To Tow or Not to Tow, that is the question

[ufcrusher]

You live in a condo complex where there is extremely limited parking. You have to buy a parking space, covered space, or garage to go with your unit and thus its yours. Otherwise you have to park on the street.

The HOA has signs at the entrances clearly stating that parking spaces are assigned per unit and that visitors can only park in visitor spots or the street. Then it clearly lists that violators will be towed at owners expense.

When you find an offending vehicle, the HOA tells you that the owner/tenant has to personally call the tow company for their own spot. They even list the tow numbers in the monthly mailer.

You, the tenant, notices that people are REPEATEDLY parking in your one and only spot. You have chased people off of it in the past but upon discovering that construction workers from the complex are parking in your spot, you complain again to the HOA only to be told that you have to call the tow company.

In 1 week you call the tow company 3 times, but the tow company always takes too long.

Today, as you are leaving, you notice a car in your spot. Knowing that there are open houses around, you figure you will give the person a slight leeway to move out of your spot until you get back. 2.5 hours later, you call the tow company and while they are hooking up the car, the person comes out screaming and yelling, apologizing and saying that they didnt know about the private parking.

What would you do?:
Tell them that this is an expensive lesson to read the signs?
Tell them that since the tow truck driver is already in the process they are SOL?
Try to get the tow truck driver to let them go?
Curse them out for wasting hours of your time?

Do you think calling the tow truck driver after 3+ hours in your spot was being:
Nice, since you could have called when you first saw the car.
Mean, since you could have just parked illegally somewhere else?

I'm interested to see your responses?

[brainsmile]

you're the turd that towed my car??? :P

[speedracer120]

Shrug and say tough luck. I hate inconsiderate people. I'd let it go if they were there only to pick up some packages or such, but 2.5 hours in a place with crystal clear signs. That's their bad. My only qualm would be if they decided to mete out some retribution cause thoses tow fees are ginormous.

[Jane83]

tow...
but only the ones where you know are rude and you personally dont like

[Merlin]

....REPEATEDLY....
That is the key word to me. If it is a one time thing when I could let it go. But if it happening all the time then you do have to do something. I say tow. Assuming that this is not someone you know and could work it out with.

Once the tow truck arrives I'd say you want to get out of the way. If the other guy comes running out just *seem* really sorry and that you didn't know what else to do et. cet. If you get confrontational he'll probably just wind up keying your car the next day. So let the tow truck driver handle it whenever possible. Those guys are pricks anyway and accoustomed to dealing with those situations. Moreover, it is my understanding (read I don't know for sure but...) that tow drivers will want to be paid for their efforts once they show up and there is still a car in the spot. Once he starts hooking somebody will need to pay him something before he'll unhook.

But yeah, I advise you to humbly defend your spot.

[mcs328]

That would frustrate me if someone comes and parks in my space and I call the towing company and they take hours. What I've done is park behind them (if possible) and just go home. I might get towed myself...but usually the person boxed in honks their horn or goes looking for me. I take my time.

In your case let the car get towed. If he lives there...tough boogers!! If he's a visitor tell him to tell whoever he's visiting to pay for the cost and tough boogers!!!

[Chgoman]

I used to live in a place with the same situation. I printed out a few warning notes that I would put on cars if they parked in my spot. Since it didn't happen too often it didn't bother me too much. I did tow one car eventually because they did it after I already put a note on their car.

[attgig]

what do your neighbors say?

[KCEnder]

If you have to pay for parking, then tow them without feeling guilty. I have the same situation at my place. Sometimes if there is a free visitors spot close to my place, i'll take that if i will only be home a short while, but other then that, tow the person. Word will get around that your spot is sacred and if they want to park there, they can take some one else's spot.

[DJjeff1080]

Put up a sign in front of your spot that makes it clear that their car will be towed. Then they are choosing to have their car towed, not you.

[ufcrusher]

Here are the facts:

I left to go see my sister and fix her video inputs on her television at 1ish. When I walked out, there was someone parked in my spot. Since I had already locked up my place and was on my way out, I decided to be nice about it and give the person until I got back to move the car. This decision was for two reasons...1) I figured that it might be someone at an open house as this has happened before when it was a relator, which means it would theoretically be quick and the car would be gone before the tow truck driver arrived. and 2) I had a limited time to fix my sisters stereo as they were going to the movies.

My wife arrived home about two and a quarter hours after I left and 10 minutes before I got back, and that car was still there. She placed a large note on the car, setting off the warning alarm, and then went in to wait till I got home. As I was walking in, my wife was on the phone with the tow company calling for the tow truck. They told us that it would be 30 minutes minimum for the truck to arrive. About 10 minutes later, the tow company called to ask us if we would sign the form, which we said we would, and told me it would be 20 more minutes. After 30+ more minutes the tow truck driver arrived, we signed the form and he started hooking up the car.

At that point, a woman walked out on a balcony, yelled hold on, yelled for someone else, and this other woman comes screaming that, "Wait, thats my car! Thats my car! Wait! Wait, I will be right there!"

As my wife and I were waiting to move our car from where it was illegally parked and to make sure that the car was towed, we were standing there waiting. She comes running up yelling, Thats my car, I'll move it! Why am I being towed!"

I calmly tell her that she is being towed because she parked in our spot. These are assigned spots, that are owned by the unit, and the sign when you come in clearly states that visitors must park in visitor spots or on the street. Furthermore, the sign states that because there is such little available parking for residents and so few visitor spots, most visitors will have to park on the street. Then it says the violators will be towed at owners expense.

The woman looks at me and says, "Well, I didnt see it. I was just at my relator friends open house for a little while....I didnt know, I am sorry. Just unhook me and I will move it."

My wife and I look at the lady and calmly tell her that she was parked here when I left at 1ish, being a nice guy and figuring that the person was probably just at an open house and would be gone by the time I got back, I didnt call the tow company then. However, its now been several hours with you parked illegally in our spot, preventing us from parking our car.

The woman turns and says, Well I said I was sorry, I didnt know that it was assigned parking.

I say to her again, there is a sign at both entrances clearly stating the parking rules.

She interrupts me, "well I didnt read them"

At this point, I am annoyed and so I tell her, "Well I guess this is going to be an expensive lesson for you then. Once they hook you up, you have to pay the fine no matter what. Its not my policy, its the towing companies."

She then says, "Dont you have anything else constructive to do."

Me: "No, actually I find this to be very constructive."

Her: "How is this constructive."

Me: "It gets you out of our spot where you were illegally parked and shows others what happens when you park illegally"

Her: "Thats not constructive, go mentor a child or something."

Me: "No, thanks, this is plenty constructive. Bet you are going to look where you are parking next time."

Her: "Go fvck off. Go mentor a child"

Me: "Why dont you just fvcking shut up, you biatch. You have no one to blame but yourself. You parked illegally."

Wife: "In fact, you have had a note on your car for the last forty minutes telling you to move that this is a private spot."

Her: "Just shut up, I am done with you. You dont need to stand here, I am not going to do womething to your precious spot."

Wife: " We're not worried about you doing something to our spot, like we said we had to park illegally because you parked in our spot. We are just waiting to move our car into our spot when you are finally out of there."

Her: "WHAT-EVER. As I said, you should do something more constructive with your time. Go mentor a child. And you (points to me), you are one of the nastiest meanest people I have ever met. The second we told you it was our car, you were nasty to me."

Me: "Like I care about what you think. If you werent parked illegally in our spot for hours on end, you wouldnt be dealing with me."

Her: "Well I am sure towing me is going to make your day."

Me: "Actually, since we have been having major issues with people parking in our spot this past week and have been chasing people off, it is a major issue and this does make me happy."

Her: "Fvck off, you fat a$$>"

Me (without hesitating): "Well, even if you think I am fat, AT LEAST I CAN READ."

At this point, her face blanches and she shuts up. She walks to the tow truck driver to ask how much it will be, asks who do I make the check out to? The driver tells her that it has to be cash or credit card, they wont accept checks on cars being towed. He then tells her that he needs to check on how much this is. All this time she keeps muttering at us and shooting us dirty looks.

At this point, her friend comes to the balcony and she yells up to her that, "The driver says that since they are insisting that I pay for the tow, I have to pay for it." (This isnt true, as its the companys policy, and has nothing to do with us.)

After a few minutes, the driver unhooks her vehicle...the entire time she is standing there, she doesnt bother to shut off her alarm, which goes off everytime he does something to lower the car.

When she is finally unhooked, she yells to her friend, 'Now what, where should I park?" Her friend immediately says, "The visitor parking spots are over there, I told you that already."

As she pulls away she cursed at us, big freaking deal! :rolleyes: All this drama because the idiot didnt listen to her friend or read the signs.

Every month, the mailer reminds the owners/tenants that its assigned parking and that owners are not allowed to park in visitor spots. Every month, it tells the owners to call the following 3 tow companies to get rid of people from your spot. I honestly wish they would just make owners have special stickers with your corresponding spot number on them and have roving patrols come through multiple times a day. It would be far more effective. In college, every complex that I lived in, had roving tows (I had 4 different stickers placed all over the car.) and we never had issues like this.

And yes, we did take down this ladies license plate in case anything happens to our cars and we walked past our condo to avoid letting them know where we live.

[Merlin]

Sounds like you did what you had to do. But as for the fighting with the lady - I would not have had the time/energy for that. I would have just said "my hands are tied, it was the way we were told to deal with it" and walked away.

That said I can tell from your post that you enjoyed telling her off. A little release for all the aggravation you had to deal with over this issue recently.

[rasetsu]

That really sucks that your HOA makes you do the dirty work. Parking permit stickers and a roving patrol would be much more effective. Heck, the HOA could make up the cost by working out a deal with the tow company.

[Nija]

*snip*

The only thing that would have made me laugh harder, would have been one of you yelling, "Your Mom!" :heh:

[PiPhiAngel]

If she was that nasty and rude about it, then she deserved it.

[ufcrusher]

Sounds like you did what you had to do. But as for the fighting with the lady - I would not have had the time/energy for that. I would have just said "my hands are tied, it was the way we were told to deal with it" and walked away.

That said I can tell from your post that you enjoyed telling her off. A little release for all the aggravation you had to deal with over this issue recently.

Actually, no I didnt enjoy the exchange. It was like talking with a demented 2 year old. We were just trying to get the car gone. Calmly explaining to her why she was being towed did nothing but incite her claim of being unaware of the law. It was her continued remarks at us, which finally resulted in my comment regarding the fact that once the tow truck hooks you up, you have to pay. This woman obviously felt that she could "apologize" for her transgression and that upon hearing that, she should be let go.

I dont think that saying, "I'm sorry I parked in your spot, I didnt know that these [numbered] spots were reserved" makes up for what she did. If the woman had not been hostile to us while supposedly apologizing, had not lied to us about how long she had been there, and the other woman had not pointed to the visitor spots and told her that is where she told her to park originally, well maybe then her apology would have carried some weight.

As it stood, I felt that she knew that she was in the wrong from the start, figured that the chance that she was going to get towed was minimal, and that in the event that she was in trouble would plead that she didnt realize that it was private parking with towing enforcement. When her plan didnt work, she became aggressive and antagonistic. Figuring that calling us names would make us feel bad and therefore maybe let her slide by trying to reform her opinion of us. When this ploy didnt work and she realized that she was SOL, she tried to personally attack me, which she didnt expect me to respond to. When I did immediately respond to her comment, with a response that tied it back into the original issue, she realized nothing would faze us and that she was screwed.

She may have had better luck if a) we both werent lawyers, b) this was the first time this had happened, c) she hadnt copped an attitude/lied, and finally d) if I was single, really horny, thought that letting her go would help me get into her pants and didnt mind how she looked.

[SolidSnake]

You did the right thing altho you shouln'd have wasted part of a beautiful dayhttp://www.gotapex.com/forums/images/smilies/embarassedlaugh.gif arguing with a nasty old bag :P and know that we forgive you you may sleep well my child :P jk

[DarkFury]

Heh... bet she won't do it again. :heh:

[Merlin]

SNIP!
I think maybe she was right - GO MENTOR A CHILD! :bandit:


Sorry, I found that part to be just too funny.

[gear02]

I think maybe she was right - GO MENTOR A CHILD! :bandit:

You should have said: "Well, I'm teach a lesson to one right now" :)

[acsamy]

to tow or not to tow that is the question... as a former tow truck driver GO FOR IT

[nate el bueno]

if someone gave me that, i'd defienatly not feel guily about them being towed.
women drivers... :rolleyes:

[Bires]

I would be a little concerned about getting keyed or other kind of vandalism, but I live in the crotch of the universe, so you probably don't have to worry about that.

Each time, I would leave a note and take a picture. (in case the car was vandalized) After the third time, I would tow.

[ufcrusher]

I would be a little concerned about getting keyed or other kind of vandalism, but I live in the crotch of the universe, so you probably don't have to worry about that.

Each time, I would leave a note and take a picture. (in case the car was vandalized) After the third time, I would tow.

The woman doesnt live here, but we did note her license plate number and the tow company has pictures if need be. This honestly was one of the first things we thought of when the lady went crazy.

In fact, I was about to put my truck in the spot rather than my wife's car. It would be much cheaper to fix an american paint job than a european.

[BigJon]

Get a yellow cone and some fake construction gear (bucket of asphalt and some asphalt tools. People with think your spot is being repaired for holes or something. Put the stuff there when you leave. :heh: It might work....

"Go mentor a child"
You should have told her "I am mentoring a child...I'm teaching your childish @$$ how to park a car!" :hihi:

[Jeffbx]

Boy of boy, how I miss living in a condo complex!

I would have done exactly the same thing.

[DarkFury]

This story reminds me of when I lived in an apartment with paid parking shelters... The same thing happened to me, however I didn't call the tow truck... but I did knock on doors until I found who owned the car parked in my spot and told them to "move it or lose it".

One time... someone had the NERVE to park in my spot after I had just removed all the snow from it. Hell... as deep as it was, it took me like 45 mins to completely dig it out (we had had a winter storm the day before) and I guess they were just too lazy to either dig out their own spot in the garage or park in the guest area. Needless to say, they got an earful from me when I came back home from work that day.