I park my car in a Mcdonald's car park for the day when I turn up to college. A walk over the river and up through town, it's roughly a ten minute walk.

If my car ever gets clamped, the cost to get my car back wouldn't even make a dent in what I owe the council for parking tickets. On their bike if they think I'm paying £6 per day to park my car in the city centre, I got no money as it is.

 

I park my car in a Mcdonald's car park for the day when I turn up to college. A walk over the river and up through town, it's roughly a ten minute walk.

If my car ever gets clamped, the cost to get my car back wouldn't even make a dent in what I owe the council for parking tickets. On their bike if they think I'm paying £6 per day to park my car in the city centre, I got no money as it is.

in my city there's no such thing as clamping. The mcdonalds owner calls some 300lb unkempt dude with rebar fingers to come haul your car off to the netherlot in the least careful way possible. Then you have to pay whatever he wants to get it back.

 

Chain it to a lampost then. :/

 

You have to pay whatever he wants to get it back.

He sounds corrupt to me.

 

He sounds corrupt to me.

he is. that bastard. so sneaky too.

 

He sounds corrupt to me.

It's not corrupt at all, as long as he is not charging more than what is legally allowed.

Some places place limits on these kinds of towing and imbound charges, but even those that do are absurdly high. But if he is allowed to charge $300 for the tow and impound, then he is hardly corrupt if that is what he charges.

Keep in mind that many of the cars that are towed are abandoned and the tow company has to try to track down the owner and then has to take out a lein and then has to pay court costs to get ownership of the vehicle and then has to sell it or, as often as not, have it hauled away as junk. They have to make that up on the cars that are claimed and retrieved.

It is an area, however, that I think reasonable regulations should be put in place. For instance, if you have a contract for towing service with a government entity (city, state, whatever), then there should be a reasonable cap on the actual towing charge. At the very least, it should be no more than what it would have been had the owner called and requested a non-emergency tow to the imbound lot. Then, I think that there should be no daily impound fee charged until after the owner is notified of where the car is. As it is, you might get a letter in the mail a week after it was towed and have to pay $50/day for each day in between.

My Jeep caught fire on the way to the airport and the cop told me the name of the company (actually gave me one of their business cards) that he was going to call to tow the vehicle so that I didn't have to pay city-lot impound fees. The next day I called that company while I was on travel and they had no idea what I was talking about. I called the police, and they said that it had been towed by a different company. I called them, and they had no idea what I was talking about. Fortunately, the manager of that company made a bunch of calls over the next two days and eventually found that a third company had actually towed it. Fortunately, since the Jeep was a total loss, the insurance company dealt with it and ate the impound fees since I had been diligent in trying to find the vehicle.

 

The ironic thing is, according to the sign, the guy who owns the college is complaining about the parking arrangements there.

 

It's not corrupt at all, as long as he is not charging more than what is legally allowed....if he is allowed to charge $300 for the tow and impound, then he is hardly corrupt if that is what he charges.

Ok, I would like to rephrase, but it wasn't my phrase. I'll say what the tow truck drivers & companies do is more often than not, immoral. Just because it's legal doesn't make it right. Actually IMO the fact that it's legal is even more disgusting than the act itself.

Keep in mind that many of the cars that are towed are abandoned and the tow company has to try to track down the owner and then has to take out a lein and then has to pay court costs to get ownership of the vehicle and then has to sell it or, as often as not, have it hauled away as junk. They have to make that up on the cars that are claimed and retrieved.

Like what happened to my brother recently. That's a lot of has to; it almost sounds like they go out of their way to do society a service at great personal loss. Are they selling these (stolen, legally) cars for negative dollars? You know when you have to have a junk car hauled off, you get paid for it? I got 500$ for a totaled 89 GMC truck and a 84 GMC jimmy with a blown engine a few years ago. Who (other than maxpower097) just walks off and leaves at minimum 200$ worth of scrap metal just so that the poor 'ol tow truck guy has to pick it up for free and sell it for negative dollars? What about when the tow truck guy has to sell a 12,000$ running, driving, immaculate "abandoned" car owned by a servicemember on deployment? Poor tow truck guy, I bet that was a huge hassle for him. Who walks off and leaves a 12,000$ car like "well, I'm done with this now, tow truck johnny can have it" - How can they possibly sell that in good consience? Is hiding behind "oh, well, it's not illegal" enough? Don't we all know that's not right?

Point is, if it wasn't profitable, they wouldn't do it (and secondarily, no they don't have to, they could just keep their hands off what doesn't belong to them). They don't do anything (referring to business practices, not in their personal lives) out of the goodness of their hearts. They make 100% of their profit on the misfortune of others. The same could be said of doctors, but doctors don't cause the misfortune to reap the benefits. Although I think they are starting to now.

 

It's not corrupt at all, as long as he is not charging more than what is legally allowed.

Some places place limits on these kinds of towing and imbound charges, but even those that do are absurdly high. But if he is allowed to charge $300 for the tow and impound, then he is hardly corrupt if that is what he charges.

If it's amid legal limits that's fine, but the claim was he could charge whatever he wants.

 

If it's amid legal limits that's fine, but the claim was he could charge whatever he wants.

Sorry the last time (only time) I had my car towed out of the scope of a highway breakdown or accident, I was charged 500something dollars for it to be towed one block to the company lot and stored overnight. I just assumed the government wouldn't intentionally allow him screw me that hard, so there must not be a law and he must be charging whatever he wants. I made a false claim. sorry.

 

Point is, if it wasn't profitable, they wouldn't do it (and secondarily, no they don't have to, they could just keep their hands off what doesn't belong to them).

So if someone were to park in your driveway and the car was still there after three days, what should happen? Should you be expected to just keep your hands off of what doesn't belong to you?

Should any car that is left on the side of the road just be left there permanently?

Should a business owner have no recourse if a bunch of cars with For Sale signs show up in their parking lot?

 

So if someone were to park in your driveway and the car was still there after three days, what should happen? Should you be expected to just keep your hands off of what doesn't belong to you?

No I should be able to have it hauled off, but first some effort should be made to find out who it belongs to and why the heck they left it in my driveway. Once it's been hauled off, do I think it should end up belonging to the dude who towed it, so he can sell it? No. If anything, finders keepers applies. Why would I not put a lien on it and sell it myself? Well, because that would feel like stealing. I'm sure the idiot who left it there would feel the same way. I would ask around to my neighbors if that's their car, if all answer no, then I make the assumption it's been stolen and taken for a joy ride and dumped in my driveway. I would call the police and report it.

Should any car that is left on the side of the road just be left there permanently?

Why would a car be left on the side of the road? The only scenario I can think of that doesn't involve police (who would have it towed to the impound) is when a not-so-well-off person who is driving an already crappy car that breaks down and they can't afford to do anything about it until payday. Why kick people when they're down? In that case, they should be given a grace period to have it taken care of, or if that's unacceptable, have it towed to their residence with a government tow truck and a restriction put on their license so they can't drive until they've taken care of the towing bill (towing bill, not towing plus storage plus this plus that).

Should a business owner have no recourse if a bunch of cars with For Sale signs show up in their parking lot?

Signs should have phone numbers on them right? or else they are pointless. call the people and tell them to move their cars by tomorrow or they're getting towed. If they are still there in the morning, tow them off. If you talked to them, warned them, got confirmation that they understood the warning, and they still blew you off, then screw them, they are just trying to take advantage of you. Sure you can put a sign up and call that fair warning but there's no certainty they saw it.

 

Hola Strantor,

It amazes me how much time you devote to this questions. Besides family and studying, can you sleep sometimes?

Life is too short and time is the sole asset you cannot tretrieve.

 

You couldn't put a lien on it because they don't owe you money. Once it is towed, they owe the tow company money. You might be able to come up with some basis, like a parking fee, and claim that they owe you money, but that would be dicey since your parking fee would be retroactive.

If the tow company tows a $10,000 car and puts a lien on it for $500, if they sell it at auction for $8000 they get to recover their costs plus what is owed to them and you are entitled to the rest. If they can't find you, then they have to turn the money over to the state who will hold it for you to claim for some number of years before absorbing it. Similarly, if your car is worth $200 and that's what they get at auction or from a junk yard, then you are still liable for the remainder, though it is almost always written off.

Put a restriction on their license so that they can't drive? Chances would be pretty good that they are already driving without a license and without insurance.

Why should someone dumping their junk on my property obligate me to track them down and "confirm that they understand" me? What if they say, "Screw you, I can park anywhere I want." It's obvious they didn't understand me. So now I have to just let it stay there?

In most states (not all), in most areas, you have a window (in Colorado it is 48 hours) to move a disabled vehicle from the side of the road. The police will first tag it with a notice and a date and, after that, the vehicle can be picked up by the first contracted tow company that comes by.

 

Good point Agustín. I guess I complain about stupid things like this to keep my mind from wandering to the more serious things that I'd rather be complaining about but can't.

But it's a waste of my sole unretrievable asset to complain about either. Thanks for the wake up call.

 

This reminds me of my first flat tire. I parked the car legally and went home to get a spare tire. As I was walking out the door, the phone rang. It was a police officer telling me he had towed my car. I asked what the ticket was and he said, "Huh?" There was no ticket. The car was parked legally. It was only there for 4 hours.

"So why did you tow it?"
"We couldn't figure out who it belonged to."
"So how did you get my phone number, and better yet, did you try looking up who owns the license plate?"
"Don't get smart with me boy."

Towing is a money maker and the cops are in on it. There is no other way to explain a cop towing a legally parked car in less than 4 hours and pretending he can't look up the license plate.

 

In the name of Home Land Security,nothing stays out of place.

Unattended is suspect, anywhere...even if you are are driving.

You will pass sensors that you will never know about, and then

you have google.

 

That would have something to do with my post if Homeland Security had been invented in 1967. You must be addressing some other post.

 

In the name of Home Land Security,nothing stays out of place.

Unattended is suspect, anywhere...even if you are are driving.

You will pass sensors that you will never know about, and then

you have google.

The only unattended driving vehicle that I'm aware of is designed by google in the first place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nYhKD8leAg

 

How about the C.I.A. when did they get there act together.

College parking,I got dropped off and picked up,didn't have

to drive around for an hour to find a parking place.Had more

time for the book store,that another ordeal, a time consumer.