I park in a private lot. A tower has a concession to boot offending cars. He booted my pickup yesterday, the reason on the tag is ‘immobile’. Of course it was immobile: it was parked. All the other cars in the lot were immobile too. There is no rule against immobility. I suspect he meant inoperable, which there is a rule against. Of course my pickup is operable. I maintain it regularly.
I only go on short trips anymore and I have a favorite parking place, so you can’t really tell, if you show up once a day, whether I’ve driven it. I keep it clean, it has new tires, which I keep inflated. The engine delivers book compression, it passes emissions tests well enough for even a new car (as opposed to the looser standards for my old pickup). In preparation for dealing with him when he shows up to tow it later today I started it up (haven’t driven it since February, so it’s balky) and let it run while I inflated the tires and looked for problems (which I didn’t find). After a while of idling the idle dropped. I think it does that when the engine reaches operating temperature. Is that a good landmark for warming it up enough to have it start readily when he shows up?
He gets an F grade from the Better Business Bureau. I suspect no one likes towers. A neighbor posted a picture of his truck’s license plate, last valid in 2024 yesterday. So I expect him to give me grief.
Have you other helpful suggestions? Feel free to snipe if that makes you feel better.
When you only drive about 100 miles a year (per you), why wouldn’t they think it was immobile, most anyone in charge would boot it…
db4690 offered good advise, don’t keep using the same parking spot, I will do one better, once a week or at least once a month move it to a different spot, even if you don’t leave the parking place…
I was booted Saturday, told I would be towed on Sunday. Management won’t be here until Monday.
I don’t think that’s the case. Inoperability is forbidden, not immobility. I think the tower conflated the 2. It annoys some people that I drive so little.
How would they know that? Did they try to start it and drive it? It’s not immobile in the sense of this definition. I started it up and could have driven it anywhere had there been no boot on it. All they know is that they see it in the same place so often.
As long as you pay your parking bill, it shouldn’t matter how long the car sits in one spot. Does the lot owner provide some way to show that you rent a spot? IMO there’s no way that the towing company should treat a paying customer that way. If they tow the truck maybe you should report a theft to the police. That’s essentially what it is.
It seems to me that in a paid parking facility, a decal to be posted somewhere on the vehicle should be provided to the owner of the vehicle paying to park in the lot.
You said yourself it hadn’t been started in nine months. So at what point would it be considered still in use? You may find there is no distinction between a vehicle no5 being driven in over 30 days and one with parts missing. How do you wash it in the same stall, air the tires, etc. gotta believe the guy has been looking at it month after month with no change.
In college I argued with a tow truck driver and he was nice enough to let me ride along as he towed my car. Then it was only a few minutes delay to pay the $10 and be on my way.
If this isn’t too personal to ask: How old is the truck, and what is it’s cosmetic condition?
Anectdotal:
For three years I used to rent an apartment in a building in a light-industrial zone, on the second floor among two other apts which also used to be offices.
Our parking was in back and to the side of the complex, and most of the time us residents could always find spots to park our cars, especially by evening when staff from the surrounding concerns had left for the evening.
One of the businesses, a sporting goods retailer occupying the building attached to mine, apparently had the need for a lot of storage, and so for at least a decade I’m told, keeps an old van in a spot with a sign on the wall marking the spot as for that business.
The van has not moved as I said for years, tires look like they’ve lost half their air, and there are weeds growing up through cracks in the pavement around this van. Other than some rust spots on the bottom rockers, no physical damage, but it could sure use a bath!
No boots on the wheels or orange sign on the drivers window yet.
By the way, when I tapped this thread to read it, the title misled me into believing it was really about how long to let the engine run on a cold day.
About three to four minutes for my carburetor-shod 1981 Buick back in college, and just 1-2min for my 2010 Honda.
It’s what, a 30+ year old truck (carbureted) that hadn’t moved in 9 months?? Gezz, I wonder why they would think it is not mobile…
Trust me, I know where you are coming from, I have always had a vehicle sitting around for one reason or another, and to keep codes off my back, I have had to move them to a different spot, or drive them around the block or whatever…
I agree, if you are paying for the spot, it’s your spot, but unless they can easily see it is not an abandoned vehicle, they will think it is… We are missing something here, they should have your tag number or something to show that is you vehicle and not be trying to tow it…
But it is not like it is a classic high valuable car being stored, so most anyone would think it is just an old broken down truck that hasn’t moved in almost a year…