QuestionI'm in Nashville, TN and today my car was towed. Here's what happened:
I was visiting a friend for the night at their apartment and parked in the lot behind the building. Typically the residents park around the base of the building and the rest of the lot owned by the apartment is almost always 95% empty with something like 30-40 spaces. I've parked there before and even stayed the night with no issue. There are two types of signs posted that say "Apt parking only!" and the other type is from the tow company which says that "unauthorized or illegally parked vehicles" will be towed. Now the residents do indeed have parking decals (which I just noticed today) yet the signs do no specify "Resident parking only" and/or "permits required;" it simply states: "Apt parking only!" which is precisely where I was. The tow company was beyond rude when I tried to talk about this and ascertain what the problem was exactly.
The thing is that I took the signs to mean something to the effect of the signs that businesses post that read: "(whatever business) customers only!" in other words, only patrons of that place. You don't get a decal to buy coffee at Starbucks, and I figured this was in the same grain. I know in some states, the private property owner has to request a tow, but the towing company just towed my car during their rounds and charged $95.
My question is: Was I wrong to park there, even though the signs were arguably vague? Or did the towing company not follow procedure? Perhaps I was an "unauthorized vehicle" because I didn't have a permit? I acknowledge I could be in the wrong here, but want to make sure. It's not everyday you wake up, your car's gone, and a snotty towing company wants $100 for it back!
Thank you so much!
Answerwell at the risk of sounding rude here (please bear with me on this), signage for parking lots is usually a bit vague, by law in many areas... Now reason I say that is Customer or Tenant usually works, it does not have to say Starbucks or Happy House Apartments in order to be correct...
Reason I also say this, is that there are a bunch of people who do not read English, but their language is Spanish, Korean, Chinese, or any other language.. Does that mean we need signs in each language there is "IN CASE" someone needs it that way...
Now, in defense of the towing service, they have heard all the arguments and comments about the legality of the tow, or how the person was only in the complex for 3 minutes, or things like that... Sorry if they were rude to you, but I do not know the exact comments to rule on that one..
I think that you are reading to much into the signs, and that is what happened... Sure you might of been at the apartment, but as you stated there are permits and you did not have one... Your friend did not mention you needed one and that is a problem also.
Now I have to say that the $ 95.00 is a LOW FEE for most places, yes its inconvenient and also something you do not want to have to pay.
