They have towed away my car as an abandoned vehicle..

[freelythinking]

What is the name of your state? Michigan

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum to post this thread but here it goes.

Two weeks ago, I was out of state for 10 days for the spring break and when I came back, one of my car disappeared. Couple of days later I received a letter from a district court stating that my car, being abondoned towed away at owners cost. Now, this car is not a rust bucket, in fact it does not have any rust plus it is only a 1998 Subaru Outback with no body damage other than the smashed windshield (at right top corner thus it does not effect the visability) with slight bent on the A-pillar.

The car was parked on my apartment community parking lot and since I do have one more car other than this, this car is usually parked most of the time. The reason being; for me to save money to get it fixed. Other than the windshield and the slight bent A-pillar, this car drives fine and the tag is current.

I have two options at this moment. One is to pay for the towing fee, storage fee, and abandoned vehicle fee which will be well over $300, or pay $65 court fee then contest that the vehicle wasn't abandoned and have the court pay for the towing free and the storage fee.

Before I would like to go with the route two which is going to the court, I wanted to hear some advice of increasing the chance of winning the case.

Thank you in advance

Originally Posted by freelythinking

What is the name of your state? Michigan

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum to post this thread but here it goes.

Two weeks ago, I was out of state for 10 days for the spring break and when I came back, one of my car disappeared. Couple of days later I received a letter from a district court stating that my car, being abondoned towed away at owners cost. Now, this car is not a rust bucket, in fact it does not have any rust plus it is only a 1998 Subaru Outback with no body damage other than the smashed windshield (at right top corner thus it does not effect the visability) with slight bent on the A-pillar.

The car was parked on my apartment community parking lot and since I do have one more car other than this, this car is usually parked most of the time. The reason being; for me to save money to get it fixed. Other than the windshield and the slight bent A-pillar, this car drives fine and the tag is current.

I have two options at this moment. One is to pay for the towing fee, storage fee, and abandoned vehicle fee which will be well over $300, or pay $65 court fee then contest that the vehicle wasn't abandoned and have the court pay for the towing free and the storage fee.

Before I would like to go with the route two which is going to the court, I wanted to hear some advice of increasing the chance of winning the case.

Thank you in advance

YOUR money, YOUR time, YOUR CHOICE!

[saintjoe69]

Originally Posted by shellandty

YOUR money, YOUR time, YOUR CHOICE!

What kind of advice is this?!

[justalayman]

Do you have any idea why they would have thought it to be abandoned.
Have you spoken with apartment management concerning this? Could they have reported it as abandoned?

I believe I would endevor to find why it was considered abandoned. There may be some legal justification behind it. If so, you would be out the 3 bills plus the court costs. If you were somehow at fault, at least you could save the court costs if it was a justified tow.

If there was no legal justification for the tow, I would consider heading to court to dispute it.

BTW: I'm not positive and really don;t want to hunt for it but I believe the windshield and/or the A pillar situation makes the car legally unable to be driven.

Originally Posted by saintjoe69

What kind of advice is this?!

OP: Because WE can't decide for you. Either pay the $300.00 + and be done with the whole thing....OR Pay $65.00 and go to court. How much is your time worth??? In the end....It may turn out to be a wash!!

Additionally: The Tow MAY have been justified with the fact that it was "NOT MOVED" for 10 days, which may be considered ABANDONED!!

Definition of an abandoned vehicle Michigan

The legal definition of _abandoned vehicle_ has a slightly different meaning than what is generally understood. According to state statute, the term abandoned vehicles applies not only to the _junkers_ that are dumped on the roadside, but vehicles on private or public property that have been towed away either by request of the property owner or because the vehicle was parked or left in violation of a law.

As defined by Michigan law [MCL 257.252a(2)], an abandoned vehicle is a vehicle that was left on:

Private property without the property owner's consent.
Public property (including county roads and city streets) for at least 48 hours.
A state road (e.g. M-99, U.S. 23, I-96) for at least 18 hours if a valid registration plate is on the vehicle.
A state road for any period of time if a valid registration plate is not on the vehicle.

Originally Posted by saintjoe69

What kind of advice is this?!

Saintjoe69: If you have somemthing MORE to add, please do. IF NOT...do not post just to critique my posts!

[AHA]

Originally Posted by shellandty

Additionally: The Tow MAY have been justified with the fact that it was "NOT MOVED" for 10 days, which may be considered ABANDONED!!

I even understood it that the subaru has been parked for longer than the 10 days OP was out of town, which would just give more justification to consider it abandoned.

OP, did you notify the leasing office of your apartment that you have 2 cars in the parking lot? If you haven't, then they would have no way of knowing the car even belong to a tenant of theirs. Back in the day when we still had the rent monkey on our backs (thank God those wasted money days are over!!), we had to let the leasing office know exactly which cars were ours and would be parked there every day.

[efflandt]

Was license plate or any other required stickers current, and was the plate number registered with the apartment complex, if required? If it had expired plates and damage, it could easily be considered abandoned (not drivable).

My pickup truck was towed from my apartment complex once (which had a vague rule against "storage" of vehicles). The temporary manager (from out of town) thought it had not been driven for 3 years due to 3 year old EPA sticker (no longer required) and 3 yr old city vehicle sticker (no longer required, because our city gets casino money). Plates were current, but admittedly it had not driven it for 6 months because shorted alarm drained the battery, there were depressions in the asphalt from parking in the same place for over 10 years, and a tire was losing air. I did not notice the towing sticker until the night before because it was on the "passenger" window, and I parked my car on the driver's side. Fortunately, I replaced the battery and aired up the tire that night, removed the sticker, and was going to drive it to work the next morning, but they still towed it away before dawn. I just paid the $105 towing fee and got on with my life, because the butch manager that went on a towing spree was not was not there for long, and the manager that repaced her did not know anything about it. I removed the no longer needed exired window stickers, replaced the tires, and never had any further problem.