Coming home from a long trip is supposed to give a renewed sense of relaxation back at home, but for one person in Texas, his return was stressful. That’s because the Texas car owner found out that a towing service pulled his car even though it was legally parked in his apartment’s parking lot. When he came to take the car back, the towing service was now charging him almost $8,000 for it, claiming they’d been holding it for weeks. Funny thing is, he was only gone for three days.
This infuriating predicament was posted to a legal advice subreddit by Reddit user Open-Fisherman-3669. The Reddit user now needs to pay $7,800 to get his car back. According to the towing service that towed his car from the apartment lot, the Texas “parking pass wasn’t visible.” The Reddit user, however, claims that he taped it on the windshield, making it impossible for them not to see that it was legally parked.
The Reddit user also complained to the police and the apartment management, but the cops told him it was a civil issue, and the apartment admin told him to take it up with the towing service. This then led him to the towing service, which is asking for $7,800 based on their claim that the car had been sitting in their yard for weeks, which is impossible since the Reddit user alleged he “literally gone three days” from home.
Sadly for him, he “Can’t afford to pay nearly eight grand for my own car when I did nothing wrong. What legal options do I even have here?” Thankfully, it appears there are some affordable options for situations like this in Texas, though some have suggested that the Texas driver actually has bigger problems than the towing service.
People online are advising him to make the apartment accountable as well
The top advice on the thread was actually the most affordable one for the Texas driver since he could request a tow hearing if he filed “Within 14 days of learning of the tow (not the date of tow). This is fast, cheap (filing fee ~$20), and specifically designed for disputes like yours.” Paying $20 is certainly preferable to nearly $8,000, even for something you were wrongly accused of, assuming he has a good chance of winning.
Other people in the thread have advised the Texas car owner to investigate further and ask where the towing service “Got the ‘weeks’ from. Unless the apartment complex told them, they’re likely making it up.” This leads to legal action considerations against the apartment complex, as some Reddit users suspect that they might have had something to do with the unjust towing.
“Based upon was information op provided, I would sue both the apartment complex and the towing company for fraud. I’d request an emergency hearing to get my car back,” as additional advice that’s separate from the hearing. This kind of pursuit, however, might just cost the Texas car owner his apartment, though, given what happened, moving away from the place might be a good consideration.
