Legality of city towing a car...

[Knoxville-Horn]

I do live in Knoxville so the rules might be different but I'm actually just looking at advice on what y'all would do.

I got a flat Monday night on I-40 here in Knoxville. My spare went flat as well. So, I took the tire off and left a white rag in the window. I arrived the next morning at 9AM with a tire but the car had been towed.

The car was well off the right-side shoulder almost in the grass so there was no safety issue. It was left from 10:30PM until 9AM.

A poster on another board found this:
The Link

In reply to:

---

---

 

[pasotex]

You probably are. I bet the tow truck company towed it without any authorization.

In El Paso, I know they put a bit sticker on the car for a day or so before they tow it (provided it is on the side of the freeway).

I am not sure what your recourse is and for $85 it probably isn't worth much. You might send an open records request to the police department to see whether it was authorized and depending on what you find out you could complain to your city rep.

 

[Namewithheld]

99% of tow trucker drivers are scum!

 

[l00p]

Where did you pick the car up from? Was it a private lot of a company or was it the city lot? If private, have them show you the tow order. If they balk, document it right there in front of them, note the time it has taken you to have to request this. Go from there, I guess. It would be small claims court and I don't know if you can sue for damages or lost wages. Maybe you can charge them with theft if they took it with no reason? It'd be funny if you could.

If it's the city lot it is much more cut and dry as well as easy to track what went down. It will also likely be easier to get your money back if you were wronged.

I think it is Delaware that automatically tows your car if it is on the side of the highway. I was told it's because of drug trafficking or something like that.

 

[TXSNOS]

They probably consider any car parked to the side of the interstate as a hazard.

 

[NickDanger]

That's pretty standard practice.