If you don’t pay your car loan, your vehicle can be repossessed. An illegally parked vehicle can be towed away. These facts are facts. But what happens when you’ve done nothing illegal and are current on your auto loan, yet still get a tow truck called on you? Aren’t you protected?
Depending on where you live — or at least where you’ve parked — you do have some level of protection. Why only “some level”? See, towing laws vary from state to state, city to city, and can seemingly be changed and enforced at will by private property owners.
Just ask some Florida residents on Clearwater Beach, who was recently threatened with a tow and ticketed for owning a car “too ugly” to park in an apartment complex.
Or speak with the victims of the Florida towing company whose owners have been accused of, among other nefarious acts, illegally repossessing dozens of vehicles in North Lakeland.
Or talk to the people who were defrauded out of thousands of dollars by a Houston tow business running an elaborate “flipping scam” on popular, high-end vehicles like the Cadillac CT5.
It’s called “predatory towing,” and millions of Americans across the country experience it every year. The only way to combat it before it hits your wallet is to understand your state’s laws and how they should protect you.
