QuestionMy roommate had his car towed from in front of our house the other night. This is Montgomery County, MD and the lot is restricted to permit holders. The lot is well signed and he has a parking permit, however the permit had fallen from his rear view mirror or was simply not too visible. He believes he was illegally towed. He even went as far as to call the police and state that his car was stolen. He claims that a police officer friend told him the best thing to do when your car is illegally towed is to call the police and open a record/file for your car. My question is two-fold:
1) Does he have any case in claiming that his car was illegally towed?
2) Is calling the police and opening a record/file for your car the best thing to do when you believe your car has been illegally towed and if so would you state that your car is stolen or would you state that your car has been illegally towed?
Thank you very much for your time.
AnswerIf your friend believes he was towed "illegally" or not, the act of calling the police department and file a stolen vehicle report can open up him for prosecution... "FILING A FALSE REPORT"
"Most areas" do require that the tow company call in the vehicle which was towed, just so that is does not happen. But that usually happens when it gets back to the tow yard so there is an "window" where it might be considered stolen...
Biggest problem with reporting it stolen is if the police department does not CLEAR the report with any databases it uses and your friend might be stopped "DRIVING A STOLEN VEHICLE"... It has happened before...
Now in some areas of the country, vehicles which are reported stolen and towed for "THAT REASON" do get released for free, but that also means that "SOMEONE WORKED FOR FREE" to provide the service of towing... (do you want to work for free?)
If they still believe that they were "illegally towed" they always have the right to take it to small claims court and try to recover the money that way. Yes the legal method works at times.
