Fighting a tow with invalid/incorrect written authorization?

B

bruins3456

New Member
Jurisdiction
California
My car was towed while parked clearly within a 'Visitor Parking' marked space in a Townhouse Parking Lot. On the Written Authorization provided by the tow company, the areas that I want to challenge are the entirely invalid "Reason for Tow" cited where they checked a box for "Fire Lane" AND checked a box for "Other" and wrote in the open text box that I was blocking a specific units' garage. Plus, ALSO INCORRECT was the written location of my vehicle which when the address is put into Maps is on the total opposite side of the complex and nowhere close to where I parked in front of my friends place.

As I was clearly in a valid visitor parking space, very obviously there was no way I could've violated either of those "Reasons for Tow" they cited. Even the picture they provided showed my car parked within a valid clearly striped parking spot with the word "Visitor" visible underneath my car. The fact that they wrote a clearly incorrect location of the tow likely is a sign they probably towed another car in the lot that night and messed up the writeup. They have a policy that there is no overnight parking that likely could be valid but that is not what they cite as their "Reason for Tow" - do I have a claim to get the tow fees fully refunded? Can they just claim human error and they just wrote it up wrong? What's the best/easiest approach to challenge this?
 
bruins3456 said:
do I have a claim to get the tow fees fully refunded?
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Based solely upon your recitation of events, PROBABLY.


bruins3456 said:
Can they just claim human error and they just wrote it up wrong?
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Maybe, who knows what defense the tow company and/or the complex will assert. I sure as heck won't even try. However, if things are as you say, you just might beat this wrap.


bruins3456 said:
What's the best/easiest approach to challenge this?
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Take a peek, see if these sites can help.

getjerry.com

Everything You Need to Know About California Towing Laws | GetJerry.com

Avoid predatory tows and learn how to get your vehicle back promptly with this guide to California towing laws.
getjerry.com getjerry.com


Towing: Removing Unauthorized Vehicles From Private Property - Kimball Tirey & St. John LLP

Unauthorized and abandoned vehicles parked on private property are a common problem for property owners and their agents.
www.kts-law.com www.kts-law.com

california.public.law

Cal. Vehicle Code § 22658

The owner or person in lawful possession of private property, including an association of a common interest development as defined in Sections…
california.public.law california.public.law

suetowtrucks.com

suetowtrucks

Sue Tow Trucks
suetowtrucks.com suetowtrucks.com

www.carsdirect.com

Three California Towing Laws that You Should Know

Towing laws are good to pay attention to, because they can help to make the difference in many cases between having your car towed and it remaining
www.carsdirect.com www.carsdirect.com
 
adjusterjack said:
Again:
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Yes, but I would claim they almost intentionally made it hard to find. The closest sign to where I parked (literally right in front of my spot) is only a "Private Parking - Assigned Parking Only" sign that covers the row that I parked (which is probably 85% reserved parking spots and a couple of these Visitor Parking spots sprinkled in between). There is no other sign at all in this entire row of spots nor any at all discussing the Overnight Visitor Parking restriction and the details.

On a row of spots facing the total opposite way there are a lot more Visitor Parking marked spots and if you literally walk all the way over there you do find a different sign indicating the restriction of Overnight Visitor Parking. No way I would have ever seen that nor even would've known there was any sort of restriction for Overnight Visitor Parking.

In the main entrance to the complex (this is outdoors paved parking) in the median between the entrance/exit are all their signs like the Neighborhood Watch and the Complex Name sign and most relevant the sign indicating Private Property and parking in assigned stalls only (nothing about the Overnight Visitor Parking). However, I had to go back and scour to look if I missed it but totally to the right of the entrance is the Overnight Visitor restriction sign. I think this is pretty sketchy if this is considered in 'plain view' if all their signs they put on the drivers side yet this one they chose to put in the total opposite side which would be out to the right past the passengers side.
 
Sorry, but I don't think that the "I didn't see it" defense is going to fly.

But you are welcome to sue if you want to.

Make sure you sue both the towing company and the property owners because the towing company was acting as an agent of the property owners and likely has no liability.

When you paid to get your car back, did you sign something? If you did, I'll bet it contained a waiver in favor of the towing company and maybe also in favor of the property owner.
 
adjusterjack said:
Sorry, but I don't think that the "I didn't see it" defense is going to fly.

But you are welcome to sue if you want to.

Make sure you sue both the towing company and the property owners because the towing company was acting as an agent of the property owners and likely has no liability.

When you paid to get your car back, did you sign something? If you did, I'll bet it contained a waiver in favor of the towing company and maybe also in favor of the property owner.
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Hi, coming back to this as the HOA finally got more information from the tow company. Apparently, the tow company said they reviewed their files and there were two same color same brand cars towed that night cited for two different reasons. They admit I received that citation in error with incorrect details/reasons on the citation (which I assume was what the other car had violated) and stated the actual citation was reasons described above.

Feeding this scenario, through ChatGPT it cites the arguments below - thoughts on this?

===================================================

ChatGPT: Your Potential Arguments
  1. "The citation was invalid at the time of issuance."
    • State that the tow company cannot retroactively correct a citation to justify their actions. The error demonstrates negligence in their enforcement procedures.
  2. "This procedural error caused harm."
    • Explain how the incorrect citation caused you unnecessary stress, financial costs, or loss of time.
  3. "The tow should be voided due to procedural unfairness."
    • Request full reimbursement for all towing and citation-related expenses due to their failure to issue a valid citation at the time of towing.
 
bruins3456 said:
Feeding this scenario, through ChatGPT it cites the arguments below - thoughts on this?
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ChatCPT apparently thinks your vehicle was towed because of some violation of a local ordinance for which you were cited. But in this thread it sounds to me more like the HOA had it towed for violating HOA parking rules rather than any ordinace. If that's the case then you weren't issued a citation and the arguments against a citation won't be very helpful to you.
 
bruins3456 said:
Hi, coming back to this as the HOA finally got more information from the tow company. Apparently, the tow company said they reviewed their files and there were two same color same brand cars towed that night cited for two different reasons. They admit I received that citation in error with incorrect details/reasons on the citation (which I assume was what the other car had violated) and stated the actual citation was reasons described above.
Click to expand...

So here's the issue: you were towed as a result of HOA rules, not as a result of a violation of legal code. (There's a difference - you're not dealing with traffic court.)

Thus, the rules that dictate things are the HOA rules. Such fun!
 
bruins3456 said:
They have a policy that there is no overnight parking that likely could be valid but that is not what they cite as their "Reason for Tow"
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So...you were in violation of the "no overnight parking" policy?


bruins3456 said:
Yes, but I would claim they almost intentionally made it hard to find.
Click to expand...

Were you aware of the sign/policy?


You never answered this question from "adjusterjack":

adjusterjack said:
When you paid to get your car back, did you sign something? If you did, I'll bet it contained a waiver in favor of the towing company and maybe also in favor of the property owner.
Click to expand...
 

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