Beware of Parking

Apparently there's a new racket to (legally) scam people out of money these days in Dallas. A friend of mine has been a victim of this scam twice in the past week alone and 3 times total in the past year. Apparently apartment complexes contract with tow companies to remove cars from their properties that are not in compliance with their policies. In the past, this usually meant cars that were abandoned, broken down, parked in fire zones, or otherwise detrimental to the value of the property. I can perhaps understand towing someone who is in a fire zone or parked in a spot that is clearly marked "reserved." However, the new trend seems to find the most nit-picky parking errors and tow the car without warning. Just a week ago, my friend squeezed into a small spot in his apartment complex and because the car beside him had not parked correctly, he was over the line. The next morning he walked out to go to work and found no car....towed because of "double space parking." That was a $163 mistake that also made him over an hour late to work. Last night, the same friend was visiting his brother in another apartment complex. His brother just moved in about a week ago and doesn't have a car, so he wasn't even aware of the policies regarding parking. Now, this complex had more than ample parking. There were literally hundreds of vacant parking places. There were no signs posted regarding prohibitions of parking nor were any of the parking spaces marked with any kind of labels indicating "visitor" or "resident." A couple of hours later, my friend walks outside to find his car missing...again. A call to the police led to the discovery that again his car had been towed. This time for "unauthorized" parking. Another $171 down the drain. It is infuriating because he had no idea he could potentially be parking in the wrong spot. There was no warning, no explanation. It's not like when you park in a fire zone or a handicap spot without authorization...you are at least aware of the risk. In both these cases, he had no idea you could even be towed for something as minor and petty as this. Apparently this complex requires a "resident sticker" and if you don't have a sticker, you have to park in "visitor" parking. The only problem was it wasn't clearly marked which spots were visitor or resident. After he was informed of this policy at the tow facility, he later drove around the complex and finally found a section of "visitor" parking that was nowhere near his brother's apartment...it wouldn't have been safe or convenient to park so far away from where he could keep an eye on the vehicle....especially when there were MORE than enough so-called resident spots near the apartment. I might could even understand if they were having an overcrowding problem, but this was not the case. This was clearly just a money-grab...very irritating. A few months ago, his car was towed for an expired inspection sticker, though it had only been out for a day or two. Legally they are supposed to provide a warning and give the resident time to correct the problem in instances like that, so since they did not provide a warning, he ended up getting his money back on that case, but not without a lengthy hassle. When he was picking up his car from the tow facility, there was another girl there who had just been towed from a parking garage after only 15 minutes in a "Future Resident Only" spot....mind you, it was 11pm on a Sunday night...the complex office wasn't even open to accept future residents at that time of night, so what was it hurting for her to park there? What was it hurting for my friend to park in an otherwise empty parking lot just because it didn't say visitor? Was that really worth punishing them with an almost $200 fine?

I think this is ludicrous that these complexes can create these arbitrary parking rules and not even inform visitors and residents about the policies and then tow you without warning. Legally they are allowed to do this, but I think it is very shady business. Fortunately for my friend, he was able to somewhat afford the unexpected expense, but what about people who are barely getting by financially? This could be a major blow to the budget....just to line someone else's pockets. If they aren't able to come up with the money, their car can be sold in an auction, which could further complicate their situation for getting to work and staying above water. I think it is a very unfair practice that needs to be addressed.