Car Towed Despite Temporary Parking Permit

[edgar666]

My question involves towing laws for the State of: Florida

I live in Florida, city of Plantation, saturday nigth my car was towed from my condominium,it was with the temporary permit of parking from the administration office, but didn't have the tag becasue i used it to bring a new car wich was registered with the same tag. next morning (sunday) i went to the towing company and pick my car up.I had to pay $124. I had to wait until monday (office hours) to speak with the person encharge at the building, she told me she did not have notice about that situation but she thought was becasue the car did not have the tag, also she told me to write down in a piece of paper or board the number of the tag and say that the tag was waiting for transfer. I did exactly what she said to me, and an hour after my car was again towed but she did not tray to contact me, she had my cellphone number, only she sent to my house a warning with a note that say the board of directors does not permit a car without tag and was the reason to towed the car. I think the note was create at the same time was towing my car. I had to pay again $100 for may car.


I need your help to figure out if what they did was ilegal or not, because my car before removed the tag was registered at the office and had a parking permision, and also at the second time when it was towed the administrator had a notice about the situation and instead of that they did again,

thanks

[KeyWestDan]

I can't tell you for certain, but generally it is legal. It is rude and extreme, but legal. You could go to the condo board and complain I suppose.

One small thing. If your car is towed and the towing company has it for less than six hours they can not charge you a storage fee.

[aardvarc]

Despite the nice try by the tow company person, that suggestion doesn't override STATE law in Florida which says that the vehicle needs to have a valid tag ON it. The ONLY exception to this would be if the tag had been stolen and you had filed a police report (so that running the VIN of the vehicle would show the "hit" on the tag) and then put something on the car to indicate that the tag was stolen. In that case, when the tow company came across your vehicle, they would contact the local police, run the VIN, and if no stolen tag report was taken, it's towed. When a car is visible (meaning from the street, yes, even on private property), it MUST display a current tag, or it is subject to removal. In apartment complexes, tow companies routinely patrol looking for such vehicles (and read your lease carefully, I"ll bet it says that vehicles must maintain current tags). A vehicle sitting without a current tag can be counted on to be towed, no matter WHO had notice, if the legal REQUIREMENT to display a current tag isn't met. Bottom line is: it's not the tow driver's problem; their job is to remove vehicles that are parked improperty or those without proper registration. Even if they tow the same car every day, until there's a valid tag on it, it's money in their pockets (so don't take legal advice from tow companies!).