Towing - Illegal or Not?

[Lightwysh]

Most of the time, parking lots are private property. A vehicle parked for use against the property owners guidelines is effectively trespassing. So yes, if you are parked on private property, you are subject to the rules of the owner. If you do not abide by those rules you are subject to have the property removed from the premises.

That being said, it's a dick move for a homeless guy to report "abandoned" vehicles for a kickback from the towing company. I would almost label that as fraud.

Can you approach the property owner and get clarification of the property rules? I would also take the time to inform him of the homeless guy and what's going on there.

Also any ticket issued by a non-police person(security etc) will not have any legal ramifications but is subject to civil law. So they can ticket you for $50 and you can tell them to kick rocks. The worse they can do is attempt to send it to collections and you can dispute it.

[belfpala]

they really should not be allowed to tow your car based on 1 report of it being abandoned

Here, they'll come look at it and write the date and time in white wax marker on the windshield. This is even for cars on the side of a highway or freeway. I'm not sure how long they wait to tow, but it's definitely not immediate. Private lots are different, though. You can be towed for no reason (the same rules apply; I can tell you to leave my house and property any time).

@chazus You might want to ask your employer and/or the property owner where employees should park. Also attempt to find out who reported your car (I'm guessing property owner or another business?), and make sure they know you're at work, not abandoning a car.

[Ave07]

I remember my uncle parked his car outside my house for an hour and it was getting ready to be towed. He ended up calling the police and 8 officers showed up (guess it was a slow night as it was 2am) and the officers told the tow man to leave.

Nobody got shot just so you know.

[Deleted]

Here, they'll come look at it and write the date and time in white wax marker on the windshield. This is even for cars on the side of a highway or freeway. I'm not sure how long they wait to tow, but it's definitely not immediate. Private lots are different, though. You can be towed for no reason (the same rules apply; I can tell you to leave my house and property any time).

@chazus You might want to ask your employer and/or the property owner where employees should park. Also attempt to find out who reported your car (I'm guessing property owner or another business?), and make sure they know you're at work, not abandoning a car.

yeah im pretty sure here they do something to log the car so they can check if its actually abandonded

[zenkai]

This is more for discussion purposes, as I imagine towing laws and rules different from state to state to country.

Yesterday I parked my car near my work, as I do nearly every day. I park in different places, depending on availability (open parking lot in a shopping center effectively). The one place I don't park is the '30 minutes', handicap, and 'reserved' spots, of which there are a handful.

Yesterday, I'm heading to my car to head home, and there's an officer writing a ticket near my vehicle. I ask what the issue is, and he goes "This yours? Oh man, you sure are lucky. I was about to get this thing towed out of here."

I asked if I was illegally parked, and he said I was. I asked how, and he said that my vehicle had been 'reported abandoned' as it had been parked there for hours. When I asked if I can park there, he said that I can't 'leave a vehicle unattended for a long period of time'. This was all very vague, and I indicated that I work there, pointing to my work shirt, and the shop we're standing in front of.

He explained further that because the vehicle was 'reported abandoned', and because it was dirty, they have the ability to have it towed. Granted, yes, it was dirty, as I just got back from a business trip where my car was parked at long term parking, and it rained, and when it rains here, it rains dirt. I haven't taken it to the car wash yet. However it didn't obstruct view, it just wasn't newly washed. He also pointed out that there was a scrap of orange sticker on my window, from a recent parking ticket at the university (which was cleared, I just hadn't scraped -all- of the sticker off. No words could be seen.) He said that also gave him 'reason to believe' it was abandoned.

The officer (whom I found was not a police officer, but just local security/parking enforcement) let me go, and cancelled the tow truck. Another man approached at that time, and I believe he's the one who reported it. He let me know that dirty windows is 'exactly what he looks for to report to the tow company'. This is one of the homeless guys around this area, and apparently he has a 'system' with the tow company where he reports cars, they tow it, and he gets kickbacks if they don't file a lawsuit. Apparently it's lucrative enough (given that most people don't know towing laws, including me) that it's worth the legal risk.

I don't understand how this kind of behavior is allowed, and why these companies aren't shut down on the spot by this. Towing companies have no real legal backing, and federal entities don't seem to care or bother with it, which leaves people (who literally did nothing wrong) having to pay hundreds, or thousands of dollars to release impounded vehicles.

You can't do that if it's not obstructing traffic, they can put a sticker on your car and after 3 days they can tow it.

[belfpala]

You can't do that if it's not obstructing traffic, they can put a sticker on your car and after 3 days they can tow it.

Private lot.

I've had my car booted and prepped to tow because I took five minutes to walk over to a post office, then came back to the business the lot was for. Was there for hours (university, studying). It took the store manager to talk them out of towing my car, because I was a regular.

[zenkai]

Private lot.

I've had my car booted and prepped to tow because I took five minutes to walk over to a post office, then came back to the business the lot was for. Was there for hours (university, studying). It took the store manager to talk them out of towing my car, because I was a regular.

Doesn't matter, unless there is a sign posted giving reasons why, they can't just tow your car, especially since it's on some word of a homeless guy, that's called extortion.


http://sanfranciscopolice.org/sites/...tow_rights.pdf

I know laws are different in each place but this is a good guideline I think.

[Cerus]

Legally in all states a person cannot be declared missing until at least 24 hours

Cite one law from any state. Forgive me if I wont wait.


Again - there is no law starting any such thing. My wife broke down on the interstate and didn't have her phone. I reported her missing after a few hours.

- - - Updated - - -

Private lot.

I've had my car booted and prepped to tow because I took five minutes to walk over to a post office, then came back to the business the lot was for. Was there for hours (university, studying). It took the store manager to talk them out of towing my car, because I was a regular.

Has to have clearly visible signs. Goes for just about any parking rule....even handicapped. I've had businesses try to get me ticketed for parking in HC spaces. No sign on a pole, just faded paint on the ground. Gotta have a sign up several feet in the air for it to be enforceable.

[belfpala]

Doesn't matter, unless there is a sign posted giving reasons why, they can't just tow your car, especially since it's on some word of a homeless guy, that's called extortion.

EVERY parking lot where I live has clearly visible signs, including the name and contact information of the towing company. I've lived in many cities in the US. Have not seen it done differently.

[chazus]

EVERY parking lot where I live has clearly visible signs, including the name and contact information of the towing company. I've lived in many cities in the US. Have not seen it done differently.

I actually went and looked and theres no info or signs or anything... Just the Handicap/Reserved spots (30 min parking is on the curb). Everything else is fair game.

[belfpala]

I actually went and looked and theres no info or signs or anything... Just the Handicap/Reserved spots (30 min parking is on the curb). Everything else is fair game.

Then I call it ridiculous. Places around here will have "Parking for [blah blah] ONLY. Violators will be towed." Followed by contact info for the towing company.

I'll repeat though, ask your employer or property owner/manager where you should park.

[Orange Joe]

This is more for discussion purposes, as I imagine towing laws and rules different from state to state to country.

Yesterday I parked my car near my work, as I do nearly every day. I park in different places, depending on availability (open parking lot in a shopping center effectively). The one place I don't park is the '30 minutes', handicap, and 'reserved' spots, of which there are a handful.

Yesterday, I'm heading to my car to head home, and there's an officer writing a ticket near my vehicle. I ask what the issue is, and he goes "This yours? Oh man, you sure are lucky. I was about to get this thing towed out of here."

I asked if I was illegally parked, and he said I was. I asked how, and he said that my vehicle had been 'reported abandoned' as it had been parked there for hours. When I asked if I can park there, he said that I can't 'leave a vehicle unattended for a long period of time'. This was all very vague, and I indicated that I work there, pointing to my work shirt, and the shop we're standing in front of.

He explained further that because the vehicle was 'reported abandoned', and because it was dirty, they have the ability to have it towed. Granted, yes, it was dirty, as I just got back from a business trip where my car was parked at long term parking, and it rained, and when it rains here, it rains dirt. I haven't taken it to the car wash yet. However it didn't obstruct view, it just wasn't newly washed. He also pointed out that there was a scrap of orange sticker on my window, from a recent parking ticket at the university (which was cleared, I just hadn't scraped -all- of the sticker off. No words could be seen.) He said that also gave him 'reason to believe' it was abandoned.

The officer (whom I found was not a police officer, but just local security/parking enforcement) let me go, and cancelled the tow truck. Another man approached at that time, and I believe he's the one who reported it. He let me know that dirty windows is 'exactly what he looks for to report to the tow company'. This is one of the homeless guys around this area, and apparently he has a 'system' with the tow company where he reports cars, they tow it, and he gets kickbacks if they don't file a lawsuit. Apparently it's lucrative enough (given that most people don't know towing laws, including me) that it's worth the legal risk.

I don't understand how this kind of behavior is allowed, and why these companies aren't shut down on the spot by this. Towing companies have no real legal backing, and federal entities don't seem to care or bother with it, which leaves people (who literally did nothing wrong) having to pay hundreds, or thousands of dollars to release impounded vehicles.

I can only site my local laws. But a car must be tagged as abandoned by an officer for at least 2 days before it can be towed.

[chazus]

I can only site my local laws. But a car must be tagged as abandoned by an officer for at least 2 days before it can be towed.

From what I can tell, basically they don't follow 'laws' because most people will either

A) go 'oh shit I didnt know' and pay the fee to have it released, not knowing the actual laws
B) be too poor/not have time to bother hiring a lawyer to fight it
or
C) Actually fight it

A and B occur often enough to outweigh the few instances of C winning

[oxymoronic]

I had a car for sale, put it in a CVS parking lot. Went back 4 hours later and it was gone. Went to report the car stolen and they said it was towed. From what I understand is they are suppose to give you 24hours before they can legally tow it, but of course this place just said it had been 24hours and easy enough its gone and up to me to prove it was not. long story short paid $250 and now i know any place can tow your car for any reason. oh and i dont shop at cvs any longer.

[Sunseeker]

You should sue him anyway. Bury him and that towing biz into the ground. Or just the latter.

[kaid]

Towing is theft

Depending on the state not really. Most parking lots are private property and it can be easy to get cars towed. It used to happen all the time behind our apartments there was limited parking and you had to tell the landlords what your licencse plate number is. If a car was seen without a plate on record they got towed with minimal to no warning given.

On the streets in most municipalities there are a number of regulations on what and how you can get towed but there are more than a few that see towing cars as a way to help fund the local government so are pretty aggressive about hunting people overstaying parking meters and the like.

[Deleted]

A quick search makes this look like a common problem/scam.

It doesn’t need to be this way, and it wouldn’t be if it weren’t for a carefully engineered, state-sponsored extortion racket.

As I discovered today, that $520 is neatly parceled between the city and the private monopoly contractor that does the towing. When you call the tower, they proudly tell you in their voice message that they are the “only” tow service for San Francisco. It’s their game. And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the circle jerk at play here.

The towers get paid by the tow. They’re out there looking. All the time. 24/7. Their job is to tow as much as possible, and charge exorbitant fees backed by the force of law. And San Francisco walks away with half the fees anyway, so it’s not like they have a reason to change the system. And the fact that the $520 towers showed up 4 minutes after the city gave me a $100 parking ticket–two punishments for the same crime–only makes me more sure that there is a close cooperation happening here.

Public meets private: the worst of both worlds.

Law enforcement being mobilized to clear cars parked in the bad places is important, and of course people should be responsible for their property, and should pay the cost of towing their car. But if we are going to make towing the purview of municipal government, then the government has to actually step in and clear the roads, and those should be the only costs that people pay. If the city contracts out to a private monopoly, it is doing nothing more than creating a giant corporate subsidy. People must pay double or triple what they would have paid otherwise, and although most of the fee goes to a private corporation, it still is backed by the force of law.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love private enterprise. And we should privatize just about everything we can, especially services that could be provided competitively like transit. But towing is not a service, it is a form of law enforcement, which puts the incentives in the wrong place. It pays people to find–or create–lawbreakers. And what we have here is nothing more than state-sponsored extortion: making someone pay you for a “service” that you didn’t ask them to provide, on threat of losing your property. Extortion is extortion, and it doesn’t matter if it’s the mafia or the City of San Francisco.

But at least the mafia would provide some protection.