End of Year - Check Your Tags

[Intuit]

Spotted a tow truck on a different residential street, checking tags on parked cars. This reminded me. Every December and January I see two trucks roaming about, checking tags on parked cars, and literally speeding off of residential streets with some of them. One year, many years ago and living in a different state, a towing outfit stole my car a few days *before* the tags expired, held it long enough for the tags to expire, then claimed it was towed because the tags had expired.

 

[Ford ST]

That's crazy. They don't take your car in NC. They will give you a ticket though. They make tow your car if you get pulled over, and you did something that was wrong.

Expired registrations are more common now in North Carolina because you have to have a inspection before you renew. Well lots of older cars have issues with the OBD2 system.



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[maestromaestro]

Spotted a tow truck on a different residential street, checking tags on parked cars. This reminded me. Every December and January I see two trucks roaming about, checking tags on parked cars, and literally speeding off of residential streets with some of them. One year, many years ago and living in a different state, a towing outfit stole my car a few days *before* the tags expired, held it long enough for the tags to expire, then claimed it was towed because the tags had expired.

I invite them to come to Texas and try something like that.

 

[Gone in 60]

A few years ago, My friend and I went on a business trip, leaving his Mustang at the long-term parking lot at LAX. When we got back a week later, his car was gone. He had registration problems due to his mods, and the tag had expired. His car got towed to the airport tow yard, and they wouldn't release it until he came back with documentation showing that the car was registered and legal.

How lousy is that, to yank a guy's car from an airport parking lot? It was a crap car, and I think he just abandoned it at the tow yard.

 

[Intuit]

I invite them to come to Texas and try something like that.

Oh believe me, I seriously considered spiking their gravel lot. They'd probably just turn it into their insurance though.

 

[Intuit]

A few years ago, My friend and I went on a business trip, leaving his Mustang at the long-term parking lot at LAX. When we got back a week later, his car was gone. He had registration problems due to his mods, and the tag had expired. His car got towed to the airport tow yard, and they wouldn't release it until he came back with documentation showing that the car was registered and legal.

How lousy is that, to yank a guy's car from an airport parking lot? It was a crap car, and I think he just abandoned it at the tow yard.

They were playing games in order to drive up the price and increase the liklihood of abandonment. Towing outfits keep pulling that sh* because it works. Saying they can't release it is a flat out lie. It simply can't be driven on the street. He could've arranged to have the vehicle picked up by a different towing outfit.

The airport may have had a tidy arrangement with the towing outfit; potentially receiving kickbacks.

EDIT: Wonder if he has grounds for a lawsuit...

 

[maestromaestro]

Oh believe me, I seriously considered spiking their gravel lot. They'd probably just turn it into their insurance though.

I don't quite understand how any of this is legal. You can park a car in the street - who's to say that you intend to drive it on public roads? You may trailer it. Unless there is a restriction on parking in that spot, this is tantamount to stealing property. Again, in TX, you'd get shot - and killed (and, as the history shows, acquitted) for stealing. But even in SW Ohio (go Bucks!) this gotta be illegal and contestable.

 

[FJ16]

You can park a car in the street - who's to say that you intend to drive it on public roads?

When you say "street", I assume you mean a public street... which you have to be legally licensed and tagged to drive/park on. If your tags aren't in order, you are 100% at fault being parked on the street regardless of your intentions. I've had a knock on my door before for parking an old truck in front of my house with expired tags - the cops just asked me to move it or get the tags in order.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Oh believe me, I seriously considered spiking their gravel lot. They'd probably just turn it into their insurance though.

Use Caltrops in gravel...Its what I would do...I'm in the revenge business from time to time.

 

[Intuit]

@TyphoonFiST - For hire? LoL /joking That was more than 1.5 decades ago, in a different state and time. But damn.. still sounds enticing LoL...

I don't quite understand how any of this is legal. You can park a car in the street - who's to say that you intend to drive it on public roads? You may trailer it. Unless there is a restriction on parking in that spot, this is tantamount to stealing property. Again, in TX, you'd get shot - and killed (and, as the history shows, acquitted) for stealing. But even in SW Ohio (go Bucks!) this gotta be illegal and contestable.

In my case, I believe the apartment complex is as much to blame as the towing outfit. The company/people who ran it were a little shady themselves. Parked it Friday night after arriving from an out of town trip. That's when he stole it. I'd seen a guy with a truck roaming the apartment lot late night on other occasions but never gave it much thought; just assumed he was dropping off a vehicle or whatever. Came out Tuesday morning only to find my vehicle was missing. Did I park in some other space and just forgot? After walking around my heart dropped. I couldn't afford to replace a stolen car. They waited a few days to even report that they'd stole it from the lot. In my disgust I inadvertently destroyed the evidence of their deceit... the sticker on my window with the actual tow date... before my tags expired. Without that evidence it would've been a "he said she said"... further waste of time and further exercise in aggravation. I just had to resolve on the fact that they'd eventually run into someone who's bonafide crazy and get their "just deserts".

 

[maestromaestro]

When you say "street", I assume you mean a public street... which you have to be legally licensed and tagged to drive/park on. If your tags aren't in order, you are 100% at fault being parked on the street regardless of your intentions. I've had a knock on my door before for parking an old truck in front of my house with expired tags - the cops just asked me to move it or get the tags in order.

It seems that there’s a patchwork or laws and ordinances with varying degrees of intrusiveness, but it does look that - in principle - you may end up having your car towed for having it parked with expired tags/plates on the street (and, in some places, even in your driveway).

Having said that, the degree of enforcement obviously varies. In TX, you are supposed to have a sticker on your windshield showing the expiration date. I find these aesthetically displeasing and don’t attach them.

Now, I get in a discussion about my driving with Officer McFriendly about once a year - I figure it’s just the cost of doing business, and given that I drive about 20k miles a year, an annual speeding ticket is effectively a tax on my ignoring the speed limit on the highway.
Not once did I get any questions about the registration- they can always check it on their computer anyways.

So, I guess in some places it gets quite dicey.... It may have also something to do with the neighborhood you live and the car that you drive...