-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
My car got towed from my driveway and all parties involved are giving me the runaround.
- Thread starter Haze
- Start date
I mean, thats the first thing i do after discovering my car is missing from my driveway. Like, who spends 2 hours investigating where it went? lol wut.
File a report for theft (removal if car with no legal right to do so) and extortion (payment demand for return of car).
Local law always varies, but I have never heard of a jurisdiction where a vehicle can be towed from private property without the permission of the owner.
HOAs can generally tow from common areas, but not deeded parking or driveways. And tow companies generally have a form that identifies the person requesting the tow who has to claim the vehicle is illegally parked on their property. That is how they avoid liability.
If it was your driveway (if you are renting it is yours) then it is hard to see how someone else could have rights to tow. And the tow company should be bending over backwards, identifying that person (if they actually existed), and telling you to sue whoever it is.
The secrecy is very indicative of a tow scam.
Call the police and report it as stolen. Unless there's something you aren't telling us, then having a police report of the theft will help when you threaten to take them to court for stealing your car.
Despite what people in this thread are saying, don't file a stolen vehicle report. Your vehicle was illegally towed, not stolen, and misrepresenting the situation isn't going to help the police take you seriously. Report instead that your vehicle was illegally towed, and you have communications with the property owner/agents where they say they didn't authorize this tow. For reference, this is the relevant section of Georgia state law about towing.
The towers are absolutely trying to scam you out of $200. You can pay them and sue them in small claims to get your money back, you can get the police on your side to tell them to release the car, or you can convince the towers to release the car because you're not going to let this go and they'll eventually face a $2500 fine from the Department of Public Safety for predatory towing.
Edit: Since the currently HOA is either genuinely unassociated with this towing company or playing dumb for some stupid reason, maybe you should send them one more e-mail and tell them you're going to take down those towing signs they have nothing to do with.
OP
OP
I just got off the phone with the towing company threatening to add them as a defendant on my filing and they revealed the party who ordered the towing request was the board of the neighborhood (didn't even know we had such a thing) so I know who to go after tho.
my new question is, why are there so many damn parties involved in my living situation.
Does your HOA have some kind of bullshit rule about not allowing cars to be parked in your driveway overnight or something? Do you have a garage? What the hell would their justification even be for this?
This is the way OP, don't give the scummy towing company an inch - it sounds like they are completely at fault, if the HOA is to be believed - although an HOA letting an unaffiliated towing company keep their signs posted around the property sounds completely unbelievable.
An illegal tow is theft. Nothing in the code you linked says otherwise.
OP
OP
To my knowledge there are no posted parking procedures and there certainly are none on the premises.
Obviously we can't park in front of fire hydrants or block someone else's driveway, but the day after, they also towed someone parked on the street in front of their own driveway
What about rules regarding vehicle appearance or type of vehicle? Not that this would be appropriate enforcement of such rules, just speculating.
In any case HOAs are the fucking worst
I'm pretty sure it's not legal for them to tow your vehicle on private property. Just go down to the tow company and demand they release your vehicle or you will report them. This recently happened to a friend in an apartment complex and that's what he did. Arizona btw.
If it was taken from your property without your consent, tell the police. I don't see how this is anything other than theft.
HOAs often have policies about cars. If you don't drive it much it might have been reported as abandoned/unused/undrivable, and the HOA policy may give them authority to have a car towed under those circumstances. Especially if it looks like a clunker. Could have been reported by a neighbor if that's the case. My HOA has a vehicle policy like that but parking is communal and first come first serve rather than individual driveways, and the policy is probably only enforced if something is reported (because I've seen damaged/WIP cars sit in some distant parking spots for months at a time).
Doubt this helps at all, just throwing it out there as an idea of what might have happened.
Doubt this helps at all, just throwing it out there as an idea of what might have happened.
my HOA has similar rules, but here they have to clearly post on the car that it will be towed on a specific day if the problem is not dealt with. Not sure if that's true everywhere though.
This is my kinda thread.
This is on both the HOA and the Towing Company. Depending on where you live, towing a car off of private property with out some type of consent is theft. If the Towing company did some arbitrary cowboy shit, the you take them to court. If the towing company is out of date with the "new" HOA, you take them both to court. If the HOA didn't remove the sign that the towing company has authority of said private property, you take the HOA to court.
HORSESHIT!!!!!
This is on both the HOA and the Towing Company. Depending on where you live, towing a car off of private property with out some type of consent is theft. If the Towing company did some arbitrary cowboy shit, the you take them to court. If the towing company is out of date with the "new" HOA, you take them both to court. If the HOA didn't remove the sign that the towing company has authority of said private property, you take the HOA to court.
HORSESHIT!!!!!
sounds like people are about to get outed for lying
very curious to see what ended up happening. someone called for the tow.
very curious to see what ended up happening. someone called for the tow.
We got tow truck turf wars here in Toronto, people literally shooting each other so they can extort unaware victims out of thousands in "storage" fees.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappen...rings-fears-of-escalating-turf-wars-1.5468799
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappen...rings-fears-of-escalating-turf-wars-1.5468799
OP
OP
This is my first experience with one as I've lived in apartments my entire adult life. I have a 2018 toyota corolla in great condition but even if I didn't have a decent car, yeah that would be some FUCKED justification to tow someone.
OP
OP
Name the tow company in any complaint.
Do NOT let them off the hook. They did the tow. They extorted the fee.
Let the tow company sue someone else if they want. Your issue is with them as they are required to ensure they are acting legally.
Except that it's NOT in Toronto, but instead the neighboring cities and towns. :)
edit: ok there were a few in 416
HOAs are one of those things I love hearing people complain about but Am glad we don't have where I'm from. That's all I've got to say on the matter.
Thank you
So they were well aware, and finally admitted it? Go after the tow company for doing this nonsense and go after the board of the neighboorhood as well. Never heard of such a thing. guessing this board is something like Neighborhood association?
OP
OP
That's my understanding. It's extremely convoluted to being going through a landlord for the actual residence but also an HOA and a neighborhood association. It's getting ridiculous.
Yeah my ax to grind is with both the HOA and the neighborhood association as well as the towing company.
A "board" cannot authorize a tow. If there is not a named individual, the tow company is lying.
Someone had to sign the form.
OP
OP
I'll have to call them and speak with a manager for anything further which I'll do tomorrow.
1) Get everything in writing.
2) If you paid by credit card, file a chargeback.
#2 is a bad idea and will only lead to the tow company suing you for the tow amount + fines and court fees. Also, your credit card company will probably just deny the chargeback. Get everything in writing, though, and file a small claims case if you think you have a strong case.
This is such a shit situation and a major inconvenience. I hope you get your money back from all this op.
It's a low enough amount that it makes hiring a lawyer nonsensical. And the time spent trying to get money back has to be worth more than that. It's the perfect crime, really.
At least you didn't get Bernice flipping your car
OP
OP
When you threatened to sue and they gave up the name, the tow company didn't give a reason why?
OP
OP
Nah they said that was all they can provide me and I can call back to speak with management
Honestly sounds like a scam. I'd be calling the police, not taking the civil action route.
OP
OP
I mean I already have my car back. At this point I'm just looking for restitution, settlement for the inconvenience, and an apology.