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Illegal? Car Towing

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xaoslaad

Junior Member
I live in Norfolk Virginia. We rent a condo, with which we have one parking spot. 12 Feb 07 my wifes car was towed from our parking spot, by the company that the Condo Association does business with. I honestly thought her car had been stolen when I left on the morning of 13 Feb 07. I called the police, who informed me it had been towed.

In talking with the tow company they stated that the car was towed because it was over the line into the next parking spot. I asked who called it in, and they stated that no one did, and they had an agreement that allowed them to do so with the Condo Association.

Normally, I would be pretty mad, but suck it up if I did something like this. However, the car was over the line into the spot that our neighbor graciously allows me to park in, because she does not drive.

I called the person I lease from, who put me in touch with the Condo Association Manager. He listened to my story, and stated that the towing company is not authorized to tow any vehicles unless the owner of the spot calls, or one of the board members calls; and even then the board members sticker the car before towing, so whoever owns it has a reasonable chance to move it before it being towed. He's looking into whether or not anyone did actually call, and is willing to reimburse our money.

Now, obviously our neighbor did not call to have the car towed, and the condo association did not do it, as they are even willing to reimburse our money.

First thing I did when I got all this cleared up was call the police up and ask if I can press criminal charges against the towing company for stealing my car and extorting money from me to get it back. The detective I talked to claimed that the car could not be considered stolen because it was removed off of private property by a company that is conrtacted to work on that property, and because they did not intend to permanently deprive me of the vehicle.

I can not believe that it is in no way whatsoever illegal. It may not be stealing, or extortion, or whatever, but it has to be criminal under some law, no? I really want these scumbags to pay by the law for what they did. I can't really afford a civil trial, nor do I expect we would get very much in return if we did pursue one, but I would like the town/state to do something to punish these people for what I feel is (or at least should be considered) a criminal act.

Any useful input anyone could provide would be very much appreciated.
 



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