Was I Towed Illegally

[niteblitz]

My question involves towing laws for the State of: Florida

I was towed in St. Petersburg FL last night, and I was wondering if there was anything wrong with what the Tow company did.

So I went to a restaurant and the parking lot was full so I parked in the parking lot next to theirs. This was around 9:00pm, the parking lot belonged to a couple of stores which were all closed by the way. There were no owners of the stores present and absolutely no reason to tow me. There was a tow away zone sign present at the entrance of the parking lot.

I called the number, and the lady who answered told me that the tow truck driver would contact me with the location of my car. He called me 10 minutes later and told me where I could get it. He told my I have to pay 140 Dollars in cash and that they do not take any cards.

I arrived down there with a friend whose car they also towed, he was parked next to me. He made us sign receipts before he would let us inspect our cars for damages. He also reiterated that he would only take cash because you can dispute cards but cash you cant.

I ended up paying him the 140 and I inspected my car, everything looked fine, however for my friends car, the tow truck driver had to break into it to take down the hand break.

So is there anything we can do here or was it done legally? Thanks for any answers.

[jk]

So is there anything we can do here or was it done legally? Thanks for any answers.

for the tow in general?

It appears it was quite likely legal. If you go to the link, there are some requirements for the law in general and rather than post the entire thing or play 20 questions, you can read through it to see if something seems amiss:

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/...0715/Sec07.HTM

(2) The owner or lessee of real property, or any person authorized by the owner or lessee, which person may be the designated representative of the condominium association if the real property is a condominium, may cause any vehicle or vessel parked on such property without her or his permission to be removed by a person regularly engaged in the business of towing vehicles or vessels, without liability for the costs of removal, transportation, or storage or damages caused by such removal, transportation, or storage, under any of the following circumstances:

as to the broken window: your friend should file a claim with the tow company. If rebuffed, sue them. There are means to move a car with a parking brake engaged without damaging the car. If the tow company failed to utilize such methods, they would be liable for the damages.