In the middle of the Dubai desert, where luxury and excess seem to be part of the urban landscape, a legion of supercars that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars but now lie silent. they are abandoned as if they were scrap metal.
As you can see in some videos On the subject, those machines are in perfect condition, with intact bodies, unburned tires, but their owners they have abandoned them without looking back.
The magnitude of the abandonment. According to a recent statement According to Dubai authorities, between January and June 2025 alone, 1,387 abandoned high-end cars were seized. According to published data by Gulf News2023 resulted in 2,053 vehicles confiscated for this reason. In 2018, this figure was exceeded with 3,577 recalls of high-end cars abandoned to the rigors of the desert.
In addition, Dubai City Council has issued 6,187 additional recall notices for other cars that it has detected with clear signs of abandonment in parking lots, streets or areas bordering the airport. Paradoxically, behind the abandonment of these supercars that cost real fortunes, there are economic problems.
Why is the city council removing them? The Dubai Municipalitythe competent authority in the urban management of the city, has established protocols for the removal of abandoned vehicles: When a car is parked for a long time without a valid license plate, with flat tires or visibly neglected, a notice is placed on the owner and, if he does not act within the period (between 3 and 15 days), the vehicle is towed to the depot. The purpose is twofold.
On the one hand, prevent these vehicles from becoming a source of waste, wildlife or vandalism. But, on the other hand, the authorities want to preserve the image of the city as a clean metropolismodern and orderly and having cars in a clear state of abandonment, no matter how Ferrari, Porsche and even Bugatti, does not give a very good impression.
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Living in full luxury…even if it is temporary. Have a tax system very lax and permissive with capital has turned Dubai into a very attractive place for big fortunes and expatriates looking to make their financial breakthrough. This means that the country has become a magnet for workers and investors foreigners who settle temporarily your residence in the United Arab Emirates.
As and how they counted in Mojogripsome of these investors and new rich come to the country with the intention of living fast and large, but when their stay ends or their investments do not turn out as expected, selling or exporting a supercar may not be viable. In these cases, the most practical (although therefore less painful) is to abandon them in an open field. at the mercy of the implacable desert.
The price of the supercar is the least important. Buying a luxury car in Dubai is almost the least of the problems. In this part of the world, the costs of insurance, maintenance, registration and extreme conditions (sand, heat, seasonal use) mean that the simple fact of having a car in perfect condition is already a huge cost.
When these expenses exceed what was expected, some owners who begin to suffer financial problems abandon the idea of keeping the vehicle, which is why it is not strange to see a Lamborghini, a Ferrari or a Bentley gathering dust in parking lots of the city’s shopping centers.
Dream turns into nightmare. The phenomenon of luxury cars being abandoned in vacant lots and parking lots in Dubai is not something new. But it has intensified when there have been major financial shocks: drops in oil prices, falls in the stock market or, as has been happening lately, the economic uncertainty caused by tariffs that the United States imposes or withdraws for no apparent reason.
When this scenario occurs, large investments fluctuate with great intensity, turning many into millionaires, but ruining others. Those supercars covered in desert sand are silent testimony to those fluctuations.
Debts, loans and legal consequences. When the economic situation becomes complicated, incurring non-payments or delays is the order of the day. However, in the UAE, defaulting on loan payments or issuing bad checks can lead to serious criminal penalties. That is why, for some owners of those supercars, taking that risk is more expensive than abandoning the vehicle and leaving the country.
And why don’t they sell the car to pay off their debts? That is one more condition to leave them behind. The second-hand market for these models does not always compensate for the initial investment: finding a buyer, obtaining the required documentation and transferring ownership. can be complicatedespecially when debts and time are against you. In addition, one of the requirements to execute the sale is that the car be free of financial charges or pending fines. This scenario makes it easy for very high-value cars to become wasteland fodder.
Image | Xataka (Nano Banana)
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