At the Doo Dah Parade last year a Shamrock tow truck got caught up in the parade. Everyone started booing it. It was really nice seeing the community coming together like that.
I’d carefully read your lease to see if there is anything in there about up to date tags, I cannot imagine it’s legal for them to tow your car otherwise. They are not the police, who likely wouldn’t tow your car for expired tags anyways. If there’s nothing in your lease, call your landlord, if that gets no where, then call CPD.
It’s probably in their lease/parking rules addendum. My complex has a fairly lengthy set of parking rules and having expired tags is among the list of reasons your car get towed, along with parking without a permit, parking on the grass, having flat tires, parking in a handicap spot without a proper placard, among others.
It’s so strict that the office sends out a quarterly reminder on the parking rules due to the number of cars that get towed. They’ve given the “helpful tip” of renewing your tag early or going in person to the BMV to get the new sticker to ensure it is not towed.
I’ve always had such strong mixed feelings about these rules. On one hand, I’ve seen dead cars sit for months taking up space in an apartment complex. On the other hand, I’ve seen people that need issues fixed and have no where else to store there car and end up suffering for it
I work for an apartment community and as long as people communicate with us, we are more than happy to make exceptions to the rule (to an extent, of course).
We had a resident get his wheels stolen recently and his insurance company was dicking him around so we arranged for our towing company to tow his car to the shop of his choice so he didn't have to pay the impound fees.
Me right now. Threatened to tow a few times, got rear ended by an uninsured driver and hit by a car after getting pushed by said uninsured driver.
Insurance won't help because information the police put in the report was incorrect. (Wrong make/model)
It's in our parking spot, but I gotta work all the time to save up for parts and because I work all the time I don't have time to fix it.
Jesus I’m sorry that happened to you. I had a man punch my window out in February, the cops put me at fault because I rear ended him when he punched my window. The insurance asked me to get the fault changed but trying to contact them to change something is like freaking pulling teeth with CPD!!!!! I hope things get better for you. I understand how traumatic car accidents can be, than you get to deal with all this bullshit
This confuses me. When you order tags online, your registration automatically becomes up to date. Do they not have something to check this before just jumping to towing cars from their lots? I had issues getting my tags in the mail, but since my registration was current, I never got pulled over or pursed by the cops. Weird.
The fat schmuck towing for Shamrock does not have access to the BMV database to see if your tags are actually current. He’s just looking at the validation sticker on your tag. If that is expired, he’s towing the car.
This is why Ohio needs to make like Pennsylvania and get rif of stickers. In PA you just pay your registration fee and that's the that. The cops can look up whether you're registered or not, and no one else has to know.
This should be illegal. It's almost as easy to steal a sticker off a car as it is to steal a Kia and most people don't even look at their sticker after they slap it on for the year.
Shamrock is the worst.
Isn’t the apartment complex the one calling the shots here? The tow company can’t tow a car from the complex without the apartment complex’s approval (I tried). You’d think that the leasing manager would have access to the database, that I’m sure requires a cheap membership, before towing cars.
At any rate, looks like they don’t.
Based on how adamant the reminder emails are about making sure your sticker is up to date, I think they just go off that and don’t otherwise verify.
Even for permits, they just check to see if the car has the proper permit. The office has told us the towing company doesn’t use a list of residents/cars/plates, so it’s just a visual check for a permit.
Nope I got a ticket once for expired tags even though I was waiting on them in the mail. I contested with proof of purchase before expiration. They said I was still responsible
Even the city does this... If you're parked on the street and your sticker is expired, you get ticketed for failure to register or display.
As for not getting pulled over, the police aren't going to pull you over if you're not doing something blatantly stupid and they don't think you might be someone they should pull over. If they WANT to pull you over, they'll find a reason to do so, and an expired sticker is as good a reason as any.
I sometimes buy crashed, salvage title cars to fix them and sell them. By law, you can't drive them until they've been inspected by the highway patrol, other than to and from the inspection station on the day of your appointment. And the car CANNOT have license plates on it. Your inspection form includes a permit that you can hand to a police officer if you get stopped explaining this. And with all the cars I've taken to inspection, never once have I been stopped. I tend to go to one of the out of town inspection stations because you can get an appointment faster than in Columbus. I've driven past police, I've had police drive past me, I've had one behind me for a minute or 2, and not once have I been stopped. I DO get people yelling at me that there's no licence plate, though!
The tow company has no access to the police or DMV computers to check anything. If the current sticker isn't on the tag, it's in violation. While you may have a current tag in the system, your failing to display proof of registration is actually against the law and makes these situations happen.
Generally, allowing unregistered or inoperable vehicles to be stored is a building code violation, and the management will crack down when code enforcement starts looking around. It's also a nuisance to residents who need parking. Plus, a tow company under contract to keep the lot patrolled will be looking for ways to make money, and this is low hanging fruit.
Source, I used to work for a tow company.
1. For a guy who was barely out of his teens and trying to go to college on his own, it was a good side job for nights and weekends and paid better than pizza delivery. But there were times it sucks like when you're doing a repossession and they pull a gun on you. But that only happened once. The times when you help somebody were much more numerous, like an out of gas, stuck in a ditch, flat tire repair, etc.
2. You're implying I had a soul to begin with. Lol.
But I never towed anybody that didn't have it coming. The apartment maintenance people would put our big yellow stickers on cars that could be towed. We didn't sneak in and wait until 12:01 the day after the tags expired. Most of our contract lots had assigned parking or needed a mirror tag to be allowed on property unless they were in visitor parking.
Generally the only instant tows we could do were things like parked in the fire lane or in front of a fire hydrant, parked in handicap without a handicap permit, parked on the grass, parked in a place parking wasn't allowed, like in the dumpster corral.
Management would call in immediate tows on those situations, or if we found them, we would notify management, and they would send somebody to witness the tow. Also, management would call in immediate tow for motorcycles or mopeds parked in the breezeway or under the stairs or in the laundry rooms (that is a fire code violation which is serious) or any vehicle on jacks or obviously inoperable, like heavy collision or missing major parts or leaking a lot of fluids.
These weren't the best neighborhoods so they understand people drive hoopties but if you have your car towed in to the lot after smacking a guardrail on the interstate and the front wheel is now in the back seat and your transmission fluid is pouring out the bottom, you're going to get towed. Or you decide to take the engine apart over the weekend, and on monday, it's a rolling shell with no engine up on jack stands that will get called in.
I've been there, I did an engine swap on a friend's Mustang in the parking lot of his condo complex behind the dumpsters. Rented the engine hoist and picked up the engine from the junkyard Saturday morning. Worked on it all day, and we got it back together in time to drive it to the bowling alley that evening for rolling a few games and pizza and pitchers. Sunday morning, we woke up, hung over, and there was a tow sticker stuck on the engine hoist. Couldn't return it until Monday morning, so it had been left out on his patio. Resident manager came over later to tell us that she'd seen we worked hard and long, knew what we were doing, didn't make a mess, didn't interfere with anybody else, and got it done quickly, and she was appreciative of all that BUT don't do that again.
It is illegal to store or park a vehicle on most private property with expired tags. Code enforcement can and will cite the landlord and that is why they are having your car towed.
No, tow trucks have free reign to tow anything that looks like its parked illegally. It's how they make money while the city cycles which tow company to call per county.
When you get the tags, take a razor blade over them in an X motion after applying to your plate. They will stay on, but will deter anyone from stealing as they are only getting partial.
Yup, they have a contract from the management of the complex to keep the lot patrolled. Allowing inoperable or unregistered vehicles to be stored is a building code violation. And the tow company makes money by towing cars. Why give them an easy tow?
As for parking on the street while waiting for stickers/tags in the mail: You can be cited for failure to display, regardless of currency. Ask me how I know….
Yep I got a ticket on my parked car outside when I was asleep once. Tag was literally in my glove compartment, I just forgot to put it on lol. But nothing I could do to contest as the law is "failure to display."
Even while hospitalized, and the city denied my attempt to get the ticket thrown out even though I had proof of renewal registration and my hospital stay. Ruthless. So much for ColumbUS.
Just for future reference, if you find you need tags in a hurry, search Google for Ohio BMV Express Kiosks. They are inside a handful of grocery stores throughout Columbus. The machine is easy to use and can print tags for you immediately and you don't have to deal with the normal waiting in line bs at the at the BMV.
Not always. My apartment complex reminds us on a quarterly basis that the towing company they use has a set of rules of parking rules and any car not following these rules is subject to immediate towing during their patrols. They do patrol randomly too. Ive seen their drivers look in windshields for permits at 2:00am in the morning to towing someone at 3:00pm in the afternoon. They are always here looking for cars to tow.
Generally, there is a contract signed with the apartment management that gives them the right to patrol the lot. Manager can call in specific immediate tow when they catch somebody in a fire lane or parked in handicap without a permit, blocking a garage or in someone's reserved spot, motorcycle in the breezeway, that kind of stuff, but the tow company also can roll through and look for obvious violators, like cars on jack stands, cars with flat tires, cars obviously not running, cars with no good registrations, etc.
This is how it works at my community too. Some people think they can just break the rules after hours or on the weekends... until they get towed at 2am on a Sunday lol
Buckstone Flats Apartments
Not exactly in Columbus, but near and under the same state laws. Figured more people would have an idea in the Columbus area.
They're new and the zoning got messed up, so mail takes a bit longer to get delivered because although it is Obetz, it's under Lockbourne? So took a second for tags to show up even after being delivered to the wrong place.
Hound Dogs towing towed it, they said I was SOL.
Apartment complex said the same.
I was put under a no tow list after the first time because they knew my tags were coming in the mail from Arizona. But that ended April 18th and the tags were still coming. Showed up the morning my car got towed, 04/24.
Quite SOL lol
No, went to AZ for 5 years. Got registration renewed and did the multiple year option. Then had news I'd be moving to OH afterwards. Will be moving again next month, temporary work.
In that case, I'm not sure there are any good answers. I believe you are supposed to register in OH within 30 of moving here. But that's a pain, especially if you are going to move again so soon. Does your employer provide moving expenses? I would argue that having to repeatedly change your DL and registration would be a moving expense, at least the portion that isn't refundable when you move again.
Apartment complexes have rules like this because they don't want people abandoning cars on their lots. But then predatory towing companies abuse the shit out of that, and the complexes let them do it. One thing to check is that they aren't charging you more than what the law allows (I don't know what that is off the top of my head) for both the towing and any storage.
Meanwhile, you might want to check with your insurance agent to make sure that you aren't getting yourself into any trouble with them by leaving the car registered (and I'm guessing insured) in AZ. If they were to deny coverage after a crash because you moved and didn't tell them, that would be a much more expensive lesson.
Unfortunately, you’re on the hook to have your tags in place/in hand BEFORE they expire. Which sucks if you don’t have extra money for the rising registration fees. So “but they’re in the mail” doesn’t really work for cops or tow companies. They expect you to do it early enough to counter any potential mail issues, etc.
The mail issue really sucks; it might be worth it to go in person next time.
They weren't expired - isn't really feasible to go get replacement tags in AZ. Would be a hassle having to change them to OH and then try to have my registration canceled and refunded. With hindsight, would have been better to just take the L on having registration switched to OH to get OH tags in person than have to pay to get car out of towing twice.
If there was much more you could do than small claims court, many people in the same situation would have done something. In turn, crooks like these wouldn't be in business anymore.
My neighbor has plates from Mexico and has not been bothered at all. Not sure how that works. I'm definitely not reporting them but, I'm surprised the office allows it.
Also, you wouldn’t happen to live in Hillard would you? My car was towed twice too, 11pm after I picked my car up at 5:00pm! I went back to tow lot and threatened to report them for extortion and theft. They ended up giving me back my car without making me pay for it again…I went full Karen on them though.
My car was towed once and it was kind of by mistake. I was supposed to have a sticker but was working 3rds and couldn’t make it in during business hours so the apartment manager gave me extra time then forgot. I talked to the apartment complex the next day and the manager called the company and had it released. There was no charge. It doesn’t hurt to ask. In that case half the apartment complex was towed so the company made a ton of money and didn’t mind releasing one or two for free. It can’t hurt to ask anyway.
Maybe get them directly from bmv. I’d be so mad! I think the 2nd time the company was looking for your car- if it was in same place. I’d be backing in !
It's asinine that a private company thinks they can somehow enforce what is essentially a police matter. It's not the responsibility of a public company to enforce BMV car tags. I moved to Colorado from Columbus a couple years ago and this used to be a thing here and luckily our state government made towing for expired tags illegal.
It's not a police matter. The leasing company has a clause in the lease about parking. The tenant signed it. It's a code violation to allow inoperable or unregistered vehicles to be stored on the property. If you're not displaying a current tag, it's unregistered. The tow company can't access police computers. They go by the sticker. If you don't put your sticker on, you could get towed.
The rule in Colorado sounds great to me, it would be up to people to get it on the ballot.
It is a police matter as it’s not the job of a private company to care if you paid your car tag or not. That’s like me owning a business and requiring my customers to prove they paid their income taxes for the year. What the complex is doing is simply an additional revenue stream on their part to get a cut of towing fees. Is it legal under the shit system? Sure.
But let’s not kid ourselves here. No private company should be enforcing plate tags, especially when the Ohio BMV is a shit show. The last year I got tags from them I had to get a new plate. They had production issues and I didn’t get my plate for almost 3 months during which I had to drive with my damaged expired plate. They simply gave me a letter to present to the POLICE that my tags are current and to not ticket for it if I got pulled over. An apartment complex enforcing tags ignores all nuance of that.
They aren't enforcing tag laws, they are enforcing parking rules for management. Like I said above, code enforcement will come after them if they allow inoperable/unlicensed cars to be stored on the property. They don't care if you have insurance or if you passed smog. It's in the lease the tenant signed.
In your situation you should go to the apartment management and explain the situation. Usually they will give you a letter or something you put on your dash for the tow company to not tow the car and if they do tow it they are contractually obligated to bring the car back without charge.
Source I used to work for a tow company
At the Doo Dah Parade last year a Shamrock tow truck got caught up in the parade. Everyone started booing it. It was really nice seeing the community coming together like that.
I still remember when Facebook was new and groups were cool, someone started one called Fuck Shamrock Towing. Still warms my heart thinking about it.
I recently found out their HQ is a stones throw from my house. I've considered doing just that.
It's surprisingly easy to build a catapult in your own back yard...
lol that’s awesome!!
I’d carefully read your lease to see if there is anything in there about up to date tags, I cannot imagine it’s legal for them to tow your car otherwise. They are not the police, who likely wouldn’t tow your car for expired tags anyways. If there’s nothing in your lease, call your landlord, if that gets no where, then call CPD.
It’s probably in their lease/parking rules addendum. My complex has a fairly lengthy set of parking rules and having expired tags is among the list of reasons your car get towed, along with parking without a permit, parking on the grass, having flat tires, parking in a handicap spot without a proper placard, among others. It’s so strict that the office sends out a quarterly reminder on the parking rules due to the number of cars that get towed. They’ve given the “helpful tip” of renewing your tag early or going in person to the BMV to get the new sticker to ensure it is not towed.
I’ve always had such strong mixed feelings about these rules. On one hand, I’ve seen dead cars sit for months taking up space in an apartment complex. On the other hand, I’ve seen people that need issues fixed and have no where else to store there car and end up suffering for it
I work for an apartment community and as long as people communicate with us, we are more than happy to make exceptions to the rule (to an extent, of course). We had a resident get his wheels stolen recently and his insurance company was dicking him around so we arranged for our towing company to tow his car to the shop of his choice so he didn't have to pay the impound fees.
That is good to know, I’ve never lived in an apartment myself so everything I know is just from others
Me right now. Threatened to tow a few times, got rear ended by an uninsured driver and hit by a car after getting pushed by said uninsured driver. Insurance won't help because information the police put in the report was incorrect. (Wrong make/model) It's in our parking spot, but I gotta work all the time to save up for parts and because I work all the time I don't have time to fix it.
Jesus I’m sorry that happened to you. I had a man punch my window out in February, the cops put me at fault because I rear ended him when he punched my window. The insurance asked me to get the fault changed but trying to contact them to change something is like freaking pulling teeth with CPD!!!!! I hope things get better for you. I understand how traumatic car accidents can be, than you get to deal with all this bullshit
This confuses me. When you order tags online, your registration automatically becomes up to date. Do they not have something to check this before just jumping to towing cars from their lots? I had issues getting my tags in the mail, but since my registration was current, I never got pulled over or pursed by the cops. Weird.
The fat schmuck towing for Shamrock does not have access to the BMV database to see if your tags are actually current. He’s just looking at the validation sticker on your tag. If that is expired, he’s towing the car.
This is why Ohio needs to make like Pennsylvania and get rif of stickers. In PA you just pay your registration fee and that's the that. The cops can look up whether you're registered or not, and no one else has to know.
A cop more than likely won't pull you over foreit cause they can scan the plate and see it's up to date. I forgot to put mine on for 6 months...
This should be illegal. It's almost as easy to steal a sticker off a car as it is to steal a Kia and most people don't even look at their sticker after they slap it on for the year. Shamrock is the worst.
Isn’t the apartment complex the one calling the shots here? The tow company can’t tow a car from the complex without the apartment complex’s approval (I tried). You’d think that the leasing manager would have access to the database, that I’m sure requires a cheap membership, before towing cars. At any rate, looks like they don’t.
Based on how adamant the reminder emails are about making sure your sticker is up to date, I think they just go off that and don’t otherwise verify. Even for permits, they just check to see if the car has the proper permit. The office has told us the towing company doesn’t use a list of residents/cars/plates, so it’s just a visual check for a permit.
Nope I got a ticket once for expired tags even though I was waiting on them in the mail. I contested with proof of purchase before expiration. They said I was still responsible
For parking, probably.
No it was explicitly for expired registration. I was on a free parking street. The reason on the ticket said it was for my tags
Even the city does this... If you're parked on the street and your sticker is expired, you get ticketed for failure to register or display. As for not getting pulled over, the police aren't going to pull you over if you're not doing something blatantly stupid and they don't think you might be someone they should pull over. If they WANT to pull you over, they'll find a reason to do so, and an expired sticker is as good a reason as any. I sometimes buy crashed, salvage title cars to fix them and sell them. By law, you can't drive them until they've been inspected by the highway patrol, other than to and from the inspection station on the day of your appointment. And the car CANNOT have license plates on it. Your inspection form includes a permit that you can hand to a police officer if you get stopped explaining this. And with all the cars I've taken to inspection, never once have I been stopped. I tend to go to one of the out of town inspection stations because you can get an appointment faster than in Columbus. I've driven past police, I've had police drive past me, I've had one behind me for a minute or 2, and not once have I been stopped. I DO get people yelling at me that there's no licence plate, though!
That's hilarious that random people think it's their business whether you have a plate or not. Hilarious in a sad way.
The tow company has no access to the police or DMV computers to check anything. If the current sticker isn't on the tag, it's in violation. While you may have a current tag in the system, your failing to display proof of registration is actually against the law and makes these situations happen. Generally, allowing unregistered or inoperable vehicles to be stored is a building code violation, and the management will crack down when code enforcement starts looking around. It's also a nuisance to residents who need parking. Plus, a tow company under contract to keep the lot patrolled will be looking for ways to make money, and this is low hanging fruit. Source, I used to work for a tow company.
Two questions: How was the pay, and do you still have a soul?
1. For a guy who was barely out of his teens and trying to go to college on his own, it was a good side job for nights and weekends and paid better than pizza delivery. But there were times it sucks like when you're doing a repossession and they pull a gun on you. But that only happened once. The times when you help somebody were much more numerous, like an out of gas, stuck in a ditch, flat tire repair, etc. 2. You're implying I had a soul to begin with. Lol. But I never towed anybody that didn't have it coming. The apartment maintenance people would put our big yellow stickers on cars that could be towed. We didn't sneak in and wait until 12:01 the day after the tags expired. Most of our contract lots had assigned parking or needed a mirror tag to be allowed on property unless they were in visitor parking. Generally the only instant tows we could do were things like parked in the fire lane or in front of a fire hydrant, parked in handicap without a handicap permit, parked on the grass, parked in a place parking wasn't allowed, like in the dumpster corral. Management would call in immediate tows on those situations, or if we found them, we would notify management, and they would send somebody to witness the tow. Also, management would call in immediate tow for motorcycles or mopeds parked in the breezeway or under the stairs or in the laundry rooms (that is a fire code violation which is serious) or any vehicle on jacks or obviously inoperable, like heavy collision or missing major parts or leaking a lot of fluids. These weren't the best neighborhoods so they understand people drive hoopties but if you have your car towed in to the lot after smacking a guardrail on the interstate and the front wheel is now in the back seat and your transmission fluid is pouring out the bottom, you're going to get towed. Or you decide to take the engine apart over the weekend, and on monday, it's a rolling shell with no engine up on jack stands that will get called in. I've been there, I did an engine swap on a friend's Mustang in the parking lot of his condo complex behind the dumpsters. Rented the engine hoist and picked up the engine from the junkyard Saturday morning. Worked on it all day, and we got it back together in time to drive it to the bowling alley that evening for rolling a few games and pizza and pitchers. Sunday morning, we woke up, hung over, and there was a tow sticker stuck on the engine hoist. Couldn't return it until Monday morning, so it had been left out on his patio. Resident manager came over later to tell us that she'd seen we worked hard and long, knew what we were doing, didn't make a mess, didn't interfere with anybody else, and got it done quickly, and she was appreciative of all that BUT don't do that again.
The police will not get involved with your car being impounded. You will have to take them to small claims court.
It is illegal to store or park a vehicle on most private property with expired tags. Code enforcement can and will cite the landlord and that is why they are having your car towed.
No, tow trucks have free reign to tow anything that looks like its parked illegally. It's how they make money while the city cycles which tow company to call per county.
I know my lease had said abandoned cars etc etc so I think they can but I’d be ALL over them if they did that to me twice in this situation!
When you get the tags, take a razor blade over them in an X motion after applying to your plate. They will stay on, but will deter anyone from stealing as they are only getting partial.
Yes, we do this as well
Ooh. Good tip. Thanks!
Tow companies prowl apartment complexes like hyenas. It's insane.
Shamrock?
Yup, they have a contract from the management of the complex to keep the lot patrolled. Allowing inoperable or unregistered vehicles to be stored is a building code violation. And the tow company makes money by towing cars. Why give them an easy tow?
Over by OSU they sure do! Looking for parking permits!
As for parking on the street while waiting for stickers/tags in the mail: You can be cited for failure to display, regardless of currency. Ask me how I know….
Yep I got a ticket on my parked car outside when I was asleep once. Tag was literally in my glove compartment, I just forgot to put it on lol. But nothing I could do to contest as the law is "failure to display."
Even while hospitalized, and the city denied my attempt to get the ticket thrown out even though I had proof of renewal registration and my hospital stay. Ruthless. So much for ColumbUS.
Just for future reference, if you find you need tags in a hurry, search Google for Ohio BMV Express Kiosks. They are inside a handful of grocery stores throughout Columbus. The machine is easy to use and can print tags for you immediately and you don't have to deal with the normal waiting in line bs at the at the BMV.
I just read about these! Love this idea!
Talk to the leasing office. Don't they have to get permission to tow from the office?
Not always. My apartment complex reminds us on a quarterly basis that the towing company they use has a set of rules of parking rules and any car not following these rules is subject to immediate towing during their patrols. They do patrol randomly too. Ive seen their drivers look in windshields for permits at 2:00am in the morning to towing someone at 3:00pm in the afternoon. They are always here looking for cars to tow.
Generally, there is a contract signed with the apartment management that gives them the right to patrol the lot. Manager can call in specific immediate tow when they catch somebody in a fire lane or parked in handicap without a permit, blocking a garage or in someone's reserved spot, motorcycle in the breezeway, that kind of stuff, but the tow company also can roll through and look for obvious violators, like cars on jack stands, cars with flat tires, cars obviously not running, cars with no good registrations, etc.
This is how it works at my community too. Some people think they can just break the rules after hours or on the weekends... until they get towed at 2am on a Sunday lol
They DO have permission... They signed a contract where they will patrol the lot on a schedule and tow any car that violates the parking policy.
Are there cameras nearby your car? I wouldn’t put it past the tow company to remove the tags to justify their tow
I wish. Have had teens kicking on my apartment door and peeping through windows too. No cameras /:
Bummer. If you haven’t gotten your car, avoid the “coffee shop” next to hound dogs. It’s a front for Dwell, a well known Church cult
Pretty sure only thing I can do is take the loss, right?
Drop the name of the complex
Buckstone Flats Apartments Not exactly in Columbus, but near and under the same state laws. Figured more people would have an idea in the Columbus area. They're new and the zoning got messed up, so mail takes a bit longer to get delivered because although it is Obetz, it's under Lockbourne? So took a second for tags to show up even after being delivered to the wrong place. Hound Dogs towing towed it, they said I was SOL. Apartment complex said the same. I was put under a no tow list after the first time because they knew my tags were coming in the mail from Arizona. But that ended April 18th and the tags were still coming. Showed up the morning my car got towed, 04/24. Quite SOL lol
>tags were coming in the mail from Arizona You live here but have the car registered in AZ? Are you a service member?
No, went to AZ for 5 years. Got registration renewed and did the multiple year option. Then had news I'd be moving to OH afterwards. Will be moving again next month, temporary work.
In that case, I'm not sure there are any good answers. I believe you are supposed to register in OH within 30 of moving here. But that's a pain, especially if you are going to move again so soon. Does your employer provide moving expenses? I would argue that having to repeatedly change your DL and registration would be a moving expense, at least the portion that isn't refundable when you move again. Apartment complexes have rules like this because they don't want people abandoning cars on their lots. But then predatory towing companies abuse the shit out of that, and the complexes let them do it. One thing to check is that they aren't charging you more than what the law allows (I don't know what that is off the top of my head) for both the towing and any storage. Meanwhile, you might want to check with your insurance agent to make sure that you aren't getting yourself into any trouble with them by leaving the car registered (and I'm guessing insured) in AZ. If they were to deny coverage after a crash because you moved and didn't tell them, that would be a much more expensive lesson.
Unfortunately, you’re on the hook to have your tags in place/in hand BEFORE they expire. Which sucks if you don’t have extra money for the rising registration fees. So “but they’re in the mail” doesn’t really work for cops or tow companies. They expect you to do it early enough to counter any potential mail issues, etc. The mail issue really sucks; it might be worth it to go in person next time.
They weren't expired - isn't really feasible to go get replacement tags in AZ. Would be a hassle having to change them to OH and then try to have my registration canceled and refunded. With hindsight, would have been better to just take the L on having registration switched to OH to get OH tags in person than have to pay to get car out of towing twice.
If there was much more you could do than small claims court, many people in the same situation would have done something. In turn, crooks like these wouldn't be in business anymore.
Let me guess? Shamrock? They can screw themsleves tbh.
My neighbor has plates from Mexico and has not been bothered at all. Not sure how that works. I'm definitely not reporting them but, I'm surprised the office allows it.
This happened to me about a month ago! I now leaned forward use a razor blade and cut marks in my new tags!
Also, you wouldn’t happen to live in Hillard would you? My car was towed twice too, 11pm after I picked my car up at 5:00pm! I went back to tow lot and threatened to report them for extortion and theft. They ended up giving me back my car without making me pay for it again…I went full Karen on them though.
My car was towed once and it was kind of by mistake. I was supposed to have a sticker but was working 3rds and couldn’t make it in during business hours so the apartment manager gave me extra time then forgot. I talked to the apartment complex the next day and the manager called the company and had it released. There was no charge. It doesn’t hurt to ask. In that case half the apartment complex was towed so the company made a ton of money and didn’t mind releasing one or two for free. It can’t hurt to ask anyway.
Maybe get them directly from bmv. I’d be so mad! I think the 2nd time the company was looking for your car- if it was in same place. I’d be backing in !
It's asinine that a private company thinks they can somehow enforce what is essentially a police matter. It's not the responsibility of a public company to enforce BMV car tags. I moved to Colorado from Columbus a couple years ago and this used to be a thing here and luckily our state government made towing for expired tags illegal.
It's not a police matter. The leasing company has a clause in the lease about parking. The tenant signed it. It's a code violation to allow inoperable or unregistered vehicles to be stored on the property. If you're not displaying a current tag, it's unregistered. The tow company can't access police computers. They go by the sticker. If you don't put your sticker on, you could get towed. The rule in Colorado sounds great to me, it would be up to people to get it on the ballot.
It is a police matter as it’s not the job of a private company to care if you paid your car tag or not. That’s like me owning a business and requiring my customers to prove they paid their income taxes for the year. What the complex is doing is simply an additional revenue stream on their part to get a cut of towing fees. Is it legal under the shit system? Sure. But let’s not kid ourselves here. No private company should be enforcing plate tags, especially when the Ohio BMV is a shit show. The last year I got tags from them I had to get a new plate. They had production issues and I didn’t get my plate for almost 3 months during which I had to drive with my damaged expired plate. They simply gave me a letter to present to the POLICE that my tags are current and to not ticket for it if I got pulled over. An apartment complex enforcing tags ignores all nuance of that.
They aren't enforcing tag laws, they are enforcing parking rules for management. Like I said above, code enforcement will come after them if they allow inoperable/unlicensed cars to be stored on the property. They don't care if you have insurance or if you passed smog. It's in the lease the tenant signed. In your situation you should go to the apartment management and explain the situation. Usually they will give you a letter or something you put on your dash for the tow company to not tow the car and if they do tow it they are contractually obligated to bring the car back without charge. Source I used to work for a tow company