It all began on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. As we were driving by, we noticed an open house sign and decided to check it out. We went in, toured the place and came out in about 7-8 minutes. As we headed towards our car which was parked on the curb outside the open house, we were shocked to find that a tow truck had hooked it up for towing.
I was sure that the operator was mistaken. He then calmly pointed out to a sign far away on that block which read ‘No parking at any time’. He told us that someone had complained and that he had to comply. There was no way that someone could have complained and the tow truck responded in under 10 minutes. Although we are at fault (unknowingly), it just seems like a complete scam to me. The sign is very easy to miss and there’s just one for the entire block. The curb was not even painted red. In the complex,we live in currently, all the no parking areas are clearly painted red. The operator said we could either pay up right then and there or he would tow away the car. We had to cough up 83$ as Tanvi was with us and we didnt want to be stranded in an unknown place. It was as if the tow truck was just waiting for his next victim. Although we can put in a stop payment on our credit card, I dont know whether it is a good idea since legally we are at fault (its like not reading the fine print).
‘Obscure the signs and watch people falter’ seems to be the mantra for issuing tickets or towing away cars.
Most of the residential neighborhoods which have an HOA do not allow to park on the street-side curb for any reason (exceptions being utility trucks/cable guys, etc).
At least in our HOA, there is a tow-truck going around during the day looking for violators on sat-sun and yes the homeowners are not allowed to park in parking space also.
I saw a tow-truck hauling one of the guy who had parked outside of our neighbour’s home and had just gone to deliver food for a minute to guys working in his house and the tow truck hauled him away 🙂
I’m beginning to dislike this whole concept of HOA. I couldnt believe that one HOA disallowed putting up lights in the complex during christmas. And one pays more than half a million dollars for this ?
Anyways Bhavesh, thanks for the story. After reading it, I dont feel the ‘most’ exploited. 🙂
Apart for half-million $$$, you need to pay monthly HOA dues also. HOA is like the “society” we have in India. Only thing is the HOAs follow their by-laws strictly 🙂 Yeah the by-laws may be crude at times but they can always be changed by the majority vote of HOA members.
This makes me want to be a libertarian – own my thing and manage it myself the way I see fit.