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Miami’s vice: Nearly 300 never-driven Priuses found

Betsi Fores The Daily Caller News Foundation
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What would you do if you stumbled into a secret warehouse full of brand new cars? Well, step into the shoes of Miami-Dade County officials to find out.

A fleet of 298 never-before-used cars, most of which are Priuses, were recently discovered by Miami-Wade officials, after having learned of them though a Spanish language newspaper. Most of the car warranties have expired with little to no miles on the odometer. The cars were purchased in 2006 and cost the taxpayers $4 million.

The county, aware of the political ramifications, immediately rushed 123 of the cars into circulation.

The Toyota warranty insures some hybrid parts for up to eight years or 100,000 miles. That doesn’t do much good when you consider the cars were parked in a hot and humid car lot, rusting away. The autoblog.com suggests there could be unknown damage done to the unused hybrid powertrain.

So how does one just simply lose 298 brand new cars?

An investigation is being done to determine exactly how this taxpayer funded debacle happened. It is believed that the cars got “lost” during the recall and eventual ousting of then Mayor Carlos Alvarez. Not surprisingly, he was removed from office after voters “felt, among other reasons, that he had been behind multiple acts of misappropriation of funds.”

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