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Comment by gambiting | Hacker News Reader

How come towing vehicles is so common in the US, but not so much in the UK? I've literally never heard of anyone getting their vehicle towed away over here, but it sounds like in US you can get it towed for something as minor as not paying for parking(which just results in getting a fine here).

Genuienly curious.

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Many American states have laws that allow tow companies to rob people.

Tow companies literally just go into parking lot of apartment complexes they have a contract with and start removing cars with expired or non visible parking stickers. Nobody called them, the car is not a problem. They then only take cash, are not available on weekends, charge you some crazy rate like 150/day, won’t even let you into the car to get your personal items, then after 15 days, they sell your car. It’s functionally just stealing from the poor

They particularly like doing it on days with bad weather too. And they are so rude and aggressive and antagonistic. I’m convinced any time a tow company is short on cash, they just send their people out there to hunt for cars to tow

And since it’s mostly poor minorities that bear the brunt of these abuses, many people are okay with it

In the US if you park on the street and don't pay, or overstay the time you paid for, you're generally only going to get a ticket/fine. You might get towed if you're blocking a fire hydrant or parked in a fire lane or blocking a bus stop or traffic lane or something like that.

You have to be very careful on private property particularly apartment residences, many have contracts with towing companies to remove unauthorized vehicles. You need to be sure you're in a designated "guest parking" area or that there is no issue with parking in an available space. Same for retail and restaurants especially those that are close to some other attraction. They want the parking for their customers and if they figure out that you've parked there and walked away they will have your car towed. They are supposed to post signs if there is a tow policy but they aren't always very visible so you have to look around or talk to the property manager.

Probably $100-$200 to get it back, usually cash only. I'd like to see an audit of their books. Depending on the state or local laws they might not be able to actually keep your car if you just demand it back. It's your property and they have no claim on it. They would need to get a court order to force you to pay. They will not tell you this and will act quite agressive if you challenge them, but if you know your rights you might be able to say "well I'll call the sheriff and we'll see what they say about it."

It's common for people to ignore parking fines until they pile up. A city might "boot" the car to disable it, or they can tow it; either way extorting the owner to pay. Also, private parking areas contract with tow companies which incentivizes the tow companies to patrol proactively looking for violators and tow anyone without a permit or whatever. So a market was created.

Moderately recently (maybe ten years ago?) the police got the power to seize and destroy abandoned vehicles. This was intended to address the occasional obvious wreck you see at the roadside. Flat tyres, broken windows, full of rubbish, etc.

But there have been a few cases of people going on holiday for a fortnight and returning to find that their old but taxed and insured car has been taken. And they have no legal redress!

This does seem to be very rare though.

Is that in the UK or US? Sorry just isn't clear from the post.

Sorry, England.

How do you handle it in the UK if you arrive home and find that someone has parked in your private driveway without permission which prevents you from parking your car on your property?

I don't know, I've never heard of that happening to anyone.

But a quick google says if that were to happen to you it's best to just leave it and wait for the owner to come back, it's not illegal(it's only a civil offence so you'd need to sue the person who did it), if you get it towed you have to pay for the tow and you'd be responsible for any damages that happen to the car in that time.

Again, that sounds purely theoretical, I can't imagine it's actually common.

Is that a common issue in the US?

Depends on the city for how harshly it's enforced on public roads, but you absolutely can be towed off private property pretty much anywhere.

Check out GToger (sp?) on YouTube. IT guy who was working in Dallas (hasn't posted in a long while, maybe changed jobs?) in an area heavy with nightlife. Tons of videos from surveillance cameras of people getting towed for parking in very clearly marked "NO PARKING" spots.

I've seen it fairly often at apartments in the US that have assigned parking spaces.

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