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.
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.
InsuranceExpert
Senior Member - 3K
posted: Nov. 8, 2009 @ 3:37p
It happened to me once. I drove to the facility and just took my car back. Of course, that won't work with most towing facilities.
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.
RS4Rings
Back in Rehab
posted: Nov. 8, 2009 @ 3:53p
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.
aeiouy
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Nov. 8, 2009 @ 4:00p
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.
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.
Towing companies are the scum of the earth
codename47
Senior Member - 3K
posted: Nov. 8, 2009 @ 6:05p
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?
LAndlord gets a kickback or a percentage from the towing co. They are not going to help you. File the police report and talk to ze lawyer.
chimeer
Cranky Member
posted: Nov. 8, 2009 @ 9:05p
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.
Cops had to get involved when these kids tried to pay in pennies
Even when the cops came, they were still jerks.
pundit5307
Wacky Member
posted: Nov. 8, 2009 @ 9:29p
Thank you guys/gals for all your responses. I have talked to the property manager and he said he didn't call the tow company. And I have got the car back( I have not yet paid them any money) so I am not sure if still makes the sense to file police report.
I will be looking more into the mechanic lien stuff. I was assuming that they can only put the mechanic lien if some work was done on the car. In this case no work is done on the car. I am assuming currenty they only have the option of going through the collection process to get the money. so the question is should I wait for then to start the collection process or should I do something beforehand to avoid the headache of collections?
Once again thanks for all of your responses.
Cerdo
Senior Member
posted: Nov. 8, 2009 @ 9:46p
How were you able to get the car back without paying?
I was towed once, I'll never park where it could happen again. I also won't support businesses in areas that tow cars (bar/club areas).
also, are there requirements for tow away signs in your city? In houston, tx I know there are certain requiremnents (saw some news thing about it). I can't remember the details but it is something like it must have a picures plus a certain phrasing- if it doesn't meet the requirements I think the place that placed the sign might have to pay for the tow if you get towed- they went around the city and foudn that many of the private tow away signs were done incorrectly- so there might be some defense- I don't know if you can just go willy-nilly towing any car you want from any publically accesible parking lot, there are likely some local rules regulating that- and if the appt. manger didnt' call...who did and who else has a right to call?
A lot of these tow companies go around illegally picking up cars. This almost happened to a co-worker working late at the office. He heard the tow-truck and looked out the window. It was getting in position to take his car in our company parking lot. He ran out and stopped it. I told him he should have called the police right away anyways.
pundit5307 said: Thank you guys/gals for all your responses. I have talked to the property manager and he said he didn't call the tow company. And I have got the car back( I have not yet paid them any money) so I am not sure if still makes the sense to file police report.
I will be looking more into the mechanic lien stuff. I was assuming that they can only put the mechanic lien if some work was done on the car. In this case no work is done on the car. I am assuming currenty they only have the option of going through the collection process to get the money. so the question is should I wait for then to start the collection process or should I do something beforehand to avoid the headache of collections?
Once again thanks for all of your responses.
I don't think anyone has mentioned this, but the best CYA is to DOCUMENT everything. Do you have any paperwork at all from the tow yard? Get something in writing from the management. If you're a resident and have a right to park at that spot, get any documentation you can to prove it (lease, etc.). If you're a visitor, get a WRITTEN statement from the resident you were visiting and a copy of their lease. Basically, any and all WRITTEN proof that you have every right to park there.
Now on the matter of the "stolen" car, that becomes more complicated, because it's now back in your hands in apparently undamaged condition, so the worst damage you have is lost time and transportation cost to the facility. You could talk to the police to make a complaint, but they may not want to do the paperwork, and even if they did investigate (unlikely, unless there were prior complaints), it may be dismissed as an "honest" mistake. If you find a sympathetic officer, they could at least document the activity to help establish a pattern. A police report could be helpful if this ever goes to court, but it would have been more effective when the car was still missing.
Going after them in any way is unlikely to yield you any positive return, unless you just want to do it for the principle.
One of my friends got caught up in a tow scam a while back. We parked at a sign that said customers only and he was a customer of the adjoining building. Upon coming out he was told that the spot was only for customers of one particular store even though the sign didn't say it was. Turns out that there was a guy in the parking lot who called it in and we saw the tow truck driver passing him cash as we were pulling away. Amazing how low these guys go!
Pundit5307, why have you not told us the most important pieces of information, namely, were there signs posted limiting parking to residents and warning that unauthorized vehicles will be towed? Were you an authorized guest of a resident of the apartment complex and if so, did you have a parking pass visible?
Have you determined if it is legal in Phoenix for private tow operators to tow illegally parked vehicles on private property if instructed by the owner of the property? I presume it is but there may be some states or municipalities that have outlawed such towing practices because of criminal activities by tow truck operators.
If towing in this fashion is not outlawed and there were "No Parking - Violators Will Be Towed" signs or something similar posted, you stupidly trusted to luck and lost. $140 isn't out of line for the cost of a tow, you should suck it up, pay it and move on with your life. If there were no such signs posted or if private tow operators are forbidden from towing in this fashion, then call the police since your vehicle was stolen.
Years ago I was passing through Chicago on a family trip with a sick five-month old child in the car, when the vehicle broke down. The tow truck company I called quoted me a price of $125 for towing to the local Subaru dealer and told me I could pay by credit card. After many, many hours of waiting during one of the most stressful days of my life, we found ourselves at 1:00 a.m., with our car being held for ransom by the SOB Russian mob-affiliated tow driver for $250 cash. With a sick infant, I could not stand and argue and then wait for the police to come in the middle of the night in February in the Windy City, so I caved and went to the ATM down the street. The next day, when I called and complained to the owner of the company, he screamed "I f^&%&n' bury you!!! You get a lawyer, I get ten lawyers!!!" The Chicago cops did nothing. However, my auto insurer reimbursed me for the full amount I was swindled out of by the criminal tow operator under my roadside assistance coverage, so I didn't pursue it any further. Yes, tow operators can be total scumbag criminals.
lousygolfer said: Pundit5307, why have you not told us the most important pieces of information, namely, were there signs posted limiting parking to residents and warning that unauthorized vehicles will be towed? Were you an authorized guest of a resident of the apartment complex and if so, did you have a parking pass visible? He's already said that the property owner had nothing to do with the towing.
The most important thing left that he hasnt mentioned is how he knew where his car was after it had been towed....
One thing you can try is paying with a CC and then dispute the charges with your CC... just throwing another idea out there. Towing companies are crooks... let a bigger company go after them
My buddy is a tow truck driver in AZ (says he makes $60k a year doing stuff like this) and he says that in Arizona there is a weird law that states that a tow truck company can not hold your vehicle hostage for ransom. He says that tow trucks are a huge scam and businesses make a fortunate off kickbacks.
The property manager might not have "called it in" on that particular night, but the complex might have a standing contract with a tow company that will automatically tow any cars without a parking tag. Are you a resident at the complex? Also, check the laws regarding the tow warning signage. They have to have something posted, and often there are laws regarding the size and placement of said sign.
1. Removing vehicles from private property without first obtaining written authorization from the property owner.
2. Charging or otherwise collecting from the property owner any fees that is contrary to the terms of the contract between the relocator and the property owner.
3. Removing a vehicle when the vehicle owner is present or if the owner arrives at any time before the vehicle is removed from the property. A fee cannot be assessed to the vehicle owner in this case.
I got screwed one time like this on Mill ave (Arizona State party street) while on a date. I parked in a parking lot but there was a sign that says, "no parking between these hours xxx." The sign was blocked by a tree and you had to go under a tree and move the branch to see the sign. The tow truck guy wantedc $80 to drop my car and since I was on a date I didn't want to look like a loser that just lost his car. I paid and the guys said, "have a nice date, hope you get some."
Glitch99 said: lousygolfer said: Pundit5307, why have you not told us the most important pieces of information, namely, were there signs posted limiting parking to residents and warning that unauthorized vehicles will be towed? Were you an authorized guest of a resident of the apartment complex and if so, did you have a parking pass visible? He's already said that the property owner had nothing to do with the towing.
Yeah, but that doesn't answer my questions and just means that the property owner didn't call the tow truck operator. I think it makes a lot of difference whether there were signs posted and whether he was an invited guest or if he was just trying to sneak a free parking space.
lousygolfer said: Glitch99 said: lousygolfer said: Pundit5307, why have you not told us the most important pieces of information, namely, were there signs posted limiting parking to residents and warning that unauthorized vehicles will be towed? Were you an authorized guest of a resident of the apartment complex and if so, did you have a parking pass visible? He's already said that the property owner had nothing to do with the towing.
Yeah, but that doesn't answer my questions and just means that the property owner didn't call the tow truck operator. I think it makes a lot of difference whether there were signs posted and whether he was an invited guest or if he was just trying to sneak a free parking space.
Lousygolfer is correct, OP is leaving out critical information...this is another case of a new FWF trying to dupe us with their one sided half story
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.
FIrst of all, shame on you for leaving out half the story.
TELL THE WHOLE STORY - that you wanted to shop at this "busy shopping complex" and the easiest space to take was to park in the apt complex. And that the apt complex also has signs advising that nonredidents will be towed.
You parked improperly to go shopping, you ignored the signs, and you got towed.
Stop wasting FWF'ers time trying to paint yourself as the innocent victim
Grizybaer said: SleekWallet said: riznick said: I got a parking ticket once where some vandals took down the no parking after midnight sign. There was no sign. I videotaped the street with the missing sign and took it to court. They said I still should have known and made me pay the ticket.
hahaha wow that sucks
that is some BS they are pulling. Where was this. here in NY they will make you photo the entire block, one missing sign is not enough, if they are all missing, winner winner chicken dinner.
It was in California. I videotaped the whole block and submitted it with my defense. Unfortunately, for some reason it went through a precourt type of situation where someone decides whether you have a case or not. I was not allowed to see the judge. They told me that they would mail me my decision and I would have to appeal within a certain period of time if I was denied. I got the denied ruling by mail a day after the appeal period. It was only $40 and not worth any more of my time getting shot down, so I decided to just pay it.
Disclaimer: By providing links to other sites, FatWallet.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to FatWallet.com.
Members of our community may attach files to a post in accordance with the User Agreement. FatWallet is not responsible for the content, accuracy, completeness or validity of any information contained in any attached file. Files have *not* been scanned for viruses. Be especially wary of Excel files which may contain malicious content.
