Towing Issues: towing of my car, state registrations, real jerk

Question
Hi, I live in RI but me and my boyfriend (he) ownes a condo in horry county myrtle beach called riverwalk dr. anyway I have a car down there that I had reg. in sc state. So we wouldnt have to rent car when we go down, I was paying for ins and reg. I could not afford to keep up plates so I had a friend who lives in sc turn them in due to I had lost my job and became ill with cancer. I was going to sell car to my b/f so he could put in his name and he would pay taxes and ins, (we had broken up) anyway he went down there this week 7/2/11 to find it was towed to quality towing, because i guess it had no tags on it. But no one notified me of that law. They want 2000.00 to get it out. and the let my ex take some personal stuff and reg. but said no to the GPS? the guy is a real jerk on phone, tried to ask him if he notified police and did he send me a certified letter saying he took my car, i could tell he didnt no what to say he stumbled and said well yeah! i never recieved anything from towing, police, or condo ass. what can i do

Answer
well I have to say that I have been keeping up on the news relating to towing and it seems that Horry County has a ton of problems with tow companies not following what little bit of laws there were in place as of a year or so ago.

That being said the county is trying to change all that and is creating new rules and regulations but they are also being meet with a lot of problems and lawsuits there.

Not sure what to say, but it does sound like the tow company is one of the problem childern  there and I found a few complaints online and a law suit or 2 on file.

Now I also have to defend the tower as to notifying vehicle owners, as over the years it has got harder and harder to get the information as to who the registered and legal owners are due to privacy laws and add in either OUT OF STATE REGISTRATIONS or VEHICLES WITH NO TAGS OR PLATES then it gets very hard to either get the information.

But that is not an excuse for not notifying the owner.

As to what to do, well it sounds like this will take either a small claims court case to resolve it or action being brought by the State or County to help you resolve this issue. But remember that all of them do take time to resolve and each day that the vehicle is in storage at the tow yard costs increase.

There is a saying that at times makes lots of sense and it would apply here if you are not able to resolve this case in a easy manner without the courts involvement.

"SUE THEM ALL, LET THE JUDGE DECIDE"

It sounds like there might be state laws broke, county regulations, and of course your condo association has a hand in this also as someone had to authorize the tow (hopefully in writing)

Wish I could help more but the laws that apply to that area are so messed up and outdated that I can find that its hard to determine what is current.
You might just call the county sheriffs office or county commission and ask them if they can help point you to current laws.

Sorry for not having specific answers