Towing Issues: Car Towed - Resident - For Flat tire???, low profile tires, tow company

Question
Hi there, my name is Chris, I live in an apt complex in Lauderhill, FL.  My car got towed recently, I called the tow company and they said it was towed because the vehicle was damaged/inoperable, they tell me my right rear tire was flat.  Now I had driven my car home friday night at almost midnite, and had not driven my car saturday, its not sunday at 2pm I go to the store and my car is gone.  How does my tire, on a brand new set of tires from 7 months ago, go flat, and shouldn't I have at least 36 hours notice???   That sticker they put on, to tell you your char is improperly parked or whatever.  I do repossessions, so I know how to tow a car.  It seems unlikely that my tire would be flat when its been ok for sooooo long, and on top I have low profile tires, how would a tower even know my tires are flat?!!??!?!   And is one tire being flat immediately the sign of inoperable car??  How should I handle this one?  Its an association, so I know I need to speak with management but in usual fashion they're not there on weekends and now I can't seem to find the title for my car.  I'm assuming my registration is inside.  I am a resident on the lease for this complex, and I was legally parked in my spot, other than for my newly "mysterious" flat rear tire, is this legal to tow my car, from my own spot???

Answer
Well Chris since you are familiar with tow truck and how they work I will skip that big part of this answer, but try to deal with the "inoperative vehicle" part of this answer...

Some complexes have provisions in the leases regarding vehicles being operative and licensed properly..  Current tags and such.. Now tires do go flat due to nails, glass and metal pieces which might of been left at an accident scene...

New tires or 100,000 mile old tires are all subject to going flat at any time if something gets in the tire tread. No way to prevent that from happening. (I once pulled a dime out of a tire as the reason for it going flat)

Low profile tires, oh yeah they look good but are just as liable to have the problem, and yeah some do look truly flat when inflated.

As to the association not being able to be contacted on the weekend, sorry about that but they have business hours just like the customers you repo for... Do your customers get to call the bank or load place on Saturday night at 1130 PM and discuss the issue with people or get told to call during business hours ?


As to legal to tow from "your spot" well sorry to say you just rent it, you do not own it. If the lease says the car had to be pink and you have a green one then its fair game.  They made the rules.

Legal or not, the only way to really answer if it was legal is to have a court decide, as I can not answer that one for you.

But it sounds like they were right...

But the one thing that interests me has always been how immediate is inoperative... As a tower who has also done patrol towing under these kind of rules, I did tend to give a few considerations on this kind of problem.. I looked at lots of things when dealing with flat tires.  My personal answer above...
One thing was condition of the vehicle, clean or covered with lots of dust. If it had 1/2 inch of dust and had not moved in a while (grass or leaves around tires) it went, but if it was clean and shiny then it tended to stay with a warning from me.. But as always when patrolling I was not the only driver who did the patrolling..

Human nature always came into play here, and since you are a tower, you know how commission works...

Hope this helps you a bit with the issue.