A Few Quick Tips About Towing Cars From Your Lot
When you own any type of commercial business, even a shared residential building such as a condominium or apartment complex, you do have the right to have abandoned or illegally parked vehicles towed from the lot. However, before you do this, you should discuss the details of those rights with an attorney; if you were to accidentally tow the vehicle of someone who lives in the complex or someone who had the right to park where they did, you may be liable for the towing costs and any damages caused to the car from that towing. Note a few quick tips about towing a car from your lot so you know what to discuss with an attorney. Knowing these things can also help reduce the amount of towing you need to have done from your lot.
Ensure your signs are explicit
If you have a sign in the parking lot that designates visitor parking, be extra careful of towing vehicles out of those spots; if the sign doesn't designate that a person needs to be a visitor of a particular company or doesn't designate how long a car can be parked there, this can mean you don't have the right to have it towed even if it sits for several hours. If you want to ensure that certain spots are not used by day-long or overnight visitors, make sure this is spelled out on the signs; you can note a maximum number of hours, or note that no overnight parking is allowed.
Provide more visitor parking
If you notice that your parking lot constantly has visitor cars parked illegally or that visitors are taking up too many spaces, you may want to simply rethink your parking lot overall. While the owners of cars may be liable for the cost of towing, you might avoid having to constantly call to have cars towed if you designate more visitor spots near the entryway of a building or expand the parking lot overall. Even just a dozen or so more parking spots in a complex can ease this parking congestion and help you avoid unnecessary towing.
Cars with no tags
Don't assume that cars with no tags will mean that you cannot find the owner and bill them for the towing charge; there should be vehicle identification numbers inside the vehicle that can be traced to a registration. However, even if no owner can be found, it's best to have those vehicles towed so that they don't become an eyesore, as cars without tags are typically abandoned and it's unlikely that an owner will be coming back for them anytime soon.
