Car Towed from Apartment Complex

**Xerodo** · 02-12-2010, 02:36 AM

My question involves towing laws for the State of: Oregon

I'm a college student and my mother recently came into town. I don't own a car, but I do pay for parking through my lease. We went to dinner and left our car parked in the lot. When we got back, approximately two hours later, our car had been towed. We got the car a few hours later after a friend of mine gave me a ride, but it cost $250 and the experience has left a sour taste in my mouth. I would understand if I had parked in someone's personal space, but that is not the case.

Oregon recently passed some pretty heavy restrictions on the practice of predatory towing, which this falls under according to the towing company themselves. (Our car was not called for being in violation, the company patrols the area in search of vehicles that they can tow. They admitted to that on the phone.)

What would I actually need in order to prove that this was an illegal tow in terms of the law? Would I need to prove that I wasn't violating the parking terms, or would I need to prove that they did not follow proper procedure with the actual towing process? Both? Or would the simple fact that my car was in the area be enough justification for them to tow?

This next section is a little excessive, so just skip it if you don't feel like reading my analysis of the law and what the company did.

In regards to actual evidence, there are a few things I can think of. The new Oregon laws require a tower to take pictures of the tow and report the tow to the police office within one hour of the tow. If the tower failed to do either, would that help my case? The tower also did not give us a document disclosing the information required by the law- an itemized list of charges

I am also interested in how charges work under the "just and reasonable" part of the towing laws. The company misrepresented their prices: we were told that we would not be charged extra for getting the vehicle that night (we were charged a $30 "after-hours fee"), and the prices we were charged did not match the prices posted on the truck. ($180 according to the tow truck, $250 as a final charge.)

Finally, there is the issue of the sign posted int he area itself. It is actually grammatically incorrect, and among the other signs in my neighborhood is the only one like it. While the sign might mean to say "Resident with permit parking only", the actual meaning of the wording is "Resident or permit parking only".

I know this is sort of a long-winded rant, but thank you for reading and any help you might be able to offer.

**LawResearcherMissy** · 02-14-2010, 12:58 PM

What would I actually need in order to prove that this was an illegal tow in terms of the law? Would I need to prove that I wasn't violating the parking terms, or would I need to prove that they did not follow proper procedure with the actual towing process? Both? Or would the simple fact that my car was in the area be enough justification for them to tow?

Were you in compliance with your lease terms, in regards to parking? Were you required to have a card or sticker in order to park?

It seems you would need to prove both that you were in compliance and that the tow company was not.

Finally, there is the issue of the sign posted int he area itself. It is actually grammatically incorrect, and among the other signs in my neighborhood is the only one like it. While the sign might mean to say "Resident with permit parking only", the actual meaning of the wording is "Resident or permit parking only".

Your apartment complex's inability to string together a grammatically correct sentence is not going to help you, no.