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Apartment parking

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C

chepibe72

Guest
What is the name of your state? Los Angeles , CA

There was a car on my assigned parking space when I got home from work. This car was parked there for a few hours. Manager's office is closed and will not answer his door because it is past office hours. Emergency number is only for apartment incidents not related to parking. Of course, the "emergency" guy does not know what I can or should do in my emergency situation. What can I do? Am I allowed to call the towing company myself? One manager previously said I could but that manager has long been gone. I asked one towing company and they said that they don't THINK I can tow the car. Note that there are about 10 to 15 tow-away signs on the parking space (ungated) that says "Towing at owner's expense. Resident Parking Only". TIA
 


BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
What can I do? Am I allowed to call the towing company myself?
No, because you are not the property owner. However, you can write down the license number and report the incident to the manager and have THEM contact the towing company.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
Ditto what Belize said.

In CA only the property owner or his/her 'agent' (the manager or the manager's designee) can authorize the tow.

- Carl
 
J

JADezimar

Guest
Sooo Can a Security gaurd have your car towed? Or should he be waiting for management. California, Oceanside. Plus what if your A tennant and they just forgot to issue you a permitt to park there.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
JADezimar said:
Sooo Can a Security gaurd have your car towed? Or should he be waiting for management. California, Oceanside. Plus what if your A tennant and they just forgot to issue you a permitt to park there.
Really? What complex? I am very familiar with the area.

Yes, a security guard can have the car towed. A security guard, manager, assistant manager, or other designated individual can be the owner's representative for issues involving vehicle tows or charging for trespassing.

If the tow was the result of the management's foul up, you should probably have THEM pay for the tow and see about taking something off your rent for the next month or so due to the inconvenience. However, they don't HAVE to, but you could likely sue them for the amount you went out of pocket to get your car out.

- Carl
 
J

JADezimar

Guest
It was River Oak Apartments. It wasnt stated in lease anywhere that we needed a permitt to park here. And the signs only say tennant parking only. So we thought we had the right to park there. Our lease says we got the garage and the space out front. Well we plaeded this to the tow guy and the security gaurd. And the gaurd wanted it towed. Of course the tow guy says this isnt my problem. The police then came along. And said its in your lease I asked him how he knows this... he said cuase the security guard said it was.... I showed him the lease, the officer was still rude with me after that then they towed it.... The property manager To my surprise actually did reimburse us. But I could of had a little heart ache saved, and the apartments couldve saved money, if the gaurd and the law would share a slightly better attitude.

P.S Me and my wife also just bought a new little used kia. It broke down on us in a parking lot outside of autozone. They said they wont have it towed. As far as I know its a private parking lot. Does the tri-county patrol have the jurisdiction or the right to have this car towed? They had it towed, And we called the police they gave out numbers to call, all came up negative, so we call back late friday to report it stolen. They said did you try these towing companies. Well 1 number they hadnt prior handed out to us turned up positive on the car. The Towing company is more than half an hour away in vista and they were closing for the weekend but insists on charging fee's for over the weekend. Can I get any thoughts on this subject plz

California, OceanSide I appreciate any input on this thank you for your time.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
This (the apartment complex) is almost exclusively a civil affair between you (the tenant) and the landlord.

And I remember River Oaks ... I responded there quite a few times over the years - back before Rancho Del Oro used to go all the way through from Oceanside Blvd. Not a bad place, just large enough to have some problems.

The Autozone issue depends on the nature of the contract between Tri-Counties Patrol and the Autozone. Security contracts may spell out specifically what the security company can and cannot do as an agent of the owner/management. Usually, they are permitted to tow vehicles parked there.

And, yes, the tow companies can charge the rates for storing it over the weekend. It is perfectly lawful. This is another case of your needing to get some payback from Autozone. If you can get the name of the employee that gave you permission to keep the car there, then you can go to the management and tell them that he gave you permission - and had he NOT given you permission, you would have made arrangements to remove the vehicle that night. It doesn't mean they will reimburse you, but you never know.


- Carl
 
J

JADezimar

Guest
Tri country patrol is the police itself..... And as far as I know they werent called on by the autozone or Any private owners of the parking lot. Im highly doubtful auto-zone will reimburse =(. Why does law permitt this Totally out of your control system. Its to easy for you to be screwed and not be able to do anything about it. Like charging for weekend storage, When you want to get your vehicle early. to save money ?
 
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CdwJava

Senior Member
JADezimar said:
Tri country patrol is the police itself..... And as far as I know they werent called on by the autozone or Any private owners of the parking lot. Im highly doubtful auto-zone will reimburse =(. Why does law permitt this Totally out of your control system. Its to easy for you to be screwed and not be able to do anything about it. Like charging for weekend storage, When you want to get your vehicle early. to save money ?
I'm not familiar with Tri County Patrol, but they are NOT the police - or even the Sheriff's Department. I do know of a Tri-City Patrol in Vista, however.

And they do not have to be called - if they have a patrol contract with the Autozone, they have a right to act on their behalf in these types of instances (in most cases). If Autozone says it never should have happened and claims that the security company exceeded their authority, I would hope they would help you seek restitution from them.

And the law permits these sorts of tows to allow property owners to have control over their property. Sometimes mistakes happen - and their are remedies for that. Even they aren't always good or even quick remedies. The alternative is to virtually allow anyone to park anywhere.

- Carl
 
J

JADezimar

Guest
I guess my only goal is to find out more info from auto zone then. Other than that I seem highly screwed. It was still unfair the police made the error. So I couldnt go pick the care up immediately though o0. and am out the xtra bucks cuase they gave me the correct information late.

But ya the towing company was from vista 30 minutes away. And My wife wrote down it was tri-city patrol you are correct, its a security company zzzz.

So if they do work the area and Auto zone we do have the employee name said it was ok to park there. Is there any legal action of they dont want to reimburse us..... cuase we couldve atleast had it towed to our apartment complex anything ... to save from impound/storage fees.
 
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CdwJava

Senior Member
It was still unfair the police made the error. So I couldnt go pick the care up immediately though o0. and am out the xtra bucks cuase they gave me the correct information late.
What error did the police make? They did not tow the car. And not all private property impounds are reported to the police for entry into the SVS (stolen vehicle system) as impounded.


So if they do work the area and Auto zone we do have the employee name said it was ok to park there. Is there any legal action of they dont want to reimburse us..... cuase we couldve atleast had it towed to our apartment complex anything ... to save from impound/storage fees.
If they don't want to reimburse you, then you'll have to go to small claims court for reimbursement.

- Carl
 
J

JADezimar

Guest
Whats my chances of winning in small claims? And it was reported to the police they failed to Give us the proper contact information the first time. The 2nd time they finally did.(maybe a small error and not intentional I know) but it hurts my pocket book over 120$.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
JADezimar said:
Whats my chances of winning in small claims?
No real idea ... I'd say it is good, but then, I don't have any real experience there except as a witness about 15 years ago.


And it was reported to the police they failed to Give us the proper contact information the first time. The 2nd time they finally did.(maybe a small error and not intentional I know) but it hurts my pocket book over 120$.
Contact? For who? Tow companies? The police department isn't the yellow pages. If the information had been provided to them and they ran the plates, it should have come back where it had been towed to. if there had been no plates the first time, then they might not have had the info.

No matter ... the responsibility is still with Autozone.

- Carl
 
J

JADezimar

Guest
So Will I be in any trouble If I just leave the car in the impound. Cuase For every day I cant get it fixed theyll tac on xtra charges. And If I just have it towed to my apartment thats gonna be 500$ just to get it out and to my apartment. And then I know for a fact I need to replace 2 belts on the car. Get new tired rims soon. And that some work needs done on a cylinder drum. Plus we dont know if something is wrong with it for smogging purposes. It may be worth just throwing the money down the drain to leave it there. As long as were no longer responsible for anything including charges of it sitting there.

Also If I do go to small claims what are the costs involved ?

Plus My wife has her Uniform and war gear in there. From the day after she was going to the field. Is it gonna costs us money just to look at it? That would be outrageous cuase theyd be holding equipment of ours that is rightfully ours has nothign to do with the car.
 
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