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Car Towed - Private Property

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simpleton1

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

i know 90% what im about to type doesn't matter but im so pissed right now while im on hold heres what happened:

i just recently moved to a new apt. theres 6 parking spots behind my apt building where the tenants park. near them are numerous spaces labeled with "NO PARKING" signs readable so i know never to park there. theyre around doors and shops n stuff. a ways back there is an abandoned building where i seen a few cars parked so i parked next to one after checking for about 5 mins to make sure there werent any signs. there are huge snow mounds everywhere finding a spot right now is rough as hell.

so anyway the cops told me either one of two people had my car towed. an attorneys office or it could have been a plowing company. if i parked anywhere near a no parking sign i wouldnt be here right now i understand private property.. you cant park there but the way all these buildings are set up i have no idea where you can and cant park. i figured because everyone around have their signs up if i avoided them i'd be able to park less than 4 miles away from my apt. i asked the cop if it was illegal to tow or boot or anything if there is no sign because i've seen a few diff laws on "predatory towing" saying there needs to be signs unless (a) on a lot on which a single family home is located, (b) on a lot on which an owner occupied multi-unit structure of not more than six units is located, or (c) in front of any driveway where the motor vehicle is blocking access to that driveway. the cop said "he wasn't sure he'd call me back"

the property had none of those units nor was it blocking any driveway. that was from a law in NJ and I seen another like it in a couple other states after googling for a few now but i cant seem to find anything on upstate NY. can anyone help me out?
 


HighwayMan

Super Secret Senior Member
Is this a parking lot? Were you parked in a marked stall?

You can't just park anywhere you want, even if it's off-street.
 

simpleton1

Junior Member
Is this a parking lot? Were you parked in a marked stall?

You can't just park anywhere you want, even if it's off-street.
i know i get the whole private property thing the only reason why I asked on here is because I see that there are laws against towing in some places that aren't marked. if you could see the back of my apt. you'd see where im coming from. its not like a private lot or someplace where you would think you'd get towed for parking in. I honestly never thought it would be a problem and I thought that there are laws against towing here if there aren't signs because EVERYwhere else back there are signs saying no parking where people dont want you to park. there was a spot that wasnt marked and I seen other people parking. across the street there is a similar place. half the lot is public parking owned by city and halfis privte because of the small parking spots in this area. the cop i spoke with even said its redic but he doesnt know if its law here to have signs in order to tow. I thoguht someone here might know the law or have a source where I can find it cant seem to find anyhting online.

Find out who authorized the tow and ask them for the reason.
the plow company called the towing place. they said because it was on private property. I understand all this but Im just trying to find out if there needs to be signs to authorize a tow or if they did this illegally. i took pics and no wheres in sight are there signs saying no parking here and ther were other people parking there!!!
 

HighwayMan

Super Secret Senior Member
There don't need to be signs. If you park in my driveway I have every right to tow your car out of there.

There is no state law regarding posting of signs.

And forget about what other people do. It has no bearing on what happened to your car.
 

simpleton1

Junior Member
right ty for the response.

it just seems like there would be some ordinance seeing how everyone else puts signs up in the area. its funny i took pics of where i parked originally and now almost a week later the guy who owns the property put 2 diff signs up now looks like hes trying to save his ass or something.. jus seems suspicious.

do you have any idea on who i could even call to find out if theres an ordinance like that? city hall? the mayors office? the cops? anyone have any idea if theres a site out there that has a list of all this junk?
 

HighwayMan

Super Secret Senior Member
No there's no site I am aware of which lists something like this for every municipality so that it can be easily found.

You can try contacting your local Consumer Affairs agency/department if your city (where is this?) has one. They often deal with these type of issues.

You also might try your local elected representative, city councilman, etc.
 

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