Car Was Towed from a Restuarant Parking Lot Shared with Another Commercial Building

[MONKEYMANN]

My question involves towing laws for the State of: CALIFORNIA

By law, what information is suppossed to be available to me from the towing company?
The time they received the call to dispatch?
The person's name who requested the tow?
The number of that person?
The time the actual tow was performed??

Is any of this suppossed to be provided to me by the towing company?
If I request it???

If not, what information is available to me by law?
Im in Sacramento, California

The following below is what transpired on June 11th:
2 business's share 1 city block, and what isnt used up by the actual footprints of the buildings, parking spaces where created when possible.
You enter the parking lot from a one way street and make the loop around the restuarant for available parking.
SEE PIC:



After parking, I walked over and read signs #1:




Then turned around and saw sign #2:




Then while walking to the restuarant, I glanced over one more time to the car and then saw sign #3:




After reading it, and it not clearly stating who/what was authorized or not authorized, I went over to make sure my spot wasnt painted with a business name or designated to a certain business, which it wasnt, so I then looked for some sort of boundry line within the parking lot, Nothing.

While doing so, I noticed I was able to see all 3 signs from standing in the same location.

So we continued to go inside and eat lunch.

Now, as you can see from all the pics, they clearly share the same lot, without any clear designation of what spaces are for what business.
The restuarant's signs state the that their parking is for customers only, but the spaces arent designated in anyway. They just say "this lot".

We ate lunch quickly and only were inside for 35 minutes.

So, how was this legal to come grip my car without it clearly showing the divided lots?
I also talked with some employees that work inside the grey building to see if they are provided parking decals to show they are "authorized" to park there and they said they arent.

If in fact those 5 spots are not associated with the restuarant in anyway, shouldnt they be CLEARLY MARKED as such?

[MONKEYMANN]

More pictures to give a better understanding of my description.

Top view showing my placement, and how I could see all 3 signs.


Sign 1 view



Sign 2 view



Sign 3 view

[That Guy]

Is it safe to assume that the brown top building is the restaurant and the other building (to its left) isn't?

Also, you saw all those signs you included in your post, question is, where were they posted?

Chances are, the towing company in under contract with the building owner where no specific authorization for each tow is required. If it were me, going to the restaurant, I think it would be easy to conclude the the spot where you parked belongs to the OTHER building and not to the restaurant, that is assuming there were no posted signs indicating otherwise.

Edited to add: Beat me to it...

So you parked up against a sign that made no reference to the restaurant, where as the other ones (authorizing parking for the restaurant were clearly away from that location) do specifically mention 'Old Spaghetti Factory" and are located on the other side of the driveway from that other building/business...

I'm sorry, but I don't think that is confusing at all!

You'll find VC 22658 here (it is fairly long to past here)... Be mindful of the fact that 22658(a)(1) specifically states that:

There is displayed, in plain view at all entrances to the property, a sign not less than 17 inches by 22 inches in size, with lettering not less than one inch in height, prohibiting public parking and indicating that vehicles will be removed at the owner's expense, and containing the telephone number of the local traffic law enforcement agency and the name and telephone number of each towing company that is a party to a written general towing authorization agreement with the owner or person in lawful possession of the property. The sign may also indicate that a citation may also be issued for the violation.

And whether the location of that sign would qualify as "at all entrances to the property" or not, I don't know... especially with it being a shared entrance.

[MONKEYMANN]

Thanks for your input, it is appreciated.
Now, I can understand your point of it possibly being parking for the "other" business, but as you followed up with, they also share the parking lot, with the same entrances, so in my view, when both business signs are stating "this lot", and the individual spaces aren’t designated, then it is pertaining to the whole parking lot, which is what I presumed when I continued on to the restaurant.
You also show within your VC paste, the statement "containing the telephone number of the local traffic law enforcement agency and the name and telephone number of each towing company that is a party to a written general towing authorization agreement with the owner or person in lawful possession of the property".

Now, on the black and white sign, THE ONLY one that is attributed to the grey business building, it doesn’t have the tow company information on it at all, so is the sign in default of trying to state the laws in which they will tow under?

[That Guy]

Thanks for your input, it is appreciated.
Now, I can understand your point of it possibly being parking for the "other" business, but as you followed up with, they also share the parking lot, with the same entrances, so in my view, when both business signs are stating "this lot", and the individual spaces aren’t designated, then it is pertaining to the whole parking lot, which is what I presumed when I continued on to the restaurant.
You also show within your VC paste, the statement "containing the telephone number of the local traffic law enforcement agency and the name and telephone number of each towing company that is a party to a written general towing authorization agreement with the owner or person in lawful possession of the property".

Now, on the black and white sign, THE ONLY one that is attributed to the grey business building, it doesn’t have the tow company information on it at all, so is the sign in default of trying to state the laws in which they will tow under?

Well, its not posted at the entrance either so for all intents and purposes, that sign does not comply with the requirements. The only way to find out if you can get something out of it (pursuant to subsection 22658(e)(1)), and assuming you've gotten your vehicle out of impound and have paid the towing and storage fees, is to sue them in small claims court and see how it works out.

[MONKEYMANN]

Thank "that guy" again for your help.
By law, Is any of the information regarding the tow, as in the time they where called, the time the tow picked up the car and such to be provided to me if requested??

Well, its not posted at the entrance either so for all intents and purposes, that sign does not comply with the requirements. The only way to find out if you can get something out of it (pursuant to subsection 22658(e)(1)), and assuming you've gotten your vehicle out of impound and have paid the towing and storage fees, is to sue them in small claims court and see how it works out.

We did pay and get the car out. But also back to the towing company info. being posted on the sign, if I wasnt able to talk to an employee and he find out the towing companies name for me, and it being late on a Friday night, we would have had to pay an axtra 3 days storage also! Just them charging for a full days storage when the car was only there for an hour was bad enough.

Also, if it is in fact a "shared lot", do both legal business owner's/lessee have to give permission to a towing company to tow vehicles from the parking lot?

[That Guy]

Thank "that guy" again for your help.
By law, Is any of the information regarding the tow, as in the time they where called, the time the tow picked up the car and such to be provided to me if requested??

There are certain provisions that provide for what specific information you can request... All of those should be outlined under the code sections in the link I provided above (I see one under 22651.07)... At the end of the day, your vehicle was towed because you were parked in a spot where you were not authorized to park. It would be safe to assume that the decision to tow happened AFTER you parked and the vehicle was hooked and towed BEFORE you left the parking spot. I'm not sure what difference, if any, the specific timing on the call or the hook up happened would make. Maybe I'm not seeing it but what are you hoping to gleam from that information?

We did pay and get the car out. But also back to the towing company info. being posted on the sign, if I wasnt able to talk to an employee and he find out the towing companies name for me, and it being late on a Friday night, we would have had to pay an axtra 3 days storage also!

That didn't happen... So if you do decide to sue in small claims, your case will have to be based on facts and not coulda, shoulda woulda... Maybe if you win they'll learn and post that info on any future signing they will post but that is not going to subject them to additional penalties than what is already called for in the related code section.

Also, if they had that information on the sign, would you have moved your vehicle or would you have left it there and went in to eat?

Also, if it is in fact a "shared lot", do both legal business owner's/lessee have to give permission to a towing company to tow vehicles from the parking lot?

While it is obvious that this is a lot that shares and entrance and an exit, I don't really see it as a "shared lot" (if that were the case, it would be safe to park anywhere)... Then again, I don't see any provisions for "shared anything" in the code so my guess is that is a matter for the judge to decide.