A story appeared in the St. Petersburg Times recently about the use of tarps to cover inoperable vehicles and a new legislation with guidelines for tarps covering a vehicle. One of the issues brought up in the article is tarps being used to protect inoperable vehicles and tarps being used to protect a car from the sun. As having an inoperable vehicle abandoned in the street or a yard is illegal, one way for protecting a vehicle from being towed – and the owner from being fined – has been using a tarp to cover the vehicle completely. Law enforcers haven’t been able to detect inoperable cars, as many have been covered from the ground up with a tarp, but to create a distinction between usable cars and inoperable cars covered with tarps, the new ordinance has created certain guidelines for covering a car with a tarp.
The new guidelines in St. Petersburg, Florida for putting a tarp over a car include that the tarp must be six inches above the ground and the tarp cover should be clean and of one color. The six inches rule is in place so that cars with flat tires and sitting on a frame without tires can be detected and not confused with covered cars that have all functional tires.
How do these new guidelines function in protecting cars, and other vehicles like RVs and boats needing the protection of a tarp cover? A tarp can be attached easily around a vehicle and still offer enough protection while being six inches above the ground. In the case of RVs and cars especially, the tarp can protect the vehicle by being attached directly above the wheels. In this case, the tarp won’t be loose enough to blow in the wind, as it will be held with bungee cords, and moisture and air will still be allowed to circulate. In terms of keeping the tarp clean, if a car or seasonal vehicle is being protected by a tarp for several months at a time, brushing off any leaves or debris that accumulates on top of the tarp should be sufficient enough to have a clean tarp protecting a car.
