When you have your car towed from privet Property you should know your rights when towed. There are 2 new companies in the Chula Vista area that are towing cars illegally and if you have been towed by them you should know what your right are. Lets talk about commercial properties first a commercial property would be a place of business IE, Shopping center, small strip center and place that business is conducted excluding motels or Hotels. Her is the Law.
Removal Prohibited 22953. (a) An owner or person in lawful possession of private property that is held open to the public, or a discernible portion thereof, for parking of vehicles at no fee, or an employee or agent thereof, shall not tow or remove, or cause the towing or removal, of a vehicle within one hour of the vehicle being parked. (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a vehicle may be removed immediately after being illegally parked within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, in a fire lane, in a manner that interferes with an entrance to, or an exit from, the private property, or in a parking space or stall legally designated for disabled persons. (c) Subdivision (a) does not apply to property designated for parking at residential property, or to property designated for parking at a hotel or motel where the parking stalls or spaces are clearly marked for a specific room. (d) It is the intent of the Legislature in the adoption of subdivision (a) to avoid causing the unnecessary stranding of motorists and placing them in dangerous situations, when traffic citations and other civil remedies are available, thereby promoting the safety of the general public. (e) A person who violates subdivision (a) is civilly liable to the owner of the vehicle or his or her agent for two times the amount of the towing and storage charges.
Let me break this down to you. No car can be towed until the vehicle has been parked there for 1 hr on commercial properties, But if you are parked in a firelane or in a handicap space and you do not have a plate or placard displayed you can be towed imitate.
In the chula vista area there are many places that Pacific towing is towing cars from and they are not waiting the hour before towing and in most cases the person who is having the cars towed is Selective parking enforcement. Now lets talk about that also, Selective is getting a kickback from Pacific Towing for every car that is being towed, you may ask how i know this well lets think about for a minute, lets get back to what the law says. The law says the towing company can not Employe the person who is authorizing the tow, so the question is the person who owns or manages the property are they paying a fee to Selective parking for there services? Call and ask them because if there not that would mean the towing company must be paying them to have the vehicles towed otherwise how would selective parking be making there money? They make there money because the tow company is paying them thats how, next time you or know someone who was towed from a commercial property make the call to the property management company or the owner of the property and ask them that question. Also if for somereason they say they do ask to see the contract i would say its safe to assume that they do not a a sperate agreement. The towing company and the parking enforcement company should have 2 sperate agreement for each business. Lets touch on one more thing the (Drop Fee) here is the law.
It is the intent of the Legislature in the adoption of subdivision (g) to promote the safety of the general public by requiring towing companies to unconditionally release a vehicle that is not lawfully in their possession, thereby avoiding the likelihood of dangerous and violent confrontation and physical injury to vehicle owners and towing operators, the stranding of vehicle owners and their passengers at a dangerous time and location, and impeding expedited vehicle recovery, without wasting law enforcements limited resources.
In other words if the tow truck has not yet left the property with your car he can not force you to pay a drop fee, now you do owe the money to the tow company and they may come after thru collections and other means but they can not force you to pay right there and then. So if you get in this situation break out the cell phone and hit record so you have proof that they would not release your car. Now if he or she has removed the vehicle and are off the privet property they then have possession and do not have to release it to you at that point they would be intitled to the full tow amount.
There are many things that public is not aware with these towing companies that are towing illegally from privet property so if you have been towed and think it was not legal look into it. I will continue posting to give more infromation on this subject... That aswer would be what the law says.
0 comments