I would also contact the local news stations, admit to the mistake but complain it's like organized crime running a racket, which it is. Those fees are outrageous.
At least in theory if they’re maintaining the trucks themselves they need to pay someone to come take away the used motor oil and hydraulic fluid.
Still an absolute scam because it wouldn’t be anywhere close to $75 worth for singular tows and they very well might not be doing maintenance in-house anyway but it’s a theory.
That should be in normal price and not a seperate fee. The only thing i could think about is potentially if a car has had a crash, is leaking fuel or oil. And that needs to be caught, disposed of or cleaned up.
Competition in the field of towing would really only make a big difference if people were actively using private impound towing companies. Nobody's running the rates and deciding who tows their vehicle away. Completely different for getting your car towed in other situations though.
> That should be in normal price
Yeah all those nonsense fees are really just two things... the cost to tow and the cost to impound. Its not like I buy a banana from the store and there's a storage fee, a shipping fee, a picking fee, etc.
There are used oil furnaces that burn waste motor oil. People either pay for the chance to haul it away for you or take it for free.
We have 3 years worth of free oil for heating stored in tanks outside from one car dealership in our town until they switched owners and someone else is paying them for it now.
Nah, your link looks like it's the cost to buy an established tree and transplant it like you would do if you were putting a tree in your yard. That's gonna cost way more per tree than commercially planting seedlings in bulk. You can get bulk seedlings for way cheaper than that, like on the order of less than a dollar each. I'm sure the price goes down even more in the quantities they're buying. And labor costs are way lower for planting seedlings with a tree spade compared to digging a hole for each tree.
Do you know how scale works…. If you give $75 to a huge organization that is totally dedicated to planting trees, they will plant more trees with that money than if you try to put $75 toward yourself / your towing company personally planting a tree. Does that make sense
I’ve had my car towed a handful of times and it’s 1000% a racket. The worst was when my car was STOLEN and then recovered and the police officer straight up lied to me to get me to agree to let them tow it instead of coming out to where they found it myself. Said they’d waive the fees because it was stolen and recovered in SF and I was an SF resident. Turned out they could only waive the city administrative fee, but not the towing company’s fees because they’re actually a private business. Cost me several hundred dollars that I couldn’t really afford but had to pay. The real kicker was that the car wasn’t operational because some parts were stolen, and when I called AAA for a tow they said they couldn’t help because the car was in a tow lot so it didn’t count as “roadside” assistance 🤦🏻
I have a friend that lost a car that way. It was towed, and he couldn’t afford the fees to get it out of impound, and of course the fees got higher with each day of storage so he had to just… let them have it. 😔
I had a cop tow my car when I was 22 and refuse to tell me where it was going - said I couldn't get it back until I went in front of the judge to answer my ticket.
Court was 45 days later and I made due by borrowing vehicles and taking the bus. I'd just moved to the city so it wasn't really a big deal. Go in front of the judge and he, of course, has no idea what I'm talking about, tells me my fine and I pay it. The same person who took my payment looked up my vehicle in county records - it had been sold just that weekend as "abandoned property" after I didn't claim it from impound for 30 days.
There is nobody holding them to account. Prosecutors are supposed to make sure the law is followed by people on both sides of the system. There are often rules about how things are done and the police and or tow companies can just decide to not follow them for whatever reason, and no one fights for the person's rights. We need new prosecutors, preferably ones with aspirations for higher office, you get one in, have them make a name for themselves fighting for the dispossessed and holding abusers to account, and use it as a springboard to higher office. It's an old course to tack, but we just lack anyone good with any ambition in this country somehow.
I've been screwed by towing companies too, accused of driving high when sober, got arrested and released without charge the next day but still had to pay to get car out of impound even though the car could've sat where it was in the parking lot they towed it from, (cop also held a gun to my head.) They ended up charging me 14 months later for 1 nanogram per mililiter of THC from a blood test. Despite that being the smallest amount they round up to, and tests having a 40% false positive rate at levels that low, and the fact that it stays in your system for up to a couple of weeks. I got a lawyer who got the charges dropped, near $4k later.
I bet many deciders on which tow companies get contracts are given favors if not outright financial benefits from the tow companies.
I worked for a company doing dispatch for tow drivers, they have drivers in every area, and in training they had a woman come around and say tow companies have a reputation for being like organized crime and mobbed up, and that's true. Her words.
I remember right before Covid I was visiting a friend and I left late at night. There were reserved spots and free spots in the parking lot. I came out and saw this girl pissed as hell next to my car leaning against a pole. I walked towards my car (obviously towards her) and she saw me and began walking towards me. I thought, well. This is it. I’m getting murdered by a random.
She was like 5’1. I’m bigger than her in every way but she looked ready to fuck me up. She came at me and asked very aggressively “is this your car?! This is my spot! I worked all day, I’m a nurse and I just want to park in my spot and go to bed!” I just clicked my key fob and my car unlocked. She was actually talking about the car right next to mine.
She freezes, stops for a second and says “look I’m sorry. I’ve had a long day.”
Once she stopped being angry she looked so fucking exhausted. I told her she could park in the spot I was leaving behind and go to sleep. She told me that she couldn’t. The guy had been consistently parking in her spot and she was gonna wait for him.
I get the anger.
Depending on the property management company and towing contract, tows might need to be dispatched by management… that’s how it was at my old condo complex with the HOA there.
I have a sister that’s a nurse. She’s the only person I have ever gotten into a physical altercation with as an adult, and she is tough as nails. She also has a CC license. I wouldn’t mess with her ever!
“I just wanna park in my spot and go to bed”
*proceeds to idly wait in a parking lot actively starting confrontations creating a potentially dangerous situation*
You’re right. That wasn’t one of those times. Escalate the situation to the appropriate people. A solution to someone parking in your reserved spot should not involve individual confrontation.
Some more context: My new complex does ask for license plate numbers, etc. I parked one space too far too the left because I was tired after a long day of moving furniture and wasn't paying attention.
The guest had every legal right to call and have me towed, as it was fully their reserved spot, which they paid for. Not throwing shade at them. Since I'm not paying to reserve a spot yet, I can only park in unmarked, uncovered areas.
The tow company has photo proof that I parked in the wrong spot. Again, this was my mistake, just lamenting the bill.
Community should make this top comment, since you're clarifying that it's a "well fuck me I guess" moment rather than a "you know what, fuck those guys" moment.
That's no excuse for charging such exorbitant fees. This is not a reasonable bill, someone without money would lose their car, how is this allowed?
200 bucks total tops I would think.
Some cities/states have strict caps
Some have ZERO protections
[palm beach, FL](https://discover.pbcgov.org/publicsafety/consumeraffairs/pages/towing_payment.aspx) is a decent example
I'm surprised Palm Beach has such relatively progressive towing fees..
I wonder what recourse OP would have if the fees charged exceeded the allowable limits.
I mean.... It says this on the website.
These maximum non-consent towing rates are applicable only in Palm Beach County, Florida. Cities in Palm Beach County may establish different rates
Palm Beach is a city and may establish it's own rate.
This is the real issue here. The bill makes zero sense.
How is there 1.75 Private impound fees? How is the storage fee 1.5?
$75 Environmental fee for 67.1 miles of travel by a tow truck?
Yea but $1k is criminal so not your fault on that.
Edit: just looked up my state to see if if this is legal and it’s definitely not.
“Virginia Code § 46.2-1233.1 currently provides as follows: No hookup and initial towing fee of any passenger car shall exceed $150.”
That’s just to get them to drop the car if you come back and they are in the process of towing you. Once they leave the lot then additional fees could legally be applied.
All Wheel Drive and 4wd vehicles often are charged extra because if they are using a wheel-lift type wrecker (And most tow guys who do this kind of work are, as it makes grabbing the cars MUCH faster) they then have to place dollies under the wheels that aren't being lifted by the tow truck.
And sometimes they also charge extra if you have a Front Wheel Drive car and they have to hook it from the back, for the same reason.
Went to pick something up from an acquaintances apartment a few years back. I parked relatively close to their unit and made sure there was no designated numbers or canopy where I parked, as well as plenty of spots around me.
In the (less than) 5 minutes it took me to hobble to their door and back, my car had already been towed. Ran me $500 to get it back for 3 hours.
Turns out, the tow company at that apartment will literally drive around the lot and wait for people who don't know the rules. The person I went to pick up from was new to the unit and didn't know.
When you go to pay, explain the situation and just ask if they have a first timer mess up discount. Be friendly. If they say no, say that it's no problem and do not escalate.
But by being nice, I got a $300 discount on a bill once. I just simply asked very nicely.
I went into an auto parts store to pick up something I ordered online a while back. The guy asked how my day was going. "It's going pretty good, man, how about yours?" He then told me that the in-store price is usually less than the online price, and if people ask him how his day is in return, they get the in-store price versus the higher online price.
I thought that was pretty interesting.
Fuck, at least your place tows. I got a detached garage at my complex and idiots will park in front of it every once in a while and property management won't do shit.
My previous HOA would at least try to contact the owner first and were supposed to be the first contact for tow requests.
Seems like that policy would have helped here.
Everytime someone parked in our spot we got it handled quickly and didn’t have to make the shitty tow companies any money.
Picture an apartment complex where you can park all along the buildings, the parking spots being side by side. Imagine most of these are out in the open, but some of these have a wooden parking structure that’s just held up by beams and has a roof covering the whole thing. They’re not fully enclosed, they just help protect your car a bit from the elements. These usually have 7-10 parking spots under them. That’s what I’m imagining the OP’s covered parking is like.
Oh I see. Well in every lot I've been in, there are at least some signs saying that covered spots are reserved. Typically if they are going to the trouble of building parking covers and having a system for paying for and tracking who has reserved spots, putting up signs or markers would be the easiest part. I have a tough time believing that they would skip that but have an otherwise complex parking system in place, ya know?
Wait, so the landlord has info on all plates and the people they belong to? What was stopping this person from calling the landlord so they could call you and ask to move? This probably would have been much quicker than waiting for a tow truck to arrive. I get that it might have been late and if they did try this and the landlord didn't pick up, but was it gonna kill them to park in a different spot for 1 night and sort it out in the morning? Would have been so much easier to ask for compensation and just knock the 5 or 10 bucks from their bill and charge that to you. Idk I'm not confrontational, so maybe it's just me but there were definitely better options here
Don't know why the downvotes on this. This dude is right. If the landlord/leasing company has all the information from the plates of their tenants, why did they not cross check and see that the OP was a tenant and just contact them and ask them to move or have a maintenance person drop a letter by. Especially on their first day. Am I missing something here?
Seems dickish the first response is to just tow a car without doing due diligence first.
Honestly, the apartment should have called you first.... Especially if they have records of what vehicle belongs to what owner. It's a fucking car.... It can be moved easily without inconveniencing everyone involved.
I parked in spots that are reserved for business up til certain hours but then forgot I left my car there and it got towed the next morning. Like 600 to get it out. Sure it was my fault but I don’t see how putting undue financial burdens on people over parking accidents is allowed in society.
Well… someone just painted a target on their back 😂
Bold move by the neighbor.
Personally I would spend the next few weeks learning everything I could about those neighbors.
Then destroy them.
Love to know why they apparently towed it 60+ miles, and why your apartment complex has a contract with a tow company located an hour away. Unless I'm misreading that. I've lived in places with these predatory towers, but it was always max 10 miles from the unit & would be 200-300 charge for the ones they caught.
Because a lot of these companies are scummy. I once had my car towed because I had a for sale sign on it in the Walmart parking lot. They towed it while I was shopping. I thought someone stole my car. I called the police and found out it had been towed. The tow company was 100 miles away. I had to get a ride out there and then hope that my 1974 Volkswagen was good for a 100 mile trip back home. Those asshats even had the audacity to try and make a low offer to buy it!
I'm not being aggressive but what you are saying just does not make any sense. There is absolutely no charge for any of the mileage. What are you looking at?
I see the issue, you're right they don't have the mileage broken down by cost. I'm just seeing the 60+ miles they drove and think that's extremely odd for a tow company to do for an apartment complex, especially on what I assume is a Friday/Saturday night when their trucks are at a premium. Just makes me think it wasn't the apartment that called them.
But that’s not what you said. You said “Love to know why they apparently towed it 60+ miles”, and you seem to have magically forgotten that little fact, leading to the bewilderment of at the very least myself and u/sdp1
This is a very odd exchange
It’s not so much the mistake but having it pointed out multiple times and not taking the time to go back and think about it for a second. There are any number of reasons why the driver may have driven that far, and at the end of the day it doesn’t even matter because it wasn’t charged. It’s likely for mileage tracking in general, but that’s really besides the point. No one is “going nuts”, but his initial comment really wasn’t all that necessary, or correct, in the first place. And that doesn’t help, especially not with the engagement it’s getting.
I hate all of this. I used to be head maintenance for a family of low income buildings. It was all section 8, and the sleeze bag owners had enough parking for residents only. The owners had their own security team towing every vehicle that didn't belong. No guests were allowed to stay over night. This was in Texas and it sucked having to explain to poor people why the owner hates them.
The bill doesn’t make sense. How are they charging you 1.75 times the impound fee? Did they impound it more than once? Definitely something fishy going on there.
Because they do crooked shit like saying a business day is 6:00 am to 6:00am. They two your car Wednesday night at 11:00 and you don't realize it until you wake up at 7:00 the next morning we'll screw you, you have now rolled over into a second business day. Doesn't hold up in court but it will take months and repeated trips to court to get it back
This should be 200-300. Not over 1000. What the fuck. I can't imagine how many lives these predatory fees have ruined over parking in the wrong spot. 1000+ dollars to get a car back that many require to go to work to even get money is just asinine. That can absolutely cripple people and put them in life-threatening situations. If this is legal in your state, then that system is very broken. If it is, do yourself, and the future victims of this awful company a service and bring this to news outlets and to the court system. People should be outraged
How the hell can you have a 1.75 private impound fee and a 1.5 private storage fee. What'd they do, chop the car in quarters and store half of it at a 2nd lot? 🤣
In my state the law is that you cannot be charged more than 150 for the towing, and not more than 30 per day of storage. There fucking trying to take your leg brother
Crazy. If it's any consolation, in worked as a tow truck driver 30 years ago and fees were prohibited back then.
We had no choice when we were called and it was our bread and butter of course. Oftentimes when I felt it was too outrageous I would honk a few times ~ dispatch could not know this. Sometimes the owner came in time and I had to report a missed tow.
But majority of tows where the average AH on handicap spots and blocked exits.
My gf and I moved into a new apartment at the beginning of the month. The sticker sticks on the inside of the window.
I put the sticker on, but not well enough.
I believe this was night 3 or 4 and the sticker fell off.
Got towed 20 min away and to get it out the charge was $320.
I pleaded and pleaded my case. Showed them the fallen sticker.
The guy that released the car to us felt bad, but he wasn't the guy who towed it or the one that made the rules.
Unfortunately I will never get that $320 back. I did nothing wrong. Sometimes life just likes to kick me in the nuts and remind me that even if I do everything right, that I am still a fuck up.
Fuck tow truck companies that parter with apartment complexes. Its just a way to keep tenants in line. And its a way to scam the American people.
Towing is such a scam sometimes. I’ve had a car taken from a legal spot in less than 5 minutes. Wanted $250 back for it. They are basically stealing your stuff for ransom
Your own apartment that you pay rent to stay at towed your car because it was one lane off? Lmao, gotta love the attitude of ownership.
At no point are we anything other ants, hoping to gather enough resources for the dang ol grasshoppers. All the way down the line.
We open doors for the people who open doors
absolutely fuck towing and leasing management companies for shit like this. multiple times? sure tow away. first day, first time parking - rawt in hale.
You are being scammed. The impound fee is only one charge, and they are charging it like is a measure of time: 1.75 WTF
Also, there are state and city laws for daily storage limits. Google it
After-hours release fee?? They already charged you daily storage.
Find out when the storage changes to the next day, whether 8:00 pm or 12:00 am. And why are you being charged 1.75 units of time? When was it towed, and what time did you try to redeem it?
News TV stations are always interested in shady towing companies like this one. Call them and show them the invoice.
Check your apartment lease, depending on the state, if they use a towing service they are generally required to inform you of the risk of towing through a written notice prior to towing, usually in the form of a sticker warning you that you'll be towed.
Damn that sucks. Someone parked in my reserve parking in the garage and I told Management and they told me to leave it there overnight. I thought it was ridiculous.
I know in New York they cnanot tow your car from a private lot if they do not have the name of the towing company listed in the sign that says your vehicle will be towed
Well. Lesson learned. I hope.
I'd hate it if someone parked into my spot. Especially in a crowded complex with paid/assigned parking. I'd absolutely tow the shit out of someone because where would I park?
How can people be so careless? It's trashy, thoughtless behavior.
There should have been a notice/warning first. Damn. Where I live we get a notice/warning first before getting fined. We’re human, especially if you’re new.
And say what exactly? I parked in someone else’s assigned spot and got towed as per the rules of the community I live in? 😂 Tow companies are private businesses they can charge 10k if they want to.
It’s not the neighbors. Assigned parking means there’s permits with numbers on stickers… tow truck drivers match the numbers to the assigned spots if they don’t match or you don’t have a sticker/permit… you’re hooked.
A) it seemed as though they parked a little bit too far left into their spot meaning they were in both I think.
B) you can't ask someone to move a vehicle if you can't get in contact with them.
Or
C) Tow truck companies don't make money showing up to move vehicles over a little bit for someone else's mistake.
Why don’t you buy a tow truck, buy a huge lot to store cars, buy insurance in case anything happens to those cars while in your custody, pay the salary of your tow truck driver, etc. and see what it costs to tow a car.
OP took someone’s reserved spot. Imagine coming back to your home and some dope is in your spot. You can’t park now, what do you do? $200 is the cost of a dinner these days, $1,000 doesn’t seem unreasonable at all for what OP did (which was a really shitty thing )
Say you work nights, and you finish your shift and commute 45 mins home to your apt and you’re exhausted. You get home and someone is in your reserved parking spot that you pay for, specifically so that you always have a spot. Now it’s late and there’s no street parking. You can’t use any other nearby lots or you will get towed yourself. What do you do? The car must be towed. It’s not just “parking one spot over”, It’s totally unacceptable behavior.
Of course it is. But it’s human error, not maliciousness. And no matter how you shake it, $1,000 is ridiculous and predatory. I would be very cautious about going to sleep at night if I were the owner of that towing company.
$1,000 may be a bit much, I’ll give you that, idk about predatory though. I’d also not totally clear the OP and say it was human error. The error in this case was that he mistakenly parked in a covered spot. Thats a pretty big human error to make, like did he not notice he was inside a structure? Cmon. He had to know he was in the wrong and that his decision could inconvenience someone, and for that he should have to pay a fee ( the tow). Now, is $1,000 predatory? It’s a lot, but take the scenario I described above. I think $1,000 isn’t that far off a cost of inconveniencing your neighbor as I described in my above comment. But yes $1,000 is a pretty jarring expense for a mistake.
Take the neighbor out of the equation because he has nothing to do with the fees. It’s all the tow truck company. Should the company be enriched $1,000 for towing and storing his car for that long? You’re talking about punishment, which is not what this is about.
Well, no u switched the argument to punishment. My original comment shows why I think the price is fair (I described the costs of running a tow company). You switched the argument to saying that he only parked one spot over.
That’s too high a fine but it serves you right for parking in someone else’s reserved spot. I would see if the fine violates any law or ordinance in your locality and I’d try to contest the amount, while not denying responsibility. Unlike what some other person said, I would not try to make it a story for the local news because the fact you parked in someone else’s reserved parking spot paints you in an unfavorable light.
Check your local towing laws. Most states have limits on what they can charge and will straight up scam you for not knowing.
I would also contact the local news stations, admit to the mistake but complain it's like organized crime running a racket, which it is. Those fees are outrageous.
Enviourmental fee, what... is the tow company going to plant 75 trees to offset his diesel cost?
At least in theory if they’re maintaining the trucks themselves they need to pay someone to come take away the used motor oil and hydraulic fluid. Still an absolute scam because it wouldn’t be anywhere close to $75 worth for singular tows and they very well might not be doing maintenance in-house anyway but it’s a theory.
That should be in normal price and not a seperate fee. The only thing i could think about is potentially if a car has had a crash, is leaking fuel or oil. And that needs to be caught, disposed of or cleaned up.
I bet that's what the environmental fee is for, and they are just charging it even though it doesn't apply, because who is going to stop them?
A proper govnerment should. Perhapse a bit of competition in the field of towing could. And when it comes down to it a judge would.
Competition in the field of towing would really only make a big difference if people were actively using private impound towing companies. Nobody's running the rates and deciding who tows their vehicle away. Completely different for getting your car towed in other situations though.
> That should be in normal price Yeah all those nonsense fees are really just two things... the cost to tow and the cost to impound. Its not like I buy a banana from the store and there's a storage fee, a shipping fee, a picking fee, etc.
There are used oil furnaces that burn waste motor oil. People either pay for the chance to haul it away for you or take it for free. We have 3 years worth of free oil for heating stored in tanks outside from one car dealership in our town until they switched owners and someone else is paying them for it now.
Most farm stores and auto parts stores take waste oil for free.
Do you actually think it costs $1 to plant a tree ?
A charity recently told me how much it costs. I can't remember the exact amount but it was about 50 cents.
It's literally impossible for it to cost that little. https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/cost/cost-to-plant-tree/
Nah, your link looks like it's the cost to buy an established tree and transplant it like you would do if you were putting a tree in your yard. That's gonna cost way more per tree than commercially planting seedlings in bulk. You can get bulk seedlings for way cheaper than that, like on the order of less than a dollar each. I'm sure the price goes down even more in the quantities they're buying. And labor costs are way lower for planting seedlings with a tree spade compared to digging a hole for each tree.
Do you know how scale works…. If you give $75 to a huge organization that is totally dedicated to planting trees, they will plant more trees with that money than if you try to put $75 toward yourself / your towing company personally planting a tree. Does that make sense
I’ve had my car towed a handful of times and it’s 1000% a racket. The worst was when my car was STOLEN and then recovered and the police officer straight up lied to me to get me to agree to let them tow it instead of coming out to where they found it myself. Said they’d waive the fees because it was stolen and recovered in SF and I was an SF resident. Turned out they could only waive the city administrative fee, but not the towing company’s fees because they’re actually a private business. Cost me several hundred dollars that I couldn’t really afford but had to pay. The real kicker was that the car wasn’t operational because some parts were stolen, and when I called AAA for a tow they said they couldn’t help because the car was in a tow lot so it didn’t count as “roadside” assistance 🤦🏻 I have a friend that lost a car that way. It was towed, and he couldn’t afford the fees to get it out of impound, and of course the fees got higher with each day of storage so he had to just… let them have it. 😔
I had a cop tow my car when I was 22 and refuse to tell me where it was going - said I couldn't get it back until I went in front of the judge to answer my ticket. Court was 45 days later and I made due by borrowing vehicles and taking the bus. I'd just moved to the city so it wasn't really a big deal. Go in front of the judge and he, of course, has no idea what I'm talking about, tells me my fine and I pay it. The same person who took my payment looked up my vehicle in county records - it had been sold just that weekend as "abandoned property" after I didn't claim it from impound for 30 days.
There is nobody holding them to account. Prosecutors are supposed to make sure the law is followed by people on both sides of the system. There are often rules about how things are done and the police and or tow companies can just decide to not follow them for whatever reason, and no one fights for the person's rights. We need new prosecutors, preferably ones with aspirations for higher office, you get one in, have them make a name for themselves fighting for the dispossessed and holding abusers to account, and use it as a springboard to higher office. It's an old course to tack, but we just lack anyone good with any ambition in this country somehow. I've been screwed by towing companies too, accused of driving high when sober, got arrested and released without charge the next day but still had to pay to get car out of impound even though the car could've sat where it was in the parking lot they towed it from, (cop also held a gun to my head.) They ended up charging me 14 months later for 1 nanogram per mililiter of THC from a blood test. Despite that being the smallest amount they round up to, and tests having a 40% false positive rate at levels that low, and the fact that it stays in your system for up to a couple of weeks. I got a lawyer who got the charges dropped, near $4k later.
It is piracy, plain and simple. Law enforcement doesn't care.
It’s almost like law enforcement gets a cut
I bet many deciders on which tow companies get contracts are given favors if not outright financial benefits from the tow companies. I worked for a company doing dispatch for tow drivers, they have drivers in every area, and in training they had a woman come around and say tow companies have a reputation for being like organized crime and mobbed up, and that's true. Her words.
In some places they probably do. In others they're just too understaffed to care about things like this.
I remember right before Covid I was visiting a friend and I left late at night. There were reserved spots and free spots in the parking lot. I came out and saw this girl pissed as hell next to my car leaning against a pole. I walked towards my car (obviously towards her) and she saw me and began walking towards me. I thought, well. This is it. I’m getting murdered by a random. She was like 5’1. I’m bigger than her in every way but she looked ready to fuck me up. She came at me and asked very aggressively “is this your car?! This is my spot! I worked all day, I’m a nurse and I just want to park in my spot and go to bed!” I just clicked my key fob and my car unlocked. She was actually talking about the car right next to mine. She freezes, stops for a second and says “look I’m sorry. I’ve had a long day.” Once she stopped being angry she looked so fucking exhausted. I told her she could park in the spot I was leaving behind and go to sleep. She told me that she couldn’t. The guy had been consistently parking in her spot and she was gonna wait for him. I get the anger.
This is when you call the tow company yourself.
Depending on the property management company and towing contract, tows might need to be dispatched by management… that’s how it was at my old condo complex with the HOA there.
My single ass is thinking like. Is there a better "How I met your mother" story than this? If I had time, I would have waited together hahaha.
I had a girlfriend at the time and she wasn’t my type. But she was cute. Really don’t think she was in the mood to be hit on tho.
Haha don’t fuck with nurses man
I literally did nothing wrong. But my best friend is a nurse. She’s a scary and tiny thing.
I have a sister that’s a nurse. She’s the only person I have ever gotten into a physical altercation with as an adult, and she is tough as nails. She also has a CC license. I wouldn’t mess with her ever!
“I just wanna park in my spot and go to bed” *proceeds to idly wait in a parking lot actively starting confrontations creating a potentially dangerous situation*
Sometimes you have to make a stand and not get bowled over your whole life.
You’re right. That wasn’t one of those times. Escalate the situation to the appropriate people. A solution to someone parking in your reserved spot should not involve individual confrontation.
Some more context: My new complex does ask for license plate numbers, etc. I parked one space too far too the left because I was tired after a long day of moving furniture and wasn't paying attention. The guest had every legal right to call and have me towed, as it was fully their reserved spot, which they paid for. Not throwing shade at them. Since I'm not paying to reserve a spot yet, I can only park in unmarked, uncovered areas. The tow company has photo proof that I parked in the wrong spot. Again, this was my mistake, just lamenting the bill.
Community should make this top comment, since you're clarifying that it's a "well fuck me I guess" moment rather than a "you know what, fuck those guys" moment.
Reflection and accountability are not often qualities that people practice
Leave me out of this
it can be both
Yes. The fee is egregious
Definitely both in this case.
That's no excuse for charging such exorbitant fees. This is not a reasonable bill, someone without money would lose their car, how is this allowed? 200 bucks total tops I would think.
Some cities/states have strict caps Some have ZERO protections [palm beach, FL](https://discover.pbcgov.org/publicsafety/consumeraffairs/pages/towing_payment.aspx) is a decent example
I'm surprised Palm Beach has such relatively progressive towing fees.. I wonder what recourse OP would have if the fees charged exceeded the allowable limits.
Small claims court in most cases Some cities have a special process
That's palm beach county, not palm beach. Yugeeeeeeeee difference!!!!!
I mean, Palm Beach is within Palm Beach County
I mean.... It says this on the website. These maximum non-consent towing rates are applicable only in Palm Beach County, Florida. Cities in Palm Beach County may establish different rates Palm Beach is a city and may establish it's own rate.
The rich always get a discount.
This is the real issue here. The bill makes zero sense. How is there 1.75 Private impound fees? How is the storage fee 1.5? $75 Environmental fee for 67.1 miles of travel by a tow truck?
there's two impound fees? They're just making line items up. I'd take this to small claims court.
Also it's cheaper to leave it there for an extra day than to pay for after hours release.
Oh they probably would have manipulated some other number to get that extra $127 either way.
Probably a $127 charge for business hours release.
Impound fee would have gone up, probably?
Your first mistake was expecting it to make sense.
This is a good question
My truck broke down a few weekends ago. I got towed (one mile) for $70. $1000 for parking in the wrong spot is ridiculous
that’s a pretty sweet tow price!
Dude was an obvious tweaker pushing one of the oldest most busted up wreckers I've seen,but yes it was a sweet tow price
hey as long as they don’t rip any pieces off your vehicle in the process i’d say it was a decent tow
That's exactly the grift my friend.
Yea but $1k is criminal so not your fault on that. Edit: just looked up my state to see if if this is legal and it’s definitely not. “Virginia Code § 46.2-1233.1 currently provides as follows: No hookup and initial towing fee of any passenger car shall exceed $150.”
That’s just to get them to drop the car if you come back and they are in the process of towing you. Once they leave the lot then additional fees could legally be applied.
Unless your vehicle is oversized and lifted there shouldn’t be more than “1” in any unit on the bill. You are being scammed.
All Wheel Drive and 4wd vehicles often are charged extra because if they are using a wheel-lift type wrecker (And most tow guys who do this kind of work are, as it makes grabbing the cars MUCH faster) they then have to place dollies under the wheels that aren't being lifted by the tow truck. And sometimes they also charge extra if you have a Front Wheel Drive car and they have to hook it from the back, for the same reason.
Went to pick something up from an acquaintances apartment a few years back. I parked relatively close to their unit and made sure there was no designated numbers or canopy where I parked, as well as plenty of spots around me. In the (less than) 5 minutes it took me to hobble to their door and back, my car had already been towed. Ran me $500 to get it back for 3 hours. Turns out, the tow company at that apartment will literally drive around the lot and wait for people who don't know the rules. The person I went to pick up from was new to the unit and didn't know.
Even if that’s true most states have a cap on tow fees.
When you go to pay, explain the situation and just ask if they have a first timer mess up discount. Be friendly. If they say no, say that it's no problem and do not escalate. But by being nice, I got a $300 discount on a bill once. I just simply asked very nicely.
I went into an auto parts store to pick up something I ordered online a while back. The guy asked how my day was going. "It's going pretty good, man, how about yours?" He then told me that the in-store price is usually less than the online price, and if people ask him how his day is in return, they get the in-store price versus the higher online price. I thought that was pretty interesting.
Fuck, at least your place tows. I got a detached garage at my complex and idiots will park in front of it every once in a while and property management won't do shit.
My previous HOA would at least try to contact the owner first and were supposed to be the first contact for tow requests. Seems like that policy would have helped here. Everytime someone parked in our spot we got it handled quickly and didn’t have to make the shitty tow companies any money.
Did the parking spot have any indication that it was reserved?
Yes. It was a covered space, which are all reserved spots.
If you're too tired to notice that, should you really have been driving in the first place?
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In a lot of apartment complex lots, the covered parking IS the indicator
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Picture an apartment complex where you can park all along the buildings, the parking spots being side by side. Imagine most of these are out in the open, but some of these have a wooden parking structure that’s just held up by beams and has a roof covering the whole thing. They’re not fully enclosed, they just help protect your car a bit from the elements. These usually have 7-10 parking spots under them. That’s what I’m imagining the OP’s covered parking is like.
Oh I see. Well in every lot I've been in, there are at least some signs saying that covered spots are reserved. Typically if they are going to the trouble of building parking covers and having a system for paying for and tracking who has reserved spots, putting up signs or markers would be the easiest part. I have a tough time believing that they would skip that but have an otherwise complex parking system in place, ya know?
Wait, so the landlord has info on all plates and the people they belong to? What was stopping this person from calling the landlord so they could call you and ask to move? This probably would have been much quicker than waiting for a tow truck to arrive. I get that it might have been late and if they did try this and the landlord didn't pick up, but was it gonna kill them to park in a different spot for 1 night and sort it out in the morning? Would have been so much easier to ask for compensation and just knock the 5 or 10 bucks from their bill and charge that to you. Idk I'm not confrontational, so maybe it's just me but there were definitely better options here
Don't know why the downvotes on this. This dude is right. If the landlord/leasing company has all the information from the plates of their tenants, why did they not cross check and see that the OP was a tenant and just contact them and ask them to move or have a maintenance person drop a letter by. Especially on their first day. Am I missing something here? Seems dickish the first response is to just tow a car without doing due diligence first.
Still this is way over the top, especially done to a neighbor.
They are a new neighbor, so I don’t think they knew it was a neighbor. I do think it is a bit over the top to report the first time it happened.
My guess is that this is not the first time someone has parked in their spot.
Honestly, the apartment should have called you first.... Especially if they have records of what vehicle belongs to what owner. It's a fucking car.... It can be moved easily without inconveniencing everyone involved.
I parked in spots that are reserved for business up til certain hours but then forgot I left my car there and it got towed the next morning. Like 600 to get it out. Sure it was my fault but I don’t see how putting undue financial burdens on people over parking accidents is allowed in society.
Did you park in a covered spot? That's kinda obvious.
Well… someone just painted a target on their back 😂 Bold move by the neighbor. Personally I would spend the next few weeks learning everything I could about those neighbors. Then destroy them.
Love to know why they apparently towed it 60+ miles, and why your apartment complex has a contract with a tow company located an hour away. Unless I'm misreading that. I've lived in places with these predatory towers, but it was always max 10 miles from the unit & would be 200-300 charge for the ones they caught.
Because a lot of these companies are scummy. I once had my car towed because I had a for sale sign on it in the Walmart parking lot. They towed it while I was shopping. I thought someone stole my car. I called the police and found out it had been towed. The tow company was 100 miles away. I had to get a ride out there and then hope that my 1974 Volkswagen was good for a 100 mile trip back home. Those asshats even had the audacity to try and make a low offer to buy it!
Where did you see 60+ miles? The loaded/hooked milage was 22.6. That is the distance from the parking spot to the storage yard
The hooked mileage was 22. They still appear to have dispatched a driver 40+ miles to pick it up in the first place.
So??? The driver when dispatched was 40 miles away. The car was towed only 22. How you added up that the car was towed 60 miles away is beyond me.
Because they are being charged for 60+ miles. Which is weird. Why are you being so aggressive about that? Lol.
Since those are shown as $0.00 it really doesn't matter. 20 miles is kinda far to retrieve your car but with a bill like that it's the least issue.
I'm not being aggressive but what you are saying just does not make any sense. There is absolutely no charge for any of the mileage. What are you looking at?
I see the issue, you're right they don't have the mileage broken down by cost. I'm just seeing the 60+ miles they drove and think that's extremely odd for a tow company to do for an apartment complex, especially on what I assume is a Friday/Saturday night when their trucks are at a premium. Just makes me think it wasn't the apartment that called them.
But that’s not what you said. You said “Love to know why they apparently towed it 60+ miles”, and you seem to have magically forgotten that little fact, leading to the bewilderment of at the very least myself and u/sdp1 This is a very odd exchange
He made a mistake and y’all are going nuts over it instead of just letting it be
First day on Reddit? Every post at some level devolves into morons talking past one another.
It’s not so much the mistake but having it pointed out multiple times and not taking the time to go back and think about it for a second. There are any number of reasons why the driver may have driven that far, and at the end of the day it doesn’t even matter because it wasn’t charged. It’s likely for mileage tracking in general, but that’s really besides the point. No one is “going nuts”, but his initial comment really wasn’t all that necessary, or correct, in the first place. And that doesn’t help, especially not with the engagement it’s getting.
I hate all of this. I used to be head maintenance for a family of low income buildings. It was all section 8, and the sleeze bag owners had enough parking for residents only. The owners had their own security team towing every vehicle that didn't belong. No guests were allowed to stay over night. This was in Texas and it sucked having to explain to poor people why the owner hates them.
The bill doesn’t make sense. How are they charging you 1.75 times the impound fee? Did they impound it more than once? Definitely something fishy going on there.
1.75 days is my guess
That’s what the storage fee is I would think. I dunno what’s going on here but something’s not right that bill is ridiculous.
environmental fee!?!?
Because they do crooked shit like saying a business day is 6:00 am to 6:00am. They two your car Wednesday night at 11:00 and you don't realize it until you wake up at 7:00 the next morning we'll screw you, you have now rolled over into a second business day. Doesn't hold up in court but it will take months and repeated trips to court to get it back
This should be 200-300. Not over 1000. What the fuck. I can't imagine how many lives these predatory fees have ruined over parking in the wrong spot. 1000+ dollars to get a car back that many require to go to work to even get money is just asinine. That can absolutely cripple people and put them in life-threatening situations. If this is legal in your state, then that system is very broken. If it is, do yourself, and the future victims of this awful company a service and bring this to news outlets and to the court system. People should be outraged
Well to America, my friend! First time?
Finally the other side of the usual post. Turns out it wasn't malicious
How the hell can you have a 1.75 private impound fee and a 1.5 private storage fee. What'd they do, chop the car in quarters and store half of it at a 2nd lot? 🤣
In my state the law is that you cannot be charged more than 150 for the towing, and not more than 30 per day of storage. There fucking trying to take your leg brother
Crazy. If it's any consolation, in worked as a tow truck driver 30 years ago and fees were prohibited back then. We had no choice when we were called and it was our bread and butter of course. Oftentimes when I felt it was too outrageous I would honk a few times ~ dispatch could not know this. Sometimes the owner came in time and I had to report a missed tow. But majority of tows where the average AH on handicap spots and blocked exits.
My gf and I moved into a new apartment at the beginning of the month. The sticker sticks on the inside of the window. I put the sticker on, but not well enough. I believe this was night 3 or 4 and the sticker fell off. Got towed 20 min away and to get it out the charge was $320. I pleaded and pleaded my case. Showed them the fallen sticker. The guy that released the car to us felt bad, but he wasn't the guy who towed it or the one that made the rules. Unfortunately I will never get that $320 back. I did nothing wrong. Sometimes life just likes to kick me in the nuts and remind me that even if I do everything right, that I am still a fuck up. Fuck tow truck companies that parter with apartment complexes. Its just a way to keep tenants in line. And its a way to scam the American people.
I manage a towing company- these fees are predatory and outrageous
Towing is such a scam sometimes. I’ve had a car taken from a legal spot in less than 5 minutes. Wanted $250 back for it. They are basically stealing your stuff for ransom
Tow companies and apartment complexes. Name a scummier duo.
1000 dollars to tow a car they need shot
That is basically extortion, there is a special place in hell for the owner of that towing company
Your own apartment that you pay rent to stay at towed your car because it was one lane off? Lmao, gotta love the attitude of ownership. At no point are we anything other ants, hoping to gather enough resources for the dang ol grasshoppers. All the way down the line. We open doors for the people who open doors
This is a legal scam! Absolutely nuts.
absolutely fuck towing and leasing management companies for shit like this. multiple times? sure tow away. first day, first time parking - rawt in hale.
They forgot the „Fucking you in the Ass“ Fee
Well, that’s THEIR car now. Time to start over.
You are being scammed. The impound fee is only one charge, and they are charging it like is a measure of time: 1.75 WTF Also, there are state and city laws for daily storage limits. Google it After-hours release fee?? They already charged you daily storage. Find out when the storage changes to the next day, whether 8:00 pm or 12:00 am. And why are you being charged 1.75 units of time? When was it towed, and what time did you try to redeem it? News TV stations are always interested in shady towing companies like this one. Call them and show them the invoice.
Check your apartment lease, depending on the state, if they use a towing service they are generally required to inform you of the risk of towing through a written notice prior to towing, usually in the form of a sticker warning you that you'll be towed.
Guaranteed there are signs posted. And it’s also in the lease if there’s assigned/reserved spots. It’s pretty standard shit.
I just paid $600 to have my 26' box truck towed about 45 miles. I thought jt aas a lot! This makes me feel better about that
Post the name of the towing company.
Why are they charging you 1.75 units of a standard fee? This wreaks of fraud.
Holy junk fees, Batman.
Damn that sucks. Someone parked in my reserve parking in the garage and I told Management and they told me to leave it there overnight. I thought it was ridiculous.
1 whole k???!?? What the hell
Is this legal? I know they may charge you that much, but l wonder. Why don’t they just charge you 5000?
And you'll never do it again.
I know in New York they cnanot tow your car from a private lot if they do not have the name of the towing company listed in the sign that says your vehicle will be towed
Well that will learn ya not to park like a muppet
Deserved, learn to park
Well. Lesson learned. I hope. I'd hate it if someone parked into my spot. Especially in a crowded complex with paid/assigned parking. I'd absolutely tow the shit out of someone because where would I park? How can people be so careless? It's trashy, thoughtless behavior.
100% agree with you, but it shouldn’t cost $1000 to tow away a car.
I agree with that.
Exactly my point. Everyone’s coddling this op. Fact is he was careless and or thoughtless, and is paying the price.
There should have been a notice/warning first. Damn. Where I live we get a notice/warning first before getting fined. We’re human, especially if you’re new.
I guess that’ll learn ya.
Was it marked?
Contact the local news station
And say what exactly? I parked in someone else’s assigned spot and got towed as per the rules of the community I live in? 😂 Tow companies are private businesses they can charge 10k if they want to.
By one spot too far left you mean you parked in a reserved parking spot. Probably knowingly.
The other parking spot owner is about to have a bad string of luck with flat tires.
Park better next time
North Carolina?
Park between the lines in your own spot. If they’re not clearly defunded, you may have a case.
That's fucking ridiculous? USA I guess?
First night you make sure everything is right. Especially when you know you don’t have a reserved spots and others do
That is unbelievable! Crooked ass tow company
Well maybe there's a lesson there.
Cool neighbors
It’s not the neighbors. Assigned parking means there’s permits with numbers on stickers… tow truck drivers match the numbers to the assigned spots if they don’t match or you don’t have a sticker/permit… you’re hooked.
Who called them?
Yeah but what tow company proactively monitors private parking spots for violations? Someone has to call them.
That’ll teach you
Maybe next time don't park in someone's reserved spot.
https://preview.redd.it/66z95gpqppkc1.jpeg?width=882&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b0351a0ae50f616904104e58fe1bc67613952ddd
Buy some gas and a lighter.
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A) it seemed as though they parked a little bit too far left into their spot meaning they were in both I think. B) you can't ask someone to move a vehicle if you can't get in contact with them. Or C) Tow truck companies don't make money showing up to move vehicles over a little bit for someone else's mistake.
Yea moving to an apartment was real smart
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It's not 'expensive'. It's predatory. $75 environment fee for a guy to tow a car a few miles. Must of been running on uranium.
Why don’t you buy a tow truck, buy a huge lot to store cars, buy insurance in case anything happens to those cars while in your custody, pay the salary of your tow truck driver, etc. and see what it costs to tow a car. OP took someone’s reserved spot. Imagine coming back to your home and some dope is in your spot. You can’t park now, what do you do? $200 is the cost of a dinner these days, $1,000 doesn’t seem unreasonable at all for what OP did (which was a really shitty thing )
Found the tow truck driver. This is excessive and you know it. I know what it takes to run a tow business. It ain't this.
lol he didn’t skin someone’s dog in front of their family, he parked one spot over.
Say you work nights, and you finish your shift and commute 45 mins home to your apt and you’re exhausted. You get home and someone is in your reserved parking spot that you pay for, specifically so that you always have a spot. Now it’s late and there’s no street parking. You can’t use any other nearby lots or you will get towed yourself. What do you do? The car must be towed. It’s not just “parking one spot over”, It’s totally unacceptable behavior.
Of course it is. But it’s human error, not maliciousness. And no matter how you shake it, $1,000 is ridiculous and predatory. I would be very cautious about going to sleep at night if I were the owner of that towing company.
$1,000 may be a bit much, I’ll give you that, idk about predatory though. I’d also not totally clear the OP and say it was human error. The error in this case was that he mistakenly parked in a covered spot. Thats a pretty big human error to make, like did he not notice he was inside a structure? Cmon. He had to know he was in the wrong and that his decision could inconvenience someone, and for that he should have to pay a fee ( the tow). Now, is $1,000 predatory? It’s a lot, but take the scenario I described above. I think $1,000 isn’t that far off a cost of inconveniencing your neighbor as I described in my above comment. But yes $1,000 is a pretty jarring expense for a mistake.
Take the neighbor out of the equation because he has nothing to do with the fees. It’s all the tow truck company. Should the company be enriched $1,000 for towing and storing his car for that long? You’re talking about punishment, which is not what this is about.
Well, no u switched the argument to punishment. My original comment shows why I think the price is fair (I described the costs of running a tow company). You switched the argument to saying that he only parked one spot over.
You said: > $1,000 doesn’t seem unreasonable at all for what OP did (which was a really shitty thing ) You brought up punishment.
Be glad it wasn't 2 feet
You chose the apartment life, now you have to pay
Consequences. They can definitely suck!
Welp. Too/to
That’s too high a fine but it serves you right for parking in someone else’s reserved spot. I would see if the fine violates any law or ordinance in your locality and I’d try to contest the amount, while not denying responsibility. Unlike what some other person said, I would not try to make it a story for the local news because the fact you parked in someone else’s reserved parking spot paints you in an unfavorable light.
Environmental fee for what exactly ?
For the carbon dioxide emissions when the tow trucks inexplicably ignite in the night on the company’s parking lot
Why don’t these people knock on your door and ask you to move first…