Towing Issues: Towed at apt complex in Virginia, kia serento, lift tow

Question
My girlfriend parked in a visitor spot at a newly developed complex while visiting a friend who instructed her to park there. There were signs posted about towing and clearly marked guest parking spots. 4 of them she was there 20mins at 2am and her car was tow without a flatbed 2008 kia Serento. the company told her she would need 150 to get the car back. however being from out of town Illinois we knew of no cabs the driver said he could bring the car back but it would be 50 extra dollars. No choice they said we need to have a visitors pass from the office be the office was closed and not even open for business yet we have pictures! then he would not give her a receipt for 200 stating the 50 was for him. I'm HOT and want to sue I feel like I'm dealing with gangsters! also was it right not to use a flatbed with my car? Help please!

Answer
OH MY,  I have to address the issue about the flatbed first as it is one that "trips my trigger the fastest"


FLATBEDS have their advantages and disadvantages... First of all, using a flatbed requires that a winch line be hooked to the vehicle (somewhere) and then it is winched (or in the case of impounding vehicles which are locked, its DRAGGED up onto the deck)  Reverse that to get it off the truck...


Now there are VERY FEW VEHICLES WHICH TRULY REQUIRE FLATBEDS, as a wheel lift tow truck and dollies can be used quite well and even provide less of a chance of damage...

Remember "DRAGGING IT ON THE DECK", well a wheel lift tow truck with dollies will pick straight up (or darn close to it) each end of the vehicle...

Check out the link below for recommendations on how your vehicle is towed.. (yes I pulled up the 4 wheel drive one, but you can see what it recommends for any vehicle using the search feature)

http://www.towspec.com/vehent/vehview.aspx?ID=2387


Now as to the parking without permits, well that is normal in many areas and even though it was 2 am when she parked, the friend who told her where to park should of had some idea of what is legal or not. Yes a new complex always has a few "BUGS" in the parking issues, but they are not real severe...

Now as to the fact that she did not see signs in "the space she parked in" does not really hold water, as that would mean that you would want signs in each space, and what about people who read and speak Spanish.. Now you have 2 signs, wait about Russian, or German or Finnish... Get that point, there would be more signs than spaces then...

I would talk to the apartment management about the issue and see if the tow truck was following the guidelines that the apartment set in the contract... After all they are telling the tow company what and where to tow in 99 % of the cases even if they are not "open in the office at that time"


Also, you can always take the issue to small claims court if you felt you were not handled correctly or that you were ripped off. After all that is always an option.


PS, Virginia is in the midst of changing towing regulations dealing with towing from "private property" and that is going to cause some additional problems.