(09-13-2024, 08:44 AM)CCoburn Wrote: Impound fees are just absolutely ridiculous. It's highway robbery – literally. I think the cops are in with the tow guys (thick as thieves). I was up north a bit a couple years back and got distracted by this female jogger just as I was approaching a turn that was littered with dry pine needles – a recipe for disaster. I ended up in a ditch, and when the staties showed up I told them I had AAA, but they called their pals with some cock-and-bull about it being closer.
No doubt. I had a vehicle illegally towed from an apartment complex where I had a parking pass, but they had handed out more passes than parking spaces, and I worked at night. I ended up parking on a completely unmarked curb - absolutely no spaces in all 35 acres of the property. Tow company and landlord never gave notice as required by law before towing. I had to walk to the tow company 3 miles away.
They had just towed my car like 2 hours before but had purposely buried my car several deep in their lot so I couldn't drive it out. They refused a card payment, which is illegal in that state, to get the car. I called the cops and when they showed up, they "agreed" with the photo of my car the tow company took that I "must have been in a tow-away zone" even though there were ZERO indications that I was in any kind of a no parking zone at all. No signs, no paint, no nothing. What the cop told me was "its a civil matter." I've noticed they love to pull that stunt when they just don't want to get involved.
Couple weeks later, someone posted a big painted sign on the light pole near the entrance that said "Pollard's Towing - KICKBACK$$". Guess I wasn't the only one. About a year later someone vandalized every car in the Pollard's lot one night. Pollard's got sued by several parties for quite a large sum and ended up having to sell the place. Too bad, so sad. What comes around goes around.
Edit to add:
I knew what the towing regs were because I worked at the time at an office just up the street. We had a very small lot with assigned spaces that were leased to our offices. This location was very close to a downtown area and we often had people parking in this spaces who were not workers of or visitors to the office. The procedure was to call it in the PD, who will post a neon orange sticker on the car informing of the tow, attempt contact, and then wait 24 hours. Of course, when we would call PD and give them the story and that we had to have employees park on the street behind due to lack of parking, the pig then did a run on that street and ticketed all our workers who had parked on that street for more than 3 hours without moving their vehicle. Assholes everywhere I tell 'ya.
