Dude--Where's My (30,000!) Cars!

The California state government has misplaced a few of its vehicles: 30,000 of them, to be exact:

An examination of California’s inventory has revealed that almost of half of the state’s cars and trucks are unaccounted for.

The study concluded that 30,000 of the states 70,000 vehicles are missing — everything from Caltrans trucks, to CHP cars, to fire rigs, to prison vehicles. The audit of state-owned property was ordered by Governor Schwarzenegger, and found state agencies had no idea what they owned.

“It was very bad,” said Fred Aguiar, head of the State and Consumer Services Agency. “We were amazed at how inadequate the information was. The data coming from departments and agencies was terrible.”

It was so terrible, in fact, the state found that one agency had recently purchased $4 million in new vehicles but had no record of where it bought them.

Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael, thinks — or hopes, we should say — that the lost autos may be unaccounted for older cars and trucks.

“Caltrans probably has the largest fleet in the state,” said Nation. “I would bet there are a lot of old Caltrans trucks sitting in yards that just aren’t being used because they don’t run well anymore. Still, not an excuse.”

The state has since changed the rules on record-keeping, but for now California’s missing cars and trucks may simply be a lost cause.

Via Betsy Newmark.