WOW. Thats all I can say. I am speechless....

 

Interesting story, thx for the update. Is nice to know our mini's are hard to steal..

 

Wow. Tow service needs to be taught a lesson.

 

on a positive note and off topic,

maybe we should get all these CT minis together someday.

on another off topic note,

ill be attending a car show in somers this coming sunday 5/4. its called staggered. it is held rain or shine and they will be serving food/drinks/beer/raffles/etc. with a dj.

ive gone the past 2 years and its a great time. usually out of the 1000+ cars, there are only 4 or so minis, including mine. it is mainly a euro show, but all cars are welcome and there is seperate parking for non-show cars.

back on topic,

glad your car is back safe amd sound. some people are so ****ing ignorant and inconsiderate when it comes to other peoples pride and property. i would be livid having been in youre situation.

 

IMHO, most tow companies and their employees are usually up to no good anyway. Since you filed a police report on the theft, use the report number to get a hold of the detective assigned to it and tell them your story. If there are open cases of other sneaky deals going on at that place, he might leverage this incident to get boots on the ground going through their lot to see what else "they forgot to do the paperwork on". A detective either will seize the opportunity or not, but get this in front of one and let them decide.

This is not an isolated incident for that tow company, I can guarantee it. One way or another, within 24 hours somebody knew that was a bad tow and buried the paperwork to cover their a$$ because they can lose their license for that. Yes, just for "losing" the paperwork. Yeah, I know, you probably didn't have the proper sticker on your plates at the time, DMV troubles, but I am telling you that tow company knew they made a mistake the next morning and tried to hide it.

 

Guess the moral of the lesson here is, make sure none of your papers are expired! Also, at least the tow company used the right type of tow on your car, would have hated to hear they damaged it through towing it without a flatbed. Anyway I'm glad you got your MINI back, I hope no one else has to experience MINI withdraw like you had to.

 

kinda had a feeling. Glad ya got it back!

 

Wow, yeah what a story.

Now am I the only one who's missing something here? . . . the fact that the registration has expired does not mean it is not your property (unless like us you saved money before buying a car it might be the property of the bank until you pay off the loan). But none the less, technically you cannot drive it without being registered but you should be in your rights to own it and have it sit on your private property, or place you rent, or am I missing basic owner's rights here . . . so yes technically it was stolen and regardless of the deal between the apartment complex and the towing company I would imagine that in court your apartment complex would not have the rights to tow your car as long as it is parked where it is meant to. So they might be as liable as the towing company since they contracted them. Then again maybe I'm missing some basic owner's rights here

 

^^^ Yeah, That! ^^^

 

Wow

Was there any damage to the car from the tow? Hope it was a flat bed trailer. I would still want to have it checked out. Can they tow a parked car and not damage anything? Just asking not sure.

Had similar problem with DMV. Plates, bought new and could not get plates.

While I have dash cams front and rear I would be looking into a portable alarm or pager. Something so I would know if car was being moved. Overly paranoid but experience is a great teacher.

In the end glad you got the car back.

 

Im with TG one this one.. something isn't right here..

 

.......
Best to delete!

 

I know at least at my apartment complex if you have a vehicle they say you have to have all tabs up to date or you could be towed. so sorry to hear about this! was it damaged being dragged onto the flatbed??

 

Tabs up to date? I will try to be nice but it is sounding like more and more if the apartment does not like you the retribution is getting towed? Where the wrong color shirt your car will be towed.

Now granted I have not lived in an apartment for a very long time, however home owner associations are just as bad.

But Zippy "S" has a good point along with TG. Personal Property rights. Next they will be searching your apartment and car interior at will.

Can you see your car out the window of the apartment? If so hook up a cheap cam to your computer and it will record any movement around your car. At least next time you will have the whole story on tape. Cheap Apps will help you do this very easy.

 

I appreciate the concern, but of course some details of this had to be spared for my internet version of what happened...

My lease with the apartment complex states that there can be no unregistered vehicles in the parking lot, and that any unregistered vehicles will be towed. That is why the tow company had the right to come on the property and tow the vehicle. They did not however, inform the apartment complex that they did this (or so the complex said).

As far as why my car was unregistered...2.5 years ago I was in a car accident that resulted in my car being totaled. Apparently the license plates from that car were never returned (even though they were destroyed). So 2.5 years later, They cancelled the current registration on my vehicle (without telling me) because they told me I owed them $200 from the plates that weren't returned 2.5 years ago. This was the first time I had heard anything about the plates or the money I owed (or the registration being cancelled), seeing as I had already registered another car twice since my previous car was totaled. So I had to pay $200 for the plates and $100 to have the MINI's registration re-instated.

 

there isn't any damage to the car. They used a flatbed (a very nice one at that).

 

Also I do realize this is the internet and everybody has an opinion...but I assure you that I have thoroughly vetted the situation and have deemed it unworthy of my time/effort/money to pursue anything. I'm not asking for any legal advice, I just wanted to update everybody on the situation.

Thanks for all the support everybody. Your replies and PM's were appreciated.

 

Hey AxleR56, I wasn't trying to give legal advice I got the idea that all you're happy with is to get the car back

I just thought it was quite interesting AND chocking!
I looked into it online out of curiosity and it seems to be a common practice by apartment complex but I say that's a total abuse on tenants and though they often say it's hard to fight I bet the law would be on your side especially from the lack of warning and time to let you get the warning.

I know you're not going to do that or interested to do that. That's much understandable... though personally I would double check the car as not been damaged and would go after them if I was observing any damage which sounds like it is not your case thankfully

One thing I learned that was interesting in my readings was that in fact you cannot park a none registered car on public streets, or any public places. That is illegal and there is no point fighting that one.
The apartment situation is a grey area from what I understand because the property is this of the landlord yet they probably need to follow some lawful procedure which they obviously have not done in your case.

I can't help but feel people are giving up too easily. Not you specifically, just people in general, and so they get abused a lot just so the tenant doesn't have to deal with an abandoned car. That's not good business imo but most go along with it.

Anyway, I wasn't intending to pry on your private situation too much.
It's awesome you got the car back.
Just learning and conversation

 

No worries I wasn't talking specifically to you, I have been receiving advice from many people.

My insurance company told me that CT is the worst state for things like this to happen in. The local PD had never heard of something like this happening, so they asked for the advice of the DMV and other police entities on how to handle it. The most they could come up with was "File a complaint with the DMV."

The complex has vowed to start requiring notice when the tow company takes a car off their property because of this incident. I agree 100% that this feels like tenant abuse...I've made my opinions known and will continue to do so in this regard.

 

This is just STUPID, police can't even ticket
For expired anything on private property
Yet the tow jerks can ?

So glad my MINI's sleep In my garage.

 

I knew it!!'!!!!!!! I used to live in Hartford many years ago and my car got towed from my apt complex because they didn't see my parking permit ( it was hanging from the mirror) but I just wasted 1/2 day with those jerks not 2 weeks, it seems like tow companies in CT pushes this form of business. Looking at you parking permit should yield at least a warning before towing, I hope that the tow company learns something from this. Yeah I know they won't.

 

The property owner has said that all cars parked on the property must be registered. They own the property, they make the rules. They have a contract with the tow company to enforce the rules that they have set up.

If someone else parks in your driveway without your permission, you can have them towed away. This is the exact same situation--the OP was parked on the apartment owners' property when they had said he should not. They had him towed.

The exact way that it happened is pretty messed up, though. The mix-up with the DMV and the tow company not telling anyone they had towed a car? Both pretty bad; and the second one especially.

I'm just happy to read that the car is in one piece and is back with the OP.

 

Unfortunately it's not that simple.

 

Good to hear, you have a big heart. I wouldn't be so understanding, not say I'm a hard ***, but my next call would be to my lawyer. They have insurance for such negligence and need to be paying higher premiums if this is the way they choose to do business.


Happy Motoring !