I go to visit two friends of mine at an apartment complex. They give me directions, I follow them and arrive there. I park. There are no signs posted anywhere telling me where I should and shouldn't park.
I'm visiting for about an hour, then we decide to go get something to eat.
We walk out and there's a tow truck in the lot. A car is parked behind MY car. There's a guy out there saying, "Oh! No, we don't need a tow, they're moving the car right now."
Apparently because I parked in their spot, they called a tow truck to take my car.
1. Is this legal? There's nothing posted saying that I can't park there. Okay, it might be rude, but there is no marked visitor's parking, no signs saying that non-residents will be towed, AND the letters on the pavement are completely covered with snow.
So the tow truck dude says, "I came out here, somebody has to pay me."
Now everyone is confused. The guy who called said, "Look. I called you. I don't need you. You can go now."
The guy steps closer to me, crosses his arms and says, "He called to have your car towed. You're liable. If you don't give me $50 cash, I'm taking your car."
2. Can he DO that? The verbal contract was between the person who called and the tow truck company. The guy who called broke the contract. So MY car can be taken?
Me, "I don't know if you can do that."
Tow truck man, "I'm not moving my truck until someone gives me my money."
"I think I'm calling the cops."
TTM, "Go ahead. This is private property, they have no jurisdiction."
3. Is this true? If it's private property, cops can't do anything about a car being...stolen? Because, if I walk out into the parking lot and my car is GONE, I'm calling the cops because my car was stolen.
I send one of my friends in to call the cops. Apparently TTM didn't quite catch this. Meanwhile, the guy who called the tow company moves his car so I can back out. TTM hops into the truck, backs it up to mine, hooks it up and lifts it WITH ME IN THE CAR.
Mind you, this is 10:30 at night, TTM and his partner are men, and they have a tow truck. So I'm scared shitless at this point, and my gut is telling me SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG HERE.
I get out of the car.
"Pay me my money," TTM says.
"I don't have that kind of cash."
"How much you have on you? I'll even give you a receipt."
For WHAT? I turn to ask the other friend what to do. TTM locks my car door and shuts it with my keys STILL IN THE CAR.
He says, "Where'd your other friend go."
Me, "He's up calling the cops."
Then TTM hops back into the truck, puts my car down, shouts to never call him again, and takes off. Luckily, I had a spare key in my purse (since I have this weird tendency to lock myself out of my car and apartment), get in my car, pull it out of the spot, and sit in the middle of the parking lot, because there's nowhere else to go.
What do I make of all this? o_O
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
You need to appease the car gods with a sacrifice. The asshole who called to get your car towed would be a good person to start with.
Posts: 3293 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
They said if he comes back they'd send an officer right out (he'd started to drive off at that point).
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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He was trying to strong arm you into giving him money. That is illegal, even if you owe him money.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Up he'ah in Vermon'h 'at's a shoo'in 'affense. (Up here in Vermont, that's a shooting offense.)
The tow truck guy would've made it home with a hole in his foot.
You did well by calling the police. I probably would've been much less agreeable. I would've sat on the roof of my (locked) car refusing to go anywhere. Either that, or I would've taken a pocketknife to all four of my tires, then got on the roof of my car. I have a taste for the dramatic, and that's the only thing I could quickly think of that didn't break any laws. Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
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Get the cops on the guy who called and find out who he called and take it from there. I'm smelling scam or just some idiot who thought he could press his luck. Either way, press charges.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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"This is private property, they have no jurisdiction here."
That statement doesnt even hold up to a sneeze. Think about it. My home is private property, but if I'm doing something illegal in my driveway, cops have jurisdiction. Most clubs are private property, but when guys are beating the shit out of each other in the parking lot, cops arrest them.
This guy knew you were a girl, knew you were scared, and knew tha tin that condition you wouldnt be sure that cops could help you. By being flippant and ostensibly unconcerned about you threatening to call the cops, he drove home that seed of doubt. My bet is, he's done it before. Alot. I can picture someone doing it even if they WERENT called. Just pulling up behind someone's car and waiting for the to come out.
"What are you doing?"
"We have a report that your car is illegally parked here in a reserved space."
and then the scene plays itself out as you described it mack. Like you said, there were no signs or anything in that parking lot.
The guy's an asshole and a criminal, and I really wish i had been there.
Posts: 2532 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Yeah, I was picturing him trying that line on women drivers without an initial phone call, too. I wonder how many other times the police have gotten called about him.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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Jeesh, mack - no that is not legal and YES inform the police. Did you or anyone get his towtruck/company info, or his name?
Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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Somedays I wish I were in charge of an extensive, merciful but agonizingly long rehabilitation program for jerks. We would spend days on the very concept of etiquette and then weeks on the value of it. Any troublemakers would be forced to recite their own essays from memory in front of the class, or would be piercingly mocked for their ineptness.
Mmmmmm, yes. And then on to the exquisitely painful delight of self-deprication, complete with staged dramas of personal humiliation, staffed by the most boorish students.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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Hmm it was honestly, attempted robbery. If you know the name of the tow truck company, file a complaint with the police. Have the SOB arrested. If he did this to you, he's done it to others and will do it again.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
Depending on how far your friends are willing to back you up, you could:
1) Lodge a complaint with the building management stating that there was no obvious markings on the so-called "assigned" spaces, nor was there a tow-away warning anywhere to be seen.
You should also mention the tow truck operator's attitude and attempt at a shakedown. At the very least, that contractor could lose the building's business.
2) You should definitely call the better business bureau and complain about that tow operator. In most towns, the tow operators survive in part on government business. There might be a complaint line specifically to call about tow operators. In NYC there is. Many other places too. And when they have a serious complaint filed against them, the operators lose their government business and usually just dry up and blow away.
3) If he's a AAA tow operator too, you should call AAA and complain about him. Lost revenue from AAA tows is also a hit most operators can't afford.
And for next time....
Always carry a pad & pen in your car and leave a note as to where you can be reached in emergency. That way, the crappy neighbors can call you and not the tow truck.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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Yeah, what Bob said. Especially about the AAA & BBB, and especially in light of the points odouls raised.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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Bullsh*t mack! The police are jerking you around. Dangit, I wish I were there to help you yell at them.
I can't believe what's been happening to you lately. You need to come live with me, so I can keep you safe. Yes, you can live with us and be our nanny. Certainly. That makes perfect sense. Hee.
Seriously, if the police won't help you, maybe you can call the tow truck company and the apartment manager. Make lots of copies of what you send in the mail. Make copies of what you receive. Keep it, document, make a lot of noise.
Aaargh! *shakes fist at attempted shake-down*
Posts: 1545 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
Lodge a complaint with AAA and the BBB. In Portland, we have a similar problem where at certain businesses, tow truck operators will sit out of sight and wait for people to pull up and park (the businesses in question are next to big parking lots that belong to someone else - I think the lot owners have a deal with the tow truck company), then hook up the cars and tow them as soon as the people enter the store.
After some negative publicity, the tow truck companies ended up losing some contracts and having to refund money. They still do it, but people are a bit wiser now. A complaint with AAA and BBB will hit them in the pocketbook.
Posts: 173 | Registered: Jun 2002
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While the spot may have been labeled, it is the complexes responsibility to keep the lot plowed so the "owner" of the spot would have to take issue with them. I think it is the apartment complexes right to call a tow truck and not the individual tenant. It seems like the tow guy should have known this.
Maybe he's notmally a junk tower and not a parking enforcement tow-er. Probably the apt. manager was closed and the guy just kept calling towers until someone didn't insist that he be the apt. manager. Or he "knew a guy" or no one he called explained to him that he doesn't have "jurisdiction" to tow.
As for hooking up your car with you in it, that sounds like possible assault and locking your keys into your car with the intent of keeping you out of it sounds like theft. To me. I'm glad you had the wits to call the police. I probably wouldn't have figured this out in time.
posted
Mack I think Bob and the others have the right idea. You did nothing wrong. The idiot who called the tow truck did. The tow truck driver did. You did not.
My sympathies.
You can always get a pre-law friend somewhere to write up a notice that you are suing the apartment owner over damage done to your car by the tow truck.
Doesn't your car look like someone's damaged it?
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I'd already been rear-ended by a hit and run that morning.
I honestly am not sure what to do. The cop I DID talk to said it was a civil matter and seemed completely nonplussed that the guy lifted the car with me in it and it running, then locking my keys in the car.
And the individual called the tow truck, not the property manager.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
I was thinking assault before I read pooka's post. I'm fairly sure it's dangerous to be in a car that's being towed. Obviously, you were scared, so in my mind, that's imminent threat of bodily harm.
Are the police in that town overworked or something?
Posts: 1813 | Registered: Apr 2001
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I don't know if it is worth trying to sue anyone over. I think the appropriate action is to inform the property manager that they guy called the tower, and the tower acted in a way that could have resulted in damage and injury on the property, so they may want to articulate some rules with this guy or find out what the relationship to the tower was. Isn't the idea to make sure these dudes don't do this again? It is in the owner's self interest to find out about it. The property manager probably doesn't care, but the owner might.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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My brother-in-law used to manage a place and it was the tenants responsibility to call a tow truck if their space was taken. The managers had nothing to do with it. The managers are responsible for keeping the lot clear and well labeled as private parking. I still think the tow-truck driver was a jerk about it though.
I hope you don't have to put up with any more crap Mack.
Posts: 1336 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:Somedays I wish I were in charge of an extensive, merciful but agonizingly long rehabilitation program for jerks. We would spend days on the very concept of etiquette and then weeks on the value of it. Any troublemakers would be forced to recite their own essays from memory in front of the class, or would be piercingly mocked for their ineptness.
Mmmmmm, yes. And then on to the exquisitely painful delight of self-deprication, complete with staged dramas of personal humiliation, staffed by the most boorish students.
Right there with you, CT. And my first nominee to take the class would be the jerk who parked in front of the bank while I was there to use the ATM one day a couple of weeks ago. There are parking slots marked, but he pulled in and parked parallel, taking up three of the four spaces there (I was in the fourth space).
I watched him get out and remarked, "You do know you're parked illegally, don't you?" He just got this smug smile on his face and said "I have a bad habit of that," and went on to do his thing. Basically, his attitude seemed to be, I can do whatever I want to, no matter how many people it inconveniences. His kids were in the car; my feeling is that by doing that he is just raising another generation that will behave in the same way.
Posts: 2454 | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote: 265:154 Occupants in Towed Vehicle; Penalty. – At no time when a vehicle is in tow by a wrecker shall the towed vehicle be occupied by any person, unless directed by a police officer. Any person guilty of violating this section shall be guilty of a violation. Source. 1986, 216:3, eff. Aug. 5, 1986.
According to this, it's illegal to have someone in the car when towing. I agree that BBB and AAA are probably the best options, but I would call the police again and ask if their really OK with tow truck drivers breaking the law and attempting to extort people.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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