not the pound you want. You have to go past that complex and turn right down a dirt/sand road that runs down the side of it until you are nearly at the back. There you will see a locked yellow iron gate. Park up there (off the side) and enter through the people hole. You will see a couple of very old Plywood box offices with 3 doors. The first houses the workers who will eventually find your car for you. The second should have a lone police officer who will send you away if you haven’t got the clearance form. If you have got it he will sign it then send you into the third door where you will meet the Al Sahraa towing agent who will get you your car. You will have to settle up the towing fees (Cash only – 180 for towing from Abu Dhabi, 140 for Mussafah, best to have spare and small notes in case there is no change!) They will then get one of the workers to retrieve the keys from the office that houses the police officer and get your car for you.  In my case since I had to now get it to the garage to be repaired I also had to pay to have it towed to the dealership. Make sure you get your receipts if you are on insurance as you may be able to claim that (pound to dealer) as rescue.

Copy and paste this address into Google Earth to locate. 24°17'19.64"N  54°40'1.31"E