First of all I searched the forums and couldn’t find anything. My car got towed last night. It was parked in an apartment complex in open parking spot. After talking to the towing company I realized that no body called to tow my car the towing company just towed my car. This apartement complex is near a busy shopping complex. Now they are asking me to pay them $140.00. I tried to talk to them but the lady said she does’ have any information and told me I have to wait till tomorrow morning for the manager to come. And she also told me that if I refuse to pay they will send my info to collections first thing tomorrow morning and it will be $1500.00 with fees and all. This happened in Phoenix AZ. I refused to pay and got my car. Currently I see 2 options in front of me: 1) Pay the fine and let it go. 2) Talk to manager and tell him that he was not supposed to tow my car. And if it escalates may be I have to go to small claims court. ( This is I am not sure about and looking for more input )
I am trying to find more information. Any help will be great. I tried to keep the story short if I missed something please let me know. Thanks in advance for any help.
Update: Case is settled thanks for all of your help. It turn out it was not an illegal tow. So I settled the case with Tow company.
Message edited by: pundit5307 on 2009-11-09 20:33:47 CST
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pundit5307 said:First of all I searched the forums and couldn’t find anything. My car got towed last night. It was parked in an apartment complex in open parking spot. After talking to the towing company I realized that no body called to tow my car the towing company just towed my car. This apartement complex is near a busy shopping complex. Now they are asking me to pay them $140.00. I tried to talk to them but the lady said she does’ have any information and told me I have to wait till tomorrow morning for the manager to come. And she also told me that if I refuse to pay they will send my info to collections first thing tomorrow morning and it will be $1500.00 with fees and all. This happened in Phoenix AZ. I refused to pay and got my car. Currently I see 2 options in front of me: 1) Pay the fine and let it go. 2) Talk to manager and tell him that he was not supposed to tow my car. And if it escalates may be I have to go to small claims court. ( This is I am not sure about and looking for more input )
I am trying to find more information. Any help will be great. I tried to keep the story short if I missed something please let me know. Thanks in advance for any help.If they just towed it on their own perrogative, go file a police report. When faced with a charge of auto theft, I'm sure they'll quickly determine it was a "mistake" and release the car.
The threat to "send it to collections first thing in the morning" and the amount ballooning from $140 to $1500 screams of scam. Call their bluff.
Message edited by: Glitch99 on 2009-11-08 15:34:15 CST
I would file a police report for a stolen car personally though i don't know if the police would be willing to do anything.
Alternativly talk to the apt management and complain to them.
Finally i would try small claims if neither of the first 2 worked (though i possibly would consider filing in small claims anyways for inconvenience etc even if one of the 2 above do work).
FWIW Towing Companies and Car Body Shops are the typically the two most crooked businesses in the country. I would research this company and see how many complaints were filed against them. I would also file a police report.
Why did you park there? Was it to go the shopping complex? Maybe apartment complex has an unauthorized vehicle's will be towed at owners expense policy
The police report sounds like a good idea, I would also sue in SC (don't expect to collect) just to waste their time. I would also be sure to go over the car with a magnifying glasses when you get it back looking for any damages.
Be sure to check the following: Tires (some places will switch them out on you), had it happen to me. After-market modifications (stolen) Anything personal left in the car
Some of these places use their towing license as a license to steal.
It seems shady because why would they release your car without you paying them? That just sounds really weird.
Lots of complexes and office parks and places have contracts to tow cars for them and in some cases they have the ability and instruction to tow vehicles that don't meet the rules. Be it some sort of visible placard or sticker for specific parking etc. So every time a car is towed in a place like this, it is not necessarily done because of a specific phone call or whatever.
There are some very shady tow people out there, and for these guys it seems like a scam, they will just tow a certain number of people each night even if they can't find violators and then they release the cars and hope to collect something at the time or via collection after the fact.
Again I don't understand the release of the car without paying. Perhaps it is a requirement in some places, but I always assumed you would be required to pay tow fees before they would release your car.
Confused. How did you figure out who towed your car? Did you figure it out by the sign posted on the parking lot saying that all non-registerd vehicles will be towed by XYZ company at owners expense?
Why is it any different whether someone called to tow you or not? You were parked on private property, and someone towed you off private property. Likely the apartment complex contracts with a tow yard to patrol their lot's and yank anyone without a placquard. What is your defense? If the signs were not clear, or you otherwise believed you had a right to park your car on the property, then you may have a case against the property owner. I'm also amazed that tow companies aren't able/willing to put a mechanic's lien on the car and make you pay before they release it, as that is pretty standard.
VerbalK said:I'm also amazed that tow companies aren't able/willing to put a mechanic's lien on the car and make you pay before they release it, as that is pretty standard.That's what makes it suspicious, as if they know they "stole" the car so they dont want to attract police attention by also refusing to give it back.
My assumption was that the OP has an apartment at said apartment complex. If that is mistaken then it sounds to me like the car company would have the right to tow your car if they have a sticker system or something in place and you lacked the sticker.
Message edited by: LordB on 2009-11-08 17:14:54 CST
The OP didn't say if he lived there or not. A lot of tow companies goes to the apartment complexes each night. They just go looking for cars to tow. No one calls. Instead of having the tow guy sit around waiting for a call, they just send him around looking for cars. Well, at least thats my take on why I see the tow truck driving through my place each night.
We also have a seperate security person driving through in a Prius. This is behind a gate on a golf course When I lived in a different place across town, a tow truck also rolled through each night.
I would file suit and get a police report and take both of those down to the towing company. You aren't just going to take my property and get away with it.
tow companies do this all the time in knoxville. especially on game days. we were tailgating just two weekends ago and saw two flat-haulers roll in to the parking lot we were in just looking for cars without a decal or tag. there were still open spots, so obviously no one had called. my bet is the landlords give them permission to seek and tow whenever they want. did you talk to the landlord?
mrredskin said:tow companies do this all the time in knoxville. especially on game days. we were tailgating just two weekends ago and saw two flat-haulers roll in to the parking lot we were in just looking for cars without a decal or tag. there were still open spots, so obviously no one had called. my bet is the landlords give them permission to seek and tow whenever they want. did you talk to the landlord?
It is the landlords property and they do have a right to tow away vehicles illegally parked there assuming they have signs up to that effect.
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When I lived in a different place across town, a tow truck also rolled through each night.
