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I can understand being upset that there is a car parked in your driveway, and you couldn't find anyone around (which is very unlikely in your neighborhood, now that it is clear where you live)-that you would be upset. Yes- I would actually expect that you would would ask several folks on your street if the car belonged to them, and make every effort before having it towed (put yourself in their shoes). Was the car stopping you from getting into your home?
I think you took a bad situation, and made it much, much worse. I hope that you and your neighbor can somehow make amends.
I agree, I don't think it was a great way to start your relationship off with your neighbors. I totally understand it was an inconvenience, but instead of being neighborly and just sucking it up, you passed that inconvenience along to someone else. Maybe it's just me, but I would have knocked on several doors until I was able to talk to quite a few people. Surely someone was home and knew whose car it was. And if no one knew or no one answered, I would have given it some more time, not been so hell bent on trying to get them towed.
Now should that person have parked in your driveway-no. But, if they truly thought the home was vacant and had no idea you were moving in that day, it was an honest mistake. Now damage has been done that can't be undone and you'll likely never have a good rapport with your neighbors. Even if you think they're being nice to your face, surely they've got other not so nice conversations going on behind your back. You're the new kid on the block and I would imagine they'd all stick together. But maybe you don't care about bonding with your neighbors.
Why is everyone defending the person that parked in the driveway?! Anyone who would leave their car in someone else's driveway is an A hole and hopefully getting his car towed will teach the guy a lesson. I'd do the same thing, the last thing I'd want to do when moving is to be knocking on everyone's door to try and find the owner. A moving truck is big and damn noisy, and should have been enough to alert the owner of the car that it needed to be moved. If you don't have enough room in your own driveway for all your cars, then friggen move!!
I'm not trying to defend the neighbor who parked in the driveway, but I cannot believe that the OP actually called 911 about a car parked in his driveway. It doesn't matter if he told the operator it wasn't an emergency. DON'T CALL 911 UNLESS IT'S AN ACTUAL EMERGENCY. Jeez.
hey is this the other side of a blog i just read. I can understand, moving is a hard and frustrating task. I havent had a move in my life that went as planned. I honestly feel like the situation could have been resolved with a lil bit more patience. I dont know how much of ur driveway was blocked and how much of a inconvience it caused you sitting there but I hope that the neighboring greeting on a bad not ended there.
You did the right thing. You let them know up front you are not to be taken advantage of. Good for you.
I purchased a foreclosure and the next door neighbor and anyone that came to her house would park in what would come to be my assigned space because the house was vacant for over a year.
The first time it happened, I went over and she had her company move the car. But she had an attitude about it. This problem continued until one day I blocked her car in and when she came to ask me to move I did not answer my door. After about 3 hours of knocking on all of my windows and doors and blowing up my telephone, she called the police and they asked me to move or they would have to tow my car because it was illegally parked. I moved and since then have not had a problem.
You did the right thing. You let them know up front you are not to be taken advantage of. Good for you.
I purchased a foreclosure and the next door neighbor and anyone that came to her house would park in what would come to be my assigned space because the house was vacant for over a year.
The first time it happened, I went over and she had her company move the car. But she had an attitude about it. This problem continued until one day I blocked her car in and when she came to ask me to move I did not answer my door. After about 3 hours of knocking on all of my windows and doors and blowing up my telephone, she called the police and they asked me to move or they would have to tow my car because it was illegally parked. I moved and since then have not had a problem.
Oh, yes, because resorting to childish behavior solves everything. I bet you're the most well loved neighbor on the street.
I think if every reasonable effort was made to locate the owners and they weren't around, the OP had every right to have the car towed. Who wants to pay extra for a moving van because they couldn't get in the driveway and start unloading? The OP would have been blasted for blocking the street because his driveway had an unauthorized vehicle in it. For those of you who say you would have knocked on doors and waited, I'm sure you'd change your tune if you were paying for a moving van and couldn't get the work done in the allotted time because a vehicle that didn't belong to you was parked in your driveway. I say the person who parked in the driveway created the awkward moment, especially if he parked in the driveway of a house that had the potential of being sold (wasn't condemned, had obvious traffic of potential buyers).
For those of you who say you would have knocked on doors and waited, I'm sure you'd change your tune if you were paying for a moving van and couldn't get the work done in the allotted time because a vehicle that didn't belong to you was parked in your driveway. I say the person who parked in the driveway created the awkward moment, especially if he parked in the driveway of a house that had the potential of being sold (wasn't condemned, had obvious traffic of potential buyers).
Actually, no, I wouldn't. Now, would I wait around for an entire day, no. But would I knock on more than two doors and take care of other things for a while before I tried again-absolutely. I'm not defending the person who parked in the driveway. Obviously it wasn't his space to park in, but we don't know the situation of why he was parked there. A neighborhood is a lot different than say a shopping center or office building. The foundation of every neighborhood is the relationship neighbors build with one another. I would do everything possible to protect that relationship prior to taking steps to ruin it. Call me crazy, but I would want to go out of my way to start out on the right foot, even if it means a little inconvenience for me and giving the neighbor the benefit of the doubt. I know it would be worth it in the long run.
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