Need Advice

[rhill]

Ok here we go! My father got to our wash this am and there was a parked car sitting in one of our bays. It takes him about an hour to clean the wash and still car is blocking our bay. ( Nice sunny day with cars waiting in line) Call police and basically nothing that they can do for 24 hours. Call tow company and they won't touch it. So has this happened to anyone and if so what did you do? I told my father to ask cop if a car was left in the Mcdonalds drive thru that they would be shut down for 24 hours? But still the car sits there with one of our bays shut down. Any advice?
Thanks
Ryan

 

[dewey9876]

I don't see whay tow co. would not at least move it for you. Just put it in corner of lot out of the way. Why did the police not run the plates and notify the owner of the vehicle that he needs to move his vehicle. I would try again with the police and tow company, this makes no sence to me.

 

[Sequoia]

Will the tow company simply move it to another part of the property for you where it is out of the way? If they would do that, then I'd use my vehicle to block it so the owner now has to find me to retrieve his car.

Then we could discuss the tow bill and lost revenue from the blocked bay.

 

[lag]

There is a 24hr rule here too, but if we tell them it is inerfering with our buisness they will tow it. Also they should have at least contacted the owner,(or gave you the owners name to contact. Sue them in small claims court for lost revenue.

Also for the next time it happens, make sure you know all your city codes,you may be able to post signs about it being private property ,and unattended vechiles will be towed.

 

[bigleo48]

That is dispicable behaviour! Police here would run the plates and call the owner. They would also have it towed if they did not come to move it within an hour or so. If you can't have it moved, I would block the exit of that bay with my truck and not allow him to leave until I was good and ready to move. You might lose some bay time, but it would be worth it.

 

[pitzerwm]

If you paid them, the tow company would move it out of the bay. In most states they can't tow off private property unless its posted. Get that taken care of so you can solve it quickly in the future. I'd also talk to your Mayor or Chief of Police, that's pretty pathetic that they wouldn't offer some help.

 

[rhill]

Thanks for all your help. The police did run the plates and the car is from another city about 70 miles away. They tried to contact the owner however the phone service had been disconnected. The tow company stated that they cant move it until the police give there ok as they don't want any liability. So looks like I need to get some signs made.
Thanks again
Ryan

 

[JMMUSTANG]

I don't know if you're in a cold climate or not but I had a person do the same thing about a month ago.
I told him to move it right away because I had to work on the bay since it was frozen and his car would have water sprayed all over it if it was not moved.
He didn't move it. So I made sure that when I was using the hot water hose to defrost the bay hoses I sprayed the heck out of his car. Once the bay was working I used the cold water rinse and sprayed every crevice of the car.
By the time I was done it had ice all over it. The next morning when he came to pick it up he wasn't happy. I told him that I warned him that I needed his car moved or that is what would happen.
Yesterday he had his truck in my bay. Again I called him and left a message that the same thing would happen if he didn't come right up. He was there in 30 minutes.
Not an ideal way of dealing with the matter but he happens to be one of my tenants. So I have to be a little carefull.

 

[MEP001]

So far all the advice matches what I've experienced. You can't have it towed off unless you have signs posted with the tow company's name on it - you could have it moved within the property, but you'd have to pay the wrecker. The cops who ran the plate and tried to contact the owner did you a courtesy for which they're not obligated.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

First time it happened to me I checked into it. The law here in PA is that if you have a "no unattended parking without permission." sign, you can tow immediately, at the car owners expense. I put up signs immediately.

If the law in my state didnt allow that, I'd push it to the back of my lot with my truck. Then if I was in a redneck mood, I'd take 2 of his tires.

Btw, no, I dont tow every car that gets left on my lot. If its rainy, or they called, or they left a not saying they couldnt start the car, I give a lot of slack.

 

[pitzerwm]

Parking in the bay and leaving without a call or note, what the hell? Some people are beyond stupid, and deserve to have it towed, and I always did. I've had them tell me that it is public property and they can park where they want. $150 later, they might figure it out.

 

[Randy]

Come on this is a NO BRAINIER!! Tow the car and open up the bay. He?s taking money out of your pocket. I?ve tow many cars over the years. The only time I?ve had anyone complain was when I towed an under cover DEA agents piece of crap car out of a bay. Boy was he pi$$?d. He sued in small claims court and lost, it was funny to watch him go off on the judge.
I had the towing company post 4 signs, 1 on the each side and 2 on the back fence stating that any unattended vehicles would be tow or something to that affect. It?s your property, what if they parked there car on your front yard, would you have towed then.

 

[BayWatch]

After reading this thread, I will be putting up signs that read "All unclaimed and/or unattended property, no matter the value, will become mine after 20 minutes". This should solve your problems fairly quickly.

 

[pitzerwm]

Baywatch, you might want to check the abandoned property laws in your state, first.

 

[Kevin Reilly]

We have our service truck come with a floor jack if it's in a bay for any length of time and move it out.
Once we had a female druggie passed out and she wouldn't respond so I called the fire department. They came and of course the police follows. After taking her to the hospital (she had a choice of that or jail and the cops knew her and she knew the system! She chose hospital) and I asked the cops about the car. They said they couldn't do anything, but if it were put on the street where the red zone is they would tow it. So we took the floor jack towed it out to the no parking zone and the police had it towed. The car was a real pile of crap so I'm sure it never hit the road again.

If the car is not in our way we'll go a day, but if it's in the way of our business we'll move it to where we have to.

 

[Washmee]

We have our service truck come with a floor jack if it's in a bay for any length of time and move it out.
Once we had a female druggie passed out and she wouldn't respond so I called the fire department. They came and of course the police follows. After taking her to the hospital (she had a choice of that or jail and the cops knew her and she knew the system! She chose hospital) and I asked the cops about the car. They said they couldn't do anything, but if it were put on the street where the red zone is they would tow it. So we took the floor jack towed it out to the no parking zone and the police had it towed. The car was a real pile of crap so I'm sure it never hit the road again.

If the car is not in our way we'll go a day, but if it's in the way of our business we'll move it to where we have to.

All you need are a set of these. http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_860918_860918

Just use a floor jack to put one under each wheel and push it out of the way. I have used mine more than once over the years.

 

[Randy]

It's a whole lot easier to call the hook. Years ago I had my clean up guy sign a blank tow authorization form, he?s no longer with me. This way all I have to do is call the towing company give them the license number and they?ll come get the car. I don?t have to hang around waiting for the tow truck they already have a signed authorization form.

 

[Rockstar]

WTF!!They would need a tow truck when I was done!! I never had that happen,but I think I would have a major freak out

 

[Louise]

I've had this problem several times. I called every tow company in the book and finally found one that would do a "private tow". I don't have any signs posted, but they don't care. They are usually on site within one hour.

 

[Washmee]

It's a whole lot easier to call the hook. Years ago I had my clean up guy sign a blank tow authorization form, he?s no longer with me. This way all I have to do is call the towing company give them the license number and they?ll come get the car. I don?t have to hang around waiting for the tow truck they already have a signed authorization form.

Why get a tow company involved? With my method the obstruction is gone within minutes. Why should I have to pay for a hook?