Car with expired plates towed from apartment complex (Provo, Orem: lease, car insurance)

[davetah]

I walked over to move my car to a shady spot and it was gone. I called police and they said it was impounded at a local tow company at 8pm two nights ago (Wednesday) but couldn't tell me anything more and couldn't do anything about it except to say to talk to my apartment manager.

I left a message with them. I looked up the towing company online and found every review said they had trolled and stolen people's cars and charged them hundreds of dollars to get them out. Sounds like a scam to me!

I looked up that private business owners can call on cars with expired plates and have them towed, but also that I am supposed to get a warning call from the manager or a sticker on the car, neither of which happened. I also was not notified by either party that it was towed or impounded, even though the car is registered with them as they require that upon moving in.

It was sitting out there in various parking spots in plain view for over a month, and suddenly 10 days into July it's gone. This is theft as far as I'm concerned. I should have gotten a sticker or a warning or a notification at the very least. I should not have to pay storage fees as nobody told me they took it and I just randomly found out because I wanted to move it. If they had called me on it I would have just parked it at my mom's garage. I was selling it to a friend Monday and I had just washed it a few days earlier.

I looked in my lease; nowhere does it say anything about towing a car or expired plates. The only mention is that they may prohibit an "inoperable" vehicle on the premises... well, it's operable! They never said anything in my agreement meeting about expired vehicles.

Were they in the wrong for not notifying me? How is anyone fairly charged for storage fees if they're not notified the car is towed? The apartment manager should have at the very least known that it was towed (since they work with the towing company) and that it was registered with them. This isn't right or fair that I was not contacted prior or after the towing.

[oldtrader]

I looked in my lease; nowhere does it say anything about towing a car or expired plates. The only mention is that they may prohibit an "inoperable" vehicle on the premises... well, it's operable! They never said anything in my agreement meeting about expired vehicles.

Any car without current license plates is not allowed to be on the streets, and that makes them inoperable. A car without current license plates, is considered to be inoperable or abandoned, and most apartment complexes will not allow them to be on the premises. You are lucky they waited over a month to get rid of your car, probably considering it had been abandoned and had it towed.

[what???]

How are you not aware that your plates are expired? The MVD indicates when it's time to renew. Unless, of course, you have out of state plates too . It's absolutely not illegal for your car to be towed off of private property. It's not your property. It belongs to a property management company that can have any car towed off that it wants to. Keep up to date registration stickers on your plate and you shouldn't have any additional problems....

[TCAS007]

Oldtrader said it all. Nothing else to add.

Consider it as a lesson.

[steven_h]

This was an expensive lesson to learn. Two days storage + tow is usually between $300-$500 + the proof of registry (anyway). Yes, quite an expensive lesson indeed.

[Cat-A-Tonic]

Not sure what city you're living in, but the Orem-Provo area is known for their ridiculous towing of vehicles, so much so that the Provo mayor is attempting to do something about it.

With an expired registration/plates/etc. it may very well be within their rights to tow it, charge a ****-ton of $, not notify you of your vehicle being towed- I honestly have no idea.

Many of the complexes (here in Provo/Orem) have "curfews" for VISITOR parking so the towing companies will wait until 2am (or whatever time is specified) and tow people's cars 5-10 minutes after the "curfew". Of course the tow companies then want to charge $250+ for fees to get your vehicle back. My bf and I made the mistake of forgetting to move his truck by 2am so the the next morning when he went out to his truck to go to work it was missing. It ended up being a very expensive mistake, and one I will never forget again. Now I don't, and tell my friends not to park in any of the VISITOR spaces regardless of the time of day because it's not worth the risk of 'forgetting to move it' in time. The parking situation is awful where I live- not enough PRIVATE spaces to accommodate the residents, not much off-street parking, very little VISITOR parking. I can easily see someone calling to report a vehicle that had been unmoved in a space for a good length of time in hope they could snatch up the space. Perhaps someone reported it thinking it was abandoned.

I hope you're able to find some relief and answers somewhere. I understand your frustration.

[cedarite]

The problem in Utah is serious enough that an anti-predatory towing bill was passed by the legislature last session (HB115) but it was apparently watered down significantly before passage. It does supposedly at least keep the tow companies from extorting people for cash on the spot.

[davetah]

I didn't realize leaving the car in a nearly-empty parking lot with expired plates a few weeks old (I was trying to sell it) would result in a tow or that it's not common practice to just notify you especially when the apartment managers require you to give them your licence plates and phone number but then don't care to call you when they're notified by the towing company that it's towed; at least the towing company was courteous enough to do it, but of course they're contracted with the apartment owners and maybe they even split the fees. Even after complaining to the managers about not notifying me (it was gone for 3 days before I even noticed as it was not parked on the way through my walk) they said they had no obligation to contact me and it was just too hard anyways because their filing system is archaic and outdated. Oh well, so much for courteous and sensible apartment managers/owners.

The fees are excessive but I read that Utah was cracking down on predatory towing and pushing a law to make things more sensible.

[dcisive]

Now if they would just tow people into jail that don't have car insurance but are STILL operating a motor vehicle, THEN we'd have it made To add to that make ALL drivers take a stringent drivers exam in order to renew their licenses. That would probably take about 60% at least, of the drivers off the road. Add to that a $500 fine and impounding of a car from a driver that texts while driving. Now your talkin!

[Chango]

A lot of it has to do with whether you were actually on private property or not. If it was a predatory tower brought there by your building owner you are gonna have a tough time fighting it; you might end up having to file a lawsuit. Otherwise an "abandoned vehicle" can be towed from private property after 7 days; expired registration is considered evidence the car is "abandoned".

If it was on public property you can try to do an "Impound Hearing" and will likely be able to argue the price down at least.