Regardless of who the alleged parking violator is, the tow company MUST release the car to the owner. The Arizona Supreme Court has held that a towing company that tows a car that was parked on private property without the property owner’s permission committs THEFT when the tow company refuses to release the car to the owner.

“According to the undisputed facts, the petitioner [a towing company], without lawful authority, knowingly controlled the property of another with the intent to restore it only upon payment of compensation. We believe the elements of the crime as specified under A.R.S. § 13-1801(2) and § 13-1802(A) have been satisfied, and that the petitioner may be charged with theft.” Capson v. Superior Court of State of Ariz., In and For Maricopa County, 139 Ariz. 113, 116, 677 P.2d 276, 279 (1984).

In other words, it’s the TOWING COMPANY’S burden to prove that the signs were clearly visible and readable from ALL POINTS in the parking area and at each entrance. Do you think Monster Heavy Towing & Recovery, LLC can do that?

B. The owner or agent of the owner of the private property shall be
DEEMED TO HAVE GIVEN CONSENT TO UNRESTRICTED PARKING by the general public in any parking area of the private property UNLESS such parking area is posted with signs as prescribed by this subsection which are CLEARLY VISIBLE and READABLE from ANY POINT within the parking area and at each entrance.

I appreciate your stance on this issue and agree that self-accountability is important. In this case we disagree on a few things.

In response to your point about the ‘”the no parking sign with the giant orange and yellow barricade at it’s base”‘. This type of sign has nothing to do with a private parking lot. This type of sign is for indicating that a section of public street is not available for parking. According to Tempe law as cited in my original post a private lot owner must follow a number of guidelines to notify the public that if they park in the lot then they will be towed and how much the fine will be and where they can get their car back from. This sign follows none of these rules/laws.

My assumption of cool is just a general method of seeing numerous cars, a few of which I know of, and taxis parked in the lot and the lack of signs telling me that if I park there I will be towed (see above paragraph and my entire post) that I should be good to park there.

The reason I see this as a scam is listed out in my post above. This lot is not setup according to Tempe law regarding towing. If the property owner is purely interested in not having anyone park in the lot then why not follow the law and post the appropriate signs so that people can clearly see that parking in that lot will result in being towed. Since they are not doing this and allowing taxi cabs and unlisted towing company vehicles to park in the lot I can only assume that they want people to park there and get towed and pay $135 to get their car back. As I mentioned above this must be quite lucrative.

As far as who I am and what I do you have missed the mark completely. ‘Real Estate Spectator’? Where did you come up with that?

Oh and Mr/Ms Richeousness/Self Accountability, thanks again for taking the time to post your opinion but not your name. Ironic much?

My second question is, what do you mean you “assumed things would be cool”? Is that your sense of entitlement speaking? You mean, “cool” as in “if the towing company comes to the lot and catches me red-handed they will be “cool” and leave my illegally parked car in the shadow of 5 NO PARKING SIGNS”. YES FIVE SIGNS WERE POSTED THAT NIGHT. STOP MISINFORMING THE PUBLIC. Towing companies get paid to tow illegally parked cars.

Why not try this on for size, “I made a mistake, no one is responsible for my mistakes but me, I’ve learned my lesson. I will not park in POSTED NO PARKING ZONES. I will cease bashing the City of Tempe and legally operating towing companies because of my own negligence, sense of entitlement or capricious expectations of WORKING PEOPLE to be “cool” when it suits me. Are you “cool” when it is time for you to be paid for your services? Oh yeah, you’re a real estate speculator. Fraud and toxic assests anyone? I rest my case.

James – agreed which is what is driving me to make a point of banging the drum on this. I have reached out to said officials and am awaiting a response.

Yes, there are many good things about the city, but it’s experiences like this one that make a far more lasting impression than cheap marketeeering.

Maybe the next Ignite needs to be, if not actually in Phoenix, then Scottsdale or Glendale. But not Tempe.

The city needs to really clean up it’s act or there will be more “used to be’s.”

GRT2