Doom878

I'm sure it's said been before. Them some shady mfers.

Actually the reason for the tow was totally my fault. It's the fact that they wouldn't give me back my car.

My mom left her car in my driveway. I parked my Accord next to it, and my wife's Jetta perpendicular to both cars. It looks like this:

II
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Normally the cars fit in my driveway perfectly. The assocation rule is no cars on grass. However my lazy ass left the Jetta slightly to the left so that my car wouldn't be blocked in the morning. Anyways I came out Monday morning and my car was gone since two tires were on the grass. Confirmed with the tow company so no problem. On the hook for $130

Wife went later in the day and they wouldn't give her the car. They said that since it was a leased car and we weren't on title as owner they wouldn't give us the car. Even if I showed since the lease was in my name would I not be able to take it out. They wanted an original notarized power of attorney, lease contract, and copy of title. I had VW fax me those copies and faxed it to him. The manager wasn't available to determine if I could use those documents since they were faxed and the dispatcher was semi-retarded. I contacted my police department and they said if they didn't take the documents to contact them so that they could work it out. Knowing that an officer might not show up for a few hours, I went to my neighbor's house and knocked on their door since he's on the board. Luckily we're cool so he called the management company and they "vouched" for me. The tow company charged me a $30 admin fee since I had the "wrong" documents and I had to call VW Credit to mail him the forms directly. The guy wasn't rude and he even thanked me for calling VW to have him send the docs. Just a f'in scam artist with the hoops I jumped through.

Meanwhile yesterday while at work, I did research and someone contacted a local news station in my area about the BS with leased cars. Apparently he had the same problem and waited for original docs. That tow company still wouldn't release so he went with a police officer and a reporter. Apparently it is legal for them to request originals before releasing as it was an old Florida law from back in the day when leases weren't common. The funny thing is that the same company towed the same car when my mother-in-law had gotten the car towed in her complex. We went to take out the car. No problems and the idiots forgot to collect our cash. Different management I think since there was a name change.

Cliffs:
Car got towed
Since it's a lease they wanted my arm plus cash to take it out
Got a favor to get it out
FUCK Tow Truck companies

zeroday

Sounds like your HOA is the real problem. There's reasonable enforcement and there's going overboard. Assuming your car was only barely over the grass that is.

Bdog

That sucks you live somewhere where on your own property a tire can't accidentally be off the driveway touching the grass!

Doom878

The problem with the grass rule is that people here abuse everything. If you don't have that rule, every freaking moron parks on their grass. These are small townhouses so I can see fights over lot lines plus it does look really bad. I respect the rule.

The HOA had to help me to get it out. The tow truck is the douche for not letting me take it out and jacking up the fee by $30.

AdamNJ

Couldn't they just come and knock on your friggen door to ask someone to move it. Sounds like you have some asshole neighbors. If you are doing it all the time or something that is one thing, but this just seems extreme.

Doom878

To play devil's advocate, if I hear a door knock at 4am, I might grab a weapon or something. But Miami towing companies, especially with high gas prices and those heavy ass trucks, are going to tow if a blade of grass touches a tire. It's BS but that's how it is out here.

Actually the neighbors usually aren't the ones to complain. The management company hires an agent that drives through the neighborhood to find violations in the middle of the night. He goes with a tow truck behind him ready to attack. The worst part is that since the association board members aren't available to sign in the middle of the night, this guy acts as an agent and has signing authority. By law, in this particular scenario, either myself, the agent, or a board member has to sign to allow the towing company to take my car off my property. Since I'm the violator and the board members are sleeping, this guy signs off on it.

kosstick

Go tow his tow truck at night and hold it till he shows proper forms

Infamous425

your HOA sucks. my HOA will give 2-3 written warnings before towing.

MWalsh9152

just out of curiosity, are you listed on the registration, or any of the paperwork for the vehicle other than your initial dealership paperwork?

Doom878

I will look at the registration when I get home. We get a little credit card sized paper that I leave in the glove box. The insurance card shows my name though.

MWalsh9152

provided that there is nothing stating that you are the registered "owner" of the vehicle I would almost agree with their demand of paperwork from VW ....if someone came into your work to pick up something valued at lets say $20,000 yet had no proof that they were actually the intended recipient of the piece, would you be hesitant to just hand it over and risk being on the hook for the value of that object? They have to cover their own ass....you wouldnt belive the shit that comes up as accusations against tow companies sometimes.

Doom878

What about my insurance card? And why originals? I can understand faxed copies. Or they could actually make a phone call to VW.

MWalsh9152

I'm not familiar with insurance cards as we dont have them in Mass but for the origionals...if they are from VW and notarized there is a better chance of them being legit, anyone theoreticially could forge a document and fax it over.

As for calling VW, its not their job to proove that you are the actuall person who the car belongs to.

Depending on the size of the company there may not even be anyone in an office when you call, small companies often are run via a cell phone on the road. Who was the company by the way?

agranado

Help me Howard?

Tennisjon2002

The HOA at my old town home community had the same rule, except you also couldn't park sideways in the drive as OP did and you couldn't park backwards. And you got no warnings, no knock on the door no anything, no matter what time of day it was. My roommates brother got towed out of the drive way when he was visiting, because part of his tire was off the drive way

Doom878

This is a good sized company. They have a huge yard and garage. They have an office with a dispatcher open 24 hours. The company is called Whitts Towing fka Ace Recovery.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

I never heard of a tow company doing that. I've had cars towed in Miami before. Paid the fee & off I went.

Doom878

Here's the link for Channel 7.

http://www1.wsvn.com/features/articl...oward/MI47101/

You'll see how they say that it's not a common practice anymore.

taitando

You might want to peek at your HOA contract as well, just to see if they're responsible for issuing warning citations before actually towing. There was a thread some time ago about a guy getting his car booted, but when he checked his contract, he found out the enforcement company was in the wrong because they were supposed to issue warning citations for first time offense.

With that said, HOA's suck and I would never live in one.

Will Y.

Following up on that- there were also a few tow companies that were breaching their contracts with HOAs here in SoCal because the HOAs required notice, more than a minimum time parked before towing, etc.

The tow companies got the worst of it once that came to the notice of the HOAs and management companies, and the HOAs had to make nice to the victims of the towing bandits.

Doom878

Yeah I'll check it out. In the rules they send us the, there's no mention of warning. I have to check the by-laws but I have a feeling you have to pay to get a copy. Almost everywhere in the area where I live has associations. Some even have two.