Towing Issues: Car towed while running, home owners association, tow truck

Question
Hi.  I live in State College, PA.  My car was parked in front of my house, not in a parking spot.  I had turned it on to warm it up because of the cold outside.  I went back in the house.  When I came out to get in my car, a tow truck had put it up on the lift.  When I attemted to talk to the driver, he rolled his window up and started to pull away.  I ran after him, trying to tell him that my car was running.  He finally stopped and told me it would cost me $60 to get it off the lift.  When I asked him if it was legal for him to tow my car with it running, he told me that it didn't matter - I was parked illegally.  I was just wondering if it was legal for him to tow it while it was running.  If so, does the towing place have the right to go in my car and turn it off or do they just leave it running until it dies?  I've been trying to look up the laws, but I'm not having any luck.  Any information you could give would be extremely helpful.  Thank you in advance.

Answer
You will not find any laws which say that a vehicle can not be towed while running, nor one that says it has to be shut off before it is towed.

Any vehicle parked illegally, running or not is still illegally parked. And that is what a judge would rule.

Now as to towing a vehicle from the street (that is what I am assuming that you are talking about) since you mention it is not in a parking space. That seems a bit strange here, as you mention it is in front of your house.  

Is this in a Condo complex or an apartment where you moved it closer to your door?

Or maybe a "home owners association" development where parking on the street is not allowed at certain hours?

Then again, if it was a public street and you were towed away, it might of been ordered towed by the police department.

See what I am getting at, there are dozens of variables which would affect the answer here in this issue.

But for what I read into this, it sounds like an apartment or condo complex and the tow truck has a contract with the property management - owners to patrol the lots looking for violators. In most places that is the most common type of towing for things like what you experienced.

As to the tow company "entering your car" well I would assume that if it did get to the storage yard that they would turn it off to help  you save gas and to also prevent it from possibly getting stolen while in their yard. YES theft does happen from tow company yards.


As to State College Pennsylvania regulations regarding towing, I am aware of some of the news stories from that area and I am hearing that they are trying to change the laws there.  So I am kind of hearing and seeing proposed laws which are not in effect or might even be changed...