Question
Gas Station lot - hope
Good Morning and thank you for your time. Sat (2/28/09) at 5:00 pm
needed gas. After filling vehicle w/gas - car wouldn't start. Assisted by
others to push car into parking stall & went inside to ask permission to leave
overnight. Attendant said he would leave a note for Manager. Went back at
9:00 am Sun (3/1/09) - car was gone. Went into station & woman stated that
a tow truck just towed it away (didn't know why). Gave me Tow Co. card -
called from Gas Station & was told the woman I was talking to called the
vehicle in to be towed (guess she didn't want to tell me). I told her that her
Employee said it was OK. She didn't have anything to say. There are NO signs
that state vehicle will be towed - NONE. Car pushed into a stall - no
markings that unable to park there... Now car impounded & I need to pay
$380 (might be more today) to get car out of impound. Can I take Station to
small claims to recoup money? Employee gave consent, said he would leave a
note, but most important: NO signage at entrance to station or in front of
parking "slots". Picture attached. Car pushed to slot 2 spaces away from
where one would get tire air/water Thank you so much for your assistance.
Erin
AnswerWell California has many laws which regulate towing vehicles from private property and as such in the basic question form it seems that it "MIGHT" of been an illegal tow.
The issue of the the attendant giving permission (verbal) and saying that he would leave a note, does have some merit but its real hard to prove it was done, even in court.
As to the lady not telling that she ordered the tow, well I think you can imagine all the flack that she would get if people knew that she had ordered the tow... Its easy to pass the buck and blame.
BUT, I have to stress one thing, that even though there were no signs posted "VISIBLE" or in that area, gas stations are a "FICKLE" place to tow from. The space you parked in, even though it was not the area for air/ water, those areas are at times on top of the tanks which need to be filled on an almost daily basis now.
As to taking them to court, of course you have that right and you can do it, but remember that documentation is the key. Pictures, any other information you can get will help as you have to convince a judge that you were wronged...
This issue does allow for towing without signs in most cases as it does fall under some of the weird gray areas in the laws...
Check out California DMV laws and section 22658
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc22658.htm
After reading this you will most likely be more confused but the DMV website has lots of information on it and you can search around for more information and regulations.
Good luck and hope this helped...
