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Towing
If you live in a building, what is the towing policy? I spent my entire weekend trying to get the police to ticket the car illegally parked in my underground spot. The police never came (hopefully because of the snow), so I had to wait 48 hours until the driver left my building and my owned spot. Any advice on how to deal with these situations?
Is it also true that the police need to ticket a car before it can be towed? So I would have had to call the police back 3-4 times (2 clearly wasn't enough) to have this done? This is ridiculous.
Comments
In my experience if a car is illegally parked on public property (i.e. you have a emergency no-parking area), you must have the car ticketed then the city tow trucks must tow the car. I have had some luck with having a private truck arrive when a kind officer is still around, said officer tells private truck to take the car and private truck does.
If the car is on private property, you need the property owner to call a private truck and have the car towed. If you are the owner, keep in mind you can be held liable for towing the car if you haven't properly marked the area (cars will be towed). If you don't own the property but lease the spot, call the owner of the property and tell them you want the car towed. You may threaten to withhold an amount of money equal to the time the lost usage rounded to the nearest day. All of the above is from my experience and may not be legally accurate however it has been my observation of reality.
Posted By Greg (NJ Ave.) / At 12/21/09 8:56 AM
If the car is on private property, you need the property owner to call a private truck and have the car towed. If you are the owner, keep in mind you can be held liable for towing the car if you haven't properly marked the area (cars will be towed). If you don't own the property but lease the spot, call the owner of the property and tell them you want the car towed. You may threaten to withhold an amount of money equal to the time the lost usage rounded to the nearest day. All of the above is from my experience and may not be legally accurate however it has been my observation of reality.
Posted By Greg (NJ Ave.) / At 12/21/09 8:56 AM
In DC in order for tow companies to tow a car it has to first be ticketed by the police. It doesnt matter if it is on public or private property it has to have a ticket first and then the tow company will come and swoop it up! I know because I called a tow company to remove an illegally parked car on private property in DC and they explained the process. If this happens again call the police to issue a ticket and if no one comes then you can always post a public plea on your MPD listserv and I bet you will get a cop out super quick!
Posted By The Advoc8te / At 12/22/09 7:41 AM
Posted By The Advoc8te / At 12/22/09 7:41 AM
both comments are correct: anywhere in dc, a car must be ticketed before it is towed.
you must make sure that if the parking space is on private property, that the parking space(s) are clearly marked that it is private parking and violators will be towed. the more information you have the sign, the easier it will be for MPD to write a ticket.
signs that say "PRIVATE PARKING. PERMIT REQUIRED. VIOLATORS WILL BE TICKETED AND TOWED. IF TOWED CALL 202-555-XXXX" are the best. your building may have a towing company on contract, if not, they should!
when you call MPD or DPW to ticket, simply tell them you have a vehicle on private property that needs to be ticketed.
Posted By dcvoterboy / At 12/22/09 8:29 AM
you must make sure that if the parking space is on private property, that the parking space(s) are clearly marked that it is private parking and violators will be towed. the more information you have the sign, the easier it will be for MPD to write a ticket.
signs that say "PRIVATE PARKING. PERMIT REQUIRED. VIOLATORS WILL BE TICKETED AND TOWED. IF TOWED CALL 202-555-XXXX" are the best. your building may have a towing company on contract, if not, they should!
when you call MPD or DPW to ticket, simply tell them you have a vehicle on private property that needs to be ticketed.
Posted By dcvoterboy / At 12/22/09 8:29 AM
That's kind of crazy that you need to have all kinds of "you will be towed" warnings inside the underground parking garage of a residential building. The fact that you need a security fob to enter the garage and all the spots are numbered should be enough of a cue. This extra bureaucracy seems like we're more concerned with the rights of the "offender" than the "victim".
Posted By Paul / At 12/22/09 11:40 AM
Posted By Paul / At 12/22/09 11:40 AM
