Over 62,300 Illegal Motorized Vehicles and Over 38,000 Ghost Cars Seized Since Start of Adams Administration
57.2 Decrease in Overall Index Crime Reported Involving Mopeds Year-to-Date Compared to Same Period Last Year
85.7 Percent Decrease in Grand Larceny Patterns and 68.2 Percent Decrease in Robbery Patterns Involving Mopeds Year-to-Date Compared to Same Period Last Year
New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) have seized over 100,000 illegal "ghost vehicles” — cars that are virtually untraceable due to forged or altered license plates — and illegal and unregistered motorized scooters, bikes, and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) since the start of the Adams administration in 2022, improving quality-of-life conditions for millions of New Yorkers. To celebrate this milestone, several hundred illegal two-wheeled vehicles are being sent to a DSNY facility to be safely destroyed and disposed of, ensuring they are never able to return to a New York City street or be used in a crime.
“When it comes to public safety, we’re not just enforcing the law — we’re literally crushing it,” said Mayor Adams. “Illegal mopeds and scooters have terrorized pedestrians, and have been used in robberies, shootings, and other crimes. That’s why we’re taking bold action — crushing these illegal vehicles so they can never terrorize a New Yorker again. We’ve already removed more than 100,000 of these illegal vehicles from our streets in the last three years, and we’re making it clear: if you drive an illegal vehicle in this city, you will face the consequences — and so will your ride.”
“Illegal mopeds and ghost cars aren’t just a quality-of-life issue — they’re a public safety threat. They’re unregistered, untraceable, and often used to evade police or enable other crimes,” said NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “We’ve taken more than 100,000 of these vehicles off the streets, and today we’re making sure hundreds of them are never coming back. This is about more than enforcement — it’s about impact. Robberies and grand larcenies involving mopeds have dropped significantly, and that’s thanks to the tireless work of the women and men of the NYPD, and Mayor Adams’ leadership in making this city safer.”
“New Yorkers don’t care about the bureaucratic red tape that had hampered the removal of abandoned, derelict, and ghost vehicles from their neighborhoods for years — they just want these eyesores gone, and as on so many other issues, this administration is getting it done,” said DSNY Acting Commissioner Javier Lojan. “You can’t just leave a car, moped, or boat on the streets for months or longer and expect the rest of us to put up with it, and you can’t expect to park an untraceable, unregistered vehicle without consequences. We’re giving New Yorkers back the parking and curb space that these vehicles have claimed for too long.”
In September 2024, Mayor Adams announced a new interagency task force in which 15 NYPD officers were assigned strictly to parked ghost car removal under the direction of DSNY. This year alone, the task force has removed more than 7,600 ghost cars, and more than 14,000 have been removed since the task force’s inception — freeing up space for New Yorkers who follow safety and regulatory requirements. The NYPD has removed an additional 3,145 ghost cars this year, for a total of over 10,745 ghost cars cleared from New York City streets in 2025 already.
Ghost cars and other illegal vehicles pose significant public safety risks and have increasingly been used in violent crimes — especially in the warmer months — including in shootings and robberies, as well as in other traffic offenses like hit-and-runs. These vehicles — which are often unregistered, uninsured, or stolen — also deprive law-abiding taxpayers of millions of dollars in unpaid tolls and fees that could otherwise be invested in critical government services.
In 2024, the NYPD confiscated 27,710 illegal and unregistered motorized scooters, bikes, and ATVs — the highest number in city history, representing a 50 percent increase from 2023 and a 243 percent increase from 2022. This year, the NYPD has already removed more than 8,100 illegal two-wheeled vehicles and ATVs, bringing the total number to over 62,300 since the Adams administration came into office. The 62,300 figure represents the largest number of illegal moped and scooter seizures in a 41-month span in New York City history.
Scooters and similar modes of transportation enable criminals to quickly commit offenses, without ever getting off their vehicle, or simply by temporarily dismounting while a second individual stays seated. In both instances, mopeds and scooters facilitate a fast escape. Scooters have also been increasingly used in attempts to evade police because these two-wheeled vehicles can be driven onto sidewalks and into tight alleyways through which police cars cannot always fit.
Between 2022 and 2024, grand larcenies and street robberies involving the use of mopeds and scooters steadily increased. By the end of 2022, the NYPD had identified five grand larceny patterns and 59 robbery patterns involving these vehicles, with a combined total of 284 complaints. By the end of 2024, those figures rose significantly, with 81 grand larceny patterns and 119 robbery patterns involving these vehicles, encompassing a total of 991 complaints.
In contrast, the first five months of 2025 have demonstrated marked progress. The NYPD identified just six grand larceny patterns and 14 robbery patterns involving these vehicles, with a combined total of 93 complaints. By comparison, the same period in 2024 saw 42 grand larceny patterns and 44 robbery patterns involving these vehicles, with a combined total of 454 complaints — reflecting an 85.7 percent and 68.2 percent decrease respectively.
This staggering decline in pattern crime associated with mopeds and scooters is a direct result of the tireless efforts of the men and women of the NYPD. Through precision policing, officers have been strategically deployed to the locations and times where these offenses are known to occur. Additionally, investigators continue to work diligently to identify and dismantle the criminal networks that enable this activity.
This downward trajectory can also be attributed to recent amendments to the vehicle and traffic law. The Adams administration was a major advocate for state legislation in Albany to help crack down on the proliferation of illegal and unregistered vehicles on city streets. This critical piece of legislation (S7703/A8450), signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul in July 2024, closed the “moped loophole” by requiring registration and licensing at the point of sale for these vehicles, helping stem the tide of new unlicensed mopeds on the street and holding sellers accountable.
This work builds on additional ongoing efforts to combat ghost cars. In March 2024, Mayor Adams, Governor Hochul, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chair and CEO Janno Lieber launched a multi-agency, city-state ghost car task force that includes the NYPD, the New York City Sheriff’s Office, MTA Bridge and Tunnel officers, the New York State Police, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department. Since its inception, the task force has completed over 85 operations, making over 1,100 arrests, issuing nearly 49,200 summonses, and seizing over 4,700 vehicles whose owners owed a total of over $56 million in unpaid tolls, taxes, fees, and more.
Overall index crime across New York City is down 6.3 percent year-to-date — with reductions in homicides, robberies, burglaries, felony assaults, grand larcenies, vehicle theft, shootings, transit crime, housing crime, retail theft, and more. The increased enforcement of ghost cars and two-wheeled vehicles has played a significant role in narrowing the opportunity for those committing crimes to escape consequences in New York City.
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