The gleaming black BMW X5 off-roader throws back a perfect reflection. The bodywork is in showroom condition, and inside the beige leather seats look like they have never been sat on.
The wheel-rims must have been scrubbed with a toothbrush and the headlights wiped clean after every journey. A very desirable vehicle indeed.
But, in six weeks this €70,000-plus beauty could be taken down to Dublin's docklands, crushed and broken into pieces, just a year after rolling off the assembly line. Only one thing can save it - the owner turning up to collect it.
"I think this one was picked up on the M50," Garda Ray McDermott of the Garda vehicle pound on Dublin's Parkgate Street tells me as we survey what looks like any open-air city car-park.
"It hasn't been taxed since it was new," he says, adding that its ownership was never transferred from the dealership.
The BMW is not unusual. It is one of a number of top-of-the-range vehicles that end up in the hands of the Garda every year because their owners have decided not to, forgotten to, refused to, or cannot afford to pay the appropriate tax or insurance.
Beside the BMW are two 2003-registered Misubishis. The L200 pick-up and the Pajero 4X4 remain guests of the authorities until their owners settle their accounts.
Further down, an array of perfectly respectable family saloons, hot hatches, articulated trucks, vans, motorcycles and mopeds, and any number of old bangers line the large brick-walled yard. All victims of their owners' failings, and all in a race against time to avoid the crusher.
There are 300 vehicles in total, a number which remains constant throughout the year. A similar, but larger, number of vehicles resides in the other main Garda compound in Santry.
An 2001 reg Skoda Fabia in perfect nick is not typical of the type of car that can end up in the Garda vehicle, but it is rests beside a 98 Golf, and a 99 Mazda 323 (with two baby seats in the back).
"This Fabia belongs to a lady," adds McDermott "Her husband was stopped driving. I don't think she realised it had no tax or insurance."
Every car has a story to tell. A 1999-registered Fiat Brava, complete with alloy wheels and a metallic multi-coloured paint job, was clearly the pride and joy of a certain young man. Inside his music collection remains - tapes of the Dubliners and the Wolf Tones, several pairs of sunglasses, and empty cigarette packets of the Navy variety litter the front passenger seat.
Some of the cars make long journeys before ending up in the hands of the authorities. The number of Eastern European cars being seized is on the increase, many of which have not been re-registered within the required time frame. Some end up being shipped back to their home countries.
"We had an Audi last year with Lithuanian plates," explains McDermott, "but it turned out it was a German car stolen in Berlin and had new plates fitted. The owners came from Berlin to reclaim the car."
The Garda pound for collection is not confined to cars. An articulated truck and several dump trucks, as well as up to 60 bikes, are also lying idle awaiting collection on the day Motors visited the Parkgate Street yard.
McDermott estimates that 30 to 40 per cent of the vehicles which are lifted by the Garda are reclaimed by their owners. "Ninety nine point nine per cent of the newer ones are collected," McDermott adds. The remaining 60 to 70 per cent are scrapped.
Before collection, owners of vehicles must settled their account with the authorities if they are to drive away. They must also have paid their tax or insurance, otherwise the vehicle must be removed on a tow-truck.
Gardaí are lifting these cars under Section 41 of the Road Traffic Act. It entitles a garda to take a vehicle if he or she discovers that tax or insurance has been left unpaid for three months or more. Under Section 20 they can take your vehicle if it is deemed not to be roadworthy.
So far this year, gardaí in Dublin alone have taken possession of almost 4,000 vehicles.
Seized vehicles will cost the owner €160 for the first 24 hours in the Garda yard and €35 for each subsequent day. After six weeks of non-collection, the vehicle is taken to Hammond's Scrap yard and broken up.
Some, however, do remain in the yard for longer periods of time. These are typically evidence in various criminal cases which are ongoing in the courts.
A Ford Granada with moss growing in on parts of the roof is evidence in a murder trial, while a Mercedes van used in a heist remains the way it was when gardai seized it complete with old clothing on the floor and cigrette butts pouring out of the ashtray. The remains of a Nissan Primera tell the story of an horrific crash that claimed the lives of four people, while a green Mazda was where a young hijacker was shot dead.
