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Street parked car towed for over 6 months lapsed registration

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agarttha

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

So I was out of the state for a couple weeks and left my car legally parked on the street in my neighborhood. About two days before I was due to get back (late night on friday), my housemate got a letter from the tow company/impound lot saying they were going auction off my car if I didn't pay their fees and recover my car. So it has been sitting in an impound lot for a week now, and I won't be able to get it registered until Monday. At this point I think I will probably owe an excess of $1k between police, dmv, and impound/towing fines. The car itself is probably only worth about 1.5k

Am I totally screwed here? Was this a legal tow, since I wasn't actually operating the car? Can I get leniency on any of the fines, since I didn't get notification about the tow/ticketing until almost a week after it happened?

Thanks for any help or suggestions.
 


HighwayMan

Super Secret Senior Member
So I was out of the state for a couple weeks and left my car legally parked...
Once the registration expired it was not legally parked.

You have no one but yourself to blame for not keeping your registration current.

Expensive lesson.
 

agarttha

Junior Member
Well, obviously. But you'd think the police or the tow company would have some obligation to notify me before a thousand dollars of unrelated fines accrued.
 

CSO286

Senior Member
Well, obviously. But you'd think the police or the tow company would have some obligation to notify me before a thousand dollars of unrelated fines accrued.
And one would think a vehicle owner would have some obligation to renew his due-to-expire registration before leaving town over the expiration date....
 

agarttha

Junior Member
And one would think a vehicle owner would have some obligation to renew his due-to-expire registration before leaving town over the expiration date....
Right, and that is true--I'm paying over 1k in consequence. But you're implying that the statement I made is false. Why?
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
I presume the vehicle was impounded for the registration being expired in excess of 6 months (VC 22651(o)). Any notice of the impound would have been mailed to the address on file with the DMV. So, whatever name and address on the registration is where the notice of the impound would have been mailed. Apparently it WAS mailed as your roomie got the letter.

And, yes, the tow company is required to send out a notice of a pending lien and sale prior to the 30 days being up. If you do not arrange to pick it up prior to the 30 days, or sign it over to them in lieu of additional fees, then they can sell it at auction and sue you for the difference between what they receive and what you owe. So,pick it up ASAP then deal with whatever else needs to be done.

You can contact the impounding agency and ask for a post storage hearing. However, absent some violation of law or policy in this matter, you are not likely to see any compensation coming your way.

Simply put,the car was expired at or past 6 months when you left on vacation. It could have been towed before you left. Unfortunately, the timing was poor.
 

agarttha

Junior Member
Thanks Cdw. It is refreshing to hear sound legal reasoning after all the blind, judgmental boot-licking this thread attracted ('Expensive lesson,' give me a break). It looks like everything was done by the book, and I was just unlucky to be away when they impounded my car, and unable to get the registration current and recover my car before an excess of a week's impound fees accrued. I happen to be lucky enough to afford to miss a day's work to take care of this, and pay the various fees and fines--I wonder where someone in a less financially stable position would end up. Could imagine that 'lesson' becoming very expensive indeed.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
People with lesser means often lose their cars. But, there are people out there that buy clunker cars knowing they will eventually get towed (either because of registration or equipment, or they have a suspended license) and they simply pay cash and sign away their clunker when it's towed.
 

Eekamouse

Senior Member
Thanks Cdw. It is refreshing to hear sound legal reasoning after all the blind, judgmental boot-licking this thread attracted ('Expensive lesson,' give me a break). It looks like everything was done by the book, and I was just unlucky to be away when they impounded my car, and unable to get the registration current and recover my car before an excess of a week's impound fees accrued. I happen to be lucky enough to afford to miss a day's work to take care of this, and pay the various fees and fines--I wonder where someone in a less financially stable position would end up. Could imagine that 'lesson' becoming very expensive indeed.
I don't know why you are so bothered by someone pointing out the fact that through your negligence in not keeping current registration on your vehicle and then leaving it parked out on the street, your car was legally towed and you're faced with an expensive mess to clean up. Highway Man was spot on in what he said to you. He wasn't being rude or snarky or anything but factual. Since you were out of town when it was towed, I'd think you should look to your unobservant roommate if you want to be upset at anyone. Not that you have any right to really be angry at your roommate for not telling you your car was gone. It wasn't him who didn't pay the registration on the vehicle. That's all on you.
 

HighwayMan

Super Secret Senior Member
Well, obviously. But you'd think the police or the tow company would have some obligation to notify me before a thousand dollars of unrelated fines accrued.
You were notified from what you said. You just were not around when the notification arrived. That is not the fault of the police or the tow company.
 

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