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Car Towed at Mall for Parking in Poorly Marked "Buffer Zone"

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  • 11-30-2010, 04:48 PM
    wishesarefishes
    Car Towed at Mall for Parking in Poorly Marked "Buffer Zone"
    My question involves towing laws for the State of: California

    I went shopping on Black Friday. I arrived at around 3:30 AM and when I left the mall around 6 AM I found that my car had been towed.

    I legitimately thought I had parked in a parking spot but apparently it was a buffer zone. At the end of each row of parking spots there are supposed to be buffer zones. Instead of the 3 sided box that marks a parking spot, the buffer zone should have a closed box. However the in spot I parked in and in many of the other buffer zones the paint has worn away dramatically so that the spots look like parking spots. Additionally there were no signs about towing any where near my car.

    I talked to mall security and have tried to talk to mall management. I have been rebuffed and told that the my complaint (the poor marking of the spots) was investigated and it has been determined that the spots were marked correctly.

    Do I have grounds for small claims court? Is there some other way to follow this up?

    Additional information:
    -Apparently the parking in the buffer zones is a common problem at this mall. So much so that the mall was fined by the fire department last year. However, the mall has made no effort to further inform the customer that the spots are buffer zones by painting hatch marks though them or painting "not a spot" on them.
    -A security manager did say "I can see how you might have thought that was a spot" when I showed him pictures of the place the I parked and the lack of paint.

    Thanks for your input!
  • 12-01-2010, 02:25 AM
    davidmcbeth3
    Re: Car Towed at Mall for Parking in Poorly Marked "Buffer Zone"
    Sure, you can file ... get a copy of the fire dept. report, maybe it will help
  • 12-02-2010, 01:10 PM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: Car Towed at Mall for Parking in Poorly Marked "Buffer Zone"
    I can't see the markings from here, so I'm not going to speculate as to their adequacy. If you take this to court, make sure you have good, clear pictures of the spot at issue.

    Was your car towed by the mall? The police? The fire department?
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