Today, i had my honda fit parked inside a PRIVATE RESIDENCE. Inside the gate away from public. I live in a condo

No sign of no parking sign so i had my car parked in front of the driveway for 10min max. Came back it was gone and called around and found out Mr.C's Towing had it.

They are very rude, and told me all these law codes saying they are allowed to..... I have no brain toward law side so i paid 270$.....

155 towing fee+ 40$ storeage fee+ 75$ gate fee.

I searched them on google and figured they are barely legal. 3 of their employees in the past were arrested for illegaly towing cars.

I am not going to sue them or anything but trying to get the word out to watch out for them!!

Again there were no sign of no parking or be towed signs. It was INSIDE the gate in FRONT of my driveway. but it was full at the time so i had it parked right in front of it not blocking anyone except my own cars for 10min max.....

They are very rude, made up some bullcrap reason for towing saying in front of firelane, blocking roadway.....

oh and plus their place was 16miles away from my place....Which i heard it is illegal to carry the car 10miles away or more. I don't know the law i may be wrong but my roommate was telling me these stuff.

 

FYI parking anywhere other than marked parking spots in a condo complex will result in a tow... even if there is no sign posted.

 

Some villages/communities may also have ordinances prohibiting stuff like that too, without using signs to inform residents/visitors.

 

Time to have a talk with your condo association. Planned communities aren't always ideal.

 

I hope they lit your cigarette after.

 

Check the Written Policies of the Condo Association (i'm guessing you had to be visiting someone there who will have access to them) and see what they say about parking. If there are no ordinances and no signs, File a Complaint with the condo association requesting that they cover the cost of the Tow and also file a complaint with the BBB for an Illegal Tow. Also, file a complaint with the Police for theft however I'm not sure if they will do anything if you haven't already filed a report or contacted them (when the discovery was made).

If people don't say anything (or do anything) companies like this will keep on doing things like this. you never know, this company may be on it's last strike and reporting this could shut them down. reporting will at least get them one step closer.

~SB

 

I think that parking in front of a driveway is illegal even if it's your own driveway. Signs don't need to be posted for that.

 

More than likely your were parked in the lane which is also the fire lane for the complex. So even though you were only blocking your vehicle it is probably illegal to park there. The first thing you should do is read over your rules and reg. for the community. It should be "clearly" stated in the "small" print. If not then you may have a shot at recouping partial or all of out of pocket expenses...

 

First off, are you irish? cause this sort of thing happens to us all the time. we get drunk, park wherever the hell we want, then get towed... usually i deal with this scenario by getting a wee bit drunk(again) then i smash molotov cocktails through the towing company's windows. usually gets me satisfied.

 

AHHAHAHA This made my day

 

And, in my neck of the woods (Bluffton, SC - just outside of Hilton Head Island), a tow truck operator booted a car that was parked on the street in one of these residential communities for just a few minutes. The tow truck guy and the owner got into an argument and the tow trucker shot and killed the motorist; this happened on Christmas Eve, no less. He is currently jailed, awaiting trial. Much of the incident was caught on the next door neighbor's security camera.

That community's Property Owner's Association was, at last knowledge, still debating the rules for booting and towing parking offenders. Yuck.

FYI,here is the link to the news article.

http://www.islandpacket.com/2011/02/...ylink=misearch

 

I'm in OC as well. Usually, all driveways that are not marked parking spaces are considered "fire lanes" in multi family dwellings such as apartments and condos. If there is fine print on the gates going into your community you should read it, it's probably on there. Very frustrating, I know.

Charge it to the game and don't do it again.

Mr. C's polices my complex as well, and i've seen they're VERY happy to tow ANYBODY violating VERY quickly.

 

op- sorry to hear about this as it sounds very frustrating!!!

yah, you have to really watch out in these close knit communities as there are bored people on the look out for violators all the time. even if it's not at a gated complex you'll always have those people waiting to call the management or cops, etc.

i think you were smart not to make a fuss and get your car back and outta there fast.