“Outside the Rite Aid in Allston, Robert’s trucks patrol the customer-only parking lot, hiding with their lights off behind a building as they hunt for cars to tow – and the $131 fee that owners must pay to liberate their vehicles from the impound lot.” Boston Globe.
Wow – hunting for cars-this is legal robbery. Where is Martha Coakley when she could help?
If Menino wants to generate business in Boston he needs to press charges and put fines on these guys.
Please share widely!
And how much is stuff like debt collection?
Other places in Massachusetts has had some serious problems with abusive towing practices as part of debt collection activities (see here for the Globe’s coverage of debt collection practices in general. I recommend reading the whole thing. The towing part is kind of spread out throughout).
So I wouldn’t be surprised if Boston has the same issues as the rest of the state.
have had
Don’t want to get towed? Don’t park on private property where signs warn that you will be towed.
Make a choice, pay the consequences.
Parked at a bus stop? Tow.
Double parked to run in to a store? Tow.
Parked at a hydrant? Tow.
Parked at a handicap spot? Tow.
Parked at that spot near the corner past the “No parking here to corner” sign? Tow.
Parked on and obstructing the sidewalk? Tow.
Meter expired? Ticket.
Expired inspection ticket? Ticket.
Parked facing the wrong direction? Ticket.
The difference between the categories? Every single auto in the first category is currently causing a hazard to other users and/or being a supreme jerkwad — by requiring bus riders to venture into the street, by obstructing a lane or a hydrant or a view. The autos in the latter category aren’t actively causing danger, therefore they don’t need to be removed. Cities and towns ought to do a whole lot more of this.
Oh, yeah discretion of the tow truck driver. That’s bound to be fair.
Here’s a question: Suppose I park at that Rite-Aid, go in and buy a pack of razor blades, then walk over to one of those restaurants and eat. Can they legally tow my car? Will my sales slip from the drugstore get my car or my money back?
The original (by Steve Goodman no less) is here.
Me buckos.
No tears here.
The lots where the cars are towed from are all private business/residence that are in congested areas causing their privately owned lots to have non-customer residents taking the coveted spaces they own and pay taxes on.
The property owners conspicuous signs through the lot explaining the policy and giving a phone number and address for where the car is.
The property owner then contracts with the heavily regulated tow company to monitor the lot for cars not belonging there. Residential properties also have sticker program.
As for the bar and restaurant owners whose patrons take thew risk and park in the parking lots of closed businesses they should work out an arrangement $$ like every other business allowing their night time customers use of the lot.
Mayor Menino should broker it.
But really, screw the people that ignore conspicuous warnings. If they were improperly towed there is a due process. And with cell phone cams more and more available it is easy to show no signage or other facts showing car was illegally towed.
I agree, though I’d remove the word heavily. It seems to be an open question as to just how heavily [or well] regulated the MA towing industry is…
The “good” examples of regulation in there seem pretty lousy indeed: in DC, it says that private property owner must sign off on each individual tow. Which is essentially make-work paperwork designed to make it difficult to get unauthorized cars off your property, and so protects the important civil right to free parking.
to break into an auto to tow it merely because it’s parked on private property (as opposed to, say, being in a dangerous place)?
The article included an allegation that a tow truck operator used a slim jim to unlock a door, entered the auto, and in the process of releasing the E-brake damaged the vehicle. It seems to me that while towing should be OK, both (a) damaging the auto is not OK, but also (b) entering the vehicle is not OK. That’s an area where I think the regulation could stand to be tightened, for example.
He can either enter the car, or tow it without releasing the e-brake and disengaging the transmission, and perhaps do thousands of dollars worth of damage.
The only regulatory concession I would make is that the lot must be clearly marked “parking by permit only.” If you ignore that sign, tough. If your car is damaged, tough. Park in a legal spot next time.
I have lived in a city in which it was difficult to tow, even from private property. The process took 3-4 hours: I come home, find my spot (that I pay for) occupied, call the manager, who calls the tow company, which does some paperwork and puts you in the queue, and a few hours later, the car gets towed if its owner hasn’t removed it by then. People know that they can afford to park there for a short time, they can, so they do. Which kind of defeated the purpose of paying for a parking spot: I either had to drive around late at night and hope, or pay for another spot.
In Brighton, this never happened because anyone dumb enough to park in a private lot without authorization gets yanked immediately.
Parking in the city is scarce, and therefore costly. This is an instance of people screaming for their “right” to get something that is valuable for free.
Zero sympathy. Move your )(**(&(&*^&$## car.
thank you. Been tempted to slash a few tires on my street in the past. Now tow trucks arrive promptly.
He can either enter the car, or tow it without releasing the e-brake and disengaging the transmission, and perhaps do thousands of dollars worth of damage.
There are so many more options than this:
* He could do nothing
* He could surround the vehicle with Jersey barricades
* He could park the car in with other vehicles
* He could let the air out of the tires [illegal?]
I’m not arguing that people should be allowed to park in private spaces by fiat. There is plenty of room in the middle of this issue — allow towing [and/or some other form of penalty], but regulate it so that the tow truck operators, many of whom rival pawn shop operators for downright ethics-free power imbalance nastiness, don’t act in such a way which is unnecessarily nasty, unfair, or inappropriate. The right to tow is not a right to damage the vehicle, charge excessive fees, or perform any number of other inappropriate activities.
I agree, the mass rule that once car on hook it can be towed. Hey, money is money and the guy driving the truck makes money on the tow. sucks. Law should force towers to release car if owner arrives on scene prior to departure.
(But we don’t want crazy scenes of people chasing down tow trucks on Harvard Ave.)
just fyi.
there are few businesses there, the others are boarded up. there are kajillions of empty spots at all hours.
…then who is it hurting to park there? I understand wanting to make sure your own customers have someplace to park, but when your business is closed it seems like a moot point. Also, if there is a dispute over whether the person was a patron or not shouldn’t the burden be not on the car owner, you know, the whole innocent until proven guilty thing for an accusation of illegality? Plus I’d even be tempted to argue that this does not fall into what the 4th Amendment would consider a reasonable seizure.
Owner of car parked on private property slips on ice while accessing vehicle.
Guess what happens next.
and the insurance company settles and your rates go up or you lose your insurance.
BTW – I’m responsible for a suburban parking lot.
I’ve had one person clean his car out and dump the trash in the lot, another change his oil, one person relieves himself on a tree in my lot every night on the way home, and another filled my dumpster up with old TVs and tires. One large truck turned his tires without moving and destroyed the asphalt where he was turning around – ding 2K of repairs.
##$#$$$ you – you park in my lot you get towed
BTW if you are a neighbor and ask to use the lot for special occasions, yes you can just ask.
Lodger – I don’t know if it has legal weight, but you post a sign saying “Park at your own risk when establishment is closed”, or of course just keep up with your responsibilities to maintain the lot.
Rockarchitect – Your examples are unacceptable destruction of property which simply parking one’s car generally does not cause. If you are really insistent that nobody park when your establishment is closed put up a gate and lock it so it’s not even an issue.
In general I agree with stomv’s comment above: If it is an immediate safety hazard tow it; if it is simply a violation of a posted notice ticket it.
And “at your own risk” signs are used as a deterrence, but probably have no legal effect at all. If the business is closed, and ice forms, and someone falls on their way to their illegally parked car, lot owner gets sued, and gets to pay.
without a warrant… which is why it’s not at all obvious to me why it’s OK for a tow truck operator to enter a vehicle with a slim jim [see comment above].
Perhaps a more appropriate response is to allow ticketing of autos parked on private property. It could easily devolve into a he-said she-said and could be otherwise complicated… but I really don’t see why it’s OK for a tow truck operator to enter a locked vehicle [or cause $1000s of damage to a vehicle by towing an e-braked vehicle].
As for this owner gets sued nonsense… there are 100 other reasons why a person might be on the lot and might fall on ice and might sue. It seems to me if that’s the argument in favor of a “No Parking” sign, then the person is working really hard to justify the sign.
Same reason people don’t have first amendment rights on private property.
When I pay for a parking spot, and get home late to find the space filled by someone looking for free parking in the city, and must then go either spend time cruising for a street spot or pay at some other lot, the person who took the spot is a trespasser and a thief.
That person can either spend their own time hunting, pay for a spot of their own, or take a taxi or the T. They are not entitled to free parking on my dime, and they certainly have no “right” to be there at all. Any damage to the vehicle is self-inflicted.