Question State California, Orange County.
I had two of my cars towed away in front of my town house. The parking patrol company called the tow trucks, due to me not having a current parking pass in the window. I had an old pass as I was waiting for a new pass to be issued by the board of directors. Before the tow trucks had even touched my vehicles I did tell them I was the owner and I would move them. The towing company told me since they had been called out they had a right to take my cars and proceeded to hook them up to their trucks. They then told me if I wanted my cars back I had to pay them a drop fee of $65.00 for each vehicle, also since I had argued with them about taking the cars they were also adding in an additional $60.00 for each car as waiting fee. I refused to pay so they took my cars. It cost me $560.00 to get both of my cars back since they took them on a Saturday night.
California law (Bill AB 2210) states "Upon the request of the owner of the vehicle, or that owner's agent, the towing company or its driver shall immediately and unconditionally release a vehicle that is not yet removed from private property and in transit". A person failing to comply is guilty of a misdemeanor. Since I asked that my cars not to be towed and they took them anyway does the above (AB 2210) apply.
AnswerWell, asking not to have removed and actually trying to move them into compliance is one issue here...
Now I know of some companies that are working the gray areas of the laws regarding the Private Property impounds in California (no actual names, as I live in Alabama but I have heard from a few sources of cases of edge of law violations)
Now as a tow truck driver, I have to say that if I am called to the location, I would like to get paid for doing what I was ordered to do. That said I really hate laws that require tow truck drivers to "give back vehicles for free" after everything is ready to move but put the truck in drive.
Also one thing I want to point out here in your question is that you cite California AB2210, and as such I would suggest that you check out the DMV laws 22658 and 22953 to see what rules apply here. Sorry for the vague answers there, but those are also the TOTAL revised and ENFORCED sections of AB2210 after the rewrites.
But it sounds like they did break the laws and as such can be held accountable.. Only question I have (again at a loss cause of where I am in relation to California) is who to complain to about the violation. Check with DMV and see who is in control of the issue. I know that Orange County is a big country and as such has many cities in it where there are additional laws in place regarding towing vehicles from Private Property..
Good luck and I would love to know who the correct agency is to report illegal tows to so that I can help direct others to the right people.
