I really don't understand why the laws are such that they can just keep your car, adding fees, until you pay. It's not like these people want to store their car there. Regardless of the outrageous storage and towing fees, you should be able to take your car immediately and pay them later. They can just put collections out or impound your car later if you don't pay.
I can remember few times I was as angry as I was at a tow yard. My car was stolen, found by the police, and impounded at a tow yard. I went to the tow yard to get the car out, they wanted hundreds of dollars to store the car for the few hours it was there. I went to get some belongings out of the car (I foolishly left my wallet in the car when it was stolen, so I had no cash or credit cards to free the car at that moment), and was accused of stealing my own car by the tow yard employee (as if that somehow makes sense). Later, I returned to pick up the car the next day, these tow yard people had stolen my snow chains out of the car.
Agreed, it is absolutely insane that you have to pay 100% of their seemingly arbitrary fees before taking your car back.
Your credit card company, that you have a written agreement with, would have to jump through such greater hoops to take back the TV you bought if you default (if they can at all).
Taking someone's car should be considered more like turning off their water, for many it's not a convenience but a necessary part of life.
I was curious, so I looked up the relevant state law:
22651.07(3)(c)(2) states that:
Prior to paying any towing, recovery, or storage related fees, a vehicle owner... shall have the right to... Retrieve his or her vehicle during the first 72 hours of storage and not pay a lien fee.
It seems that these tow yards may actually be violating the law by preventing people from retrieving their cars.
> I really don't understand why the laws are such that they can just keep your car, adding fees, until you pay.
In the city where I live, this is mainly because the towing people are given contracts saying they can do just that by the City Council. Of course, a couple of people on the City Council are pretty close to owners of said towing companies.
Seems like the way to reform this would be to expose these kinds of ties, and get normal people to recognize the viciously corrupt cycle that enables them. Unfortunately, politics like this is seen as the preserve of older, richer people, and most others just go about their jobs and accept it as an unfortunate "fact of life".
Towing costs money. From the towing's company point of view towing a car is an investment they are hoping to recover with some margin. When they have your car as a collateral the chances of a successful recovery are much higher than when they just give you the car back. If they had been forced to do the later they'd have to increase the fees to offset the increased risk of losing their money.
Why should they be so privileged as to be able to take and hold your property? I can't think of any other private business that is just gifted this kind of racket.
Why is said person so privledged to park in a no parking zone? Thats public property, he should follow the agreed upon rules that the rest of us follow.
Doesn't matter. They tow and store cars. They don't investigate the story behind each car. They don't change their policies based on how unfortunate and upsetting your story is. They tow and store cars.
I can remember few times I was as angry as I was at a tow yard. My car was stolen, found by the police, and impounded at a tow yard. I went to the tow yard to get the car out, they wanted hundreds of dollars to store the car for the few hours it was there. I went to get some belongings out of the car (I foolishly left my wallet in the car when it was stolen, so I had no cash or credit cards to free the car at that moment), and was accused of stealing my own car by the tow yard employee (as if that somehow makes sense). Later, I returned to pick up the car the next day, these tow yard people had stolen my snow chains out of the car.