I just remember that when I was in college, a GF of mine had her car towed while we were at a concert. We had parked at an adjacent business, well after their business hours, because the venue’s parking lot was full.
Well, the business had no signs up, so we had no idea who had towed her car. OTHER businesses had signs up, so we started calling those numbers and eventually found who had towed her car.
Well, being the asshole that I am, I told my GF to wait. She was ready to go pay the guy to get her car back.
I called the police and reported her car stolen, and told them where they could find it and who took it and why.
The police told me that yes, unless a business has a sign up, it is illegal for a tow company to take your vehicle; at that point it becomes theft. That was in Tallahassee, FL back in the mid 80s.
ETA: the police met us out there and we got her car back for free; no charges filed. I wanted compensation as well but my GF was so shaken by the whole thing, and afraid that somehow we were gonna get in trouble for something, that we just left with the car.
No, quite the opposite. The kind of planning I advocate is very supportive of businesses locating in downtown centers, far more than is typical in the United States. Note, I said that I would support providing, at public expense, a range of transport options for customers and employees such that no ordinary business would feel compelled to spend anything on the indulgence of on-site parking. However, an extended discussion of that is outside the scope of this thread.
That makes more sense. My guess is that putting up the sign is equivalent to/in lieu of putting a sign on the car and giving them 24 hours notice, having the cops write a ticket etc etc. Where I work we don’t have a problem with people parking to go other places, but we do get cars abandoned in our lot from time to time and this is how we deal with them.
Aye, I can see where the sign on the windshield would serve as legal notice: this was acceptable but no longer is; please remove your vehicle or we will for you.
Ka-ching. I’ve been towed in this type of scene exactly once in my very early twenties. This was in Portland, OR, for reference’s sake, and not a bank, but some kind of hi-fi-record-car-stereo-type spot. Obvious to me it was that the tow company started scavenging on that night and picked my little Volvo up “just because.”
Your car wouldn’t have been picked up ‘just because.’ It was picked up because the shop owner had an agreement with the towing company to pick up any cars there after a certain time. The towing companies don’t just go around picking up cars for fun…that’s stealing. Besides lots of business have good reason to have cars in their lot at night. At my work, we have two delivery vehicles (a cargo van and a minivan) as well as a Ford Brono in our lot nearly 24 hours a day, plus two employees that tend to work all by themselves long after business hours who’s cars can often times be found in the lot as late as midnight.
A common reason for some places to have this kind of arrangement is that what will sometimes happen is that someone will park their car in the lot during the day, the shop closes and the car is still there. A few hours later, the car is still there, by this time the owner has already noticed it, passers-by have noticed and cops have since stopped noticing it. Now whomever left the car there can come back at night, break into said shop and have a getaway car right there, ready to go without anyone batting an eye. It might seem far fetched, but it happens.
The business contracted with the towing company to keep the lot available for customers when the business was open. The towing company towed cars after hours to make money, not at the request of the business.
Of course. Just because they happened to drive by the lot and saw a valid, legal reason to tow a car. That’s why they’ve got the contract in the first place, no?
No, you should not park your car at a bank any time after hours. It is pretty standard for bank employees to remain inside the the building (when closing) or outside the building (when opening, forcing them to stay in their cars, and preventing the branch from opening) if there are vehicles in the parking lot. Many times employees are inside the bank several hours before and after lobby hours have started or ended, and by leaving your car there you force them to either break policy, or call the police and have your car towed. It is a major incovenience for the employee, not to mention waste of time, for the police to show up to escort them out of the building. It may seem extreme, but a large number of bank robberies happen before and after normal operating hours because of situations like this.
Driving on a paved surface doesnt wear it out much. What DOES wear it out is a load that is a bit too heavy for it. Just a few times with an overweight vehicle causes cracks and then its quickly downhill from then on.
So, unless the parking after hours customers are driving massive vehicles you would probably have a hard time measuring the additional impact of after hours parking vs just daytime business hours parking.
The occasional brinks truck is probably doing most of the damage to the bank parking lot.
Yes they do! That’s exactly the reason you often see concrete around the dumpster area (and at bus stops on otherwise asphalt roads). We have a corner lot and any time there’s heavy road construction in the area we use our cars to block off the side entrance. Annoys the hell out of the workers, some times they even confront us about it, but if we don’t do that we wind up with dump trucks using our lot to turn around in.
But, you can’t tell me that additional lot traffic (even if it is just cars) isn’t going to mean extra lot maintenance. More traffic means more wear and tear. I suppose my numbers may have been off. Now that I think about it, a lot that see 500 cars during business hours might only see 100 during the non-business hours, but it’s still more traffic. Even if you assume that won’t cause extra wear and tear, the business owner would still have to deal with cars left overnight, (more) garbage in the parking lot that has to be picked up etc.
And now that I think about it, most business owners in areas that get a lot of snow prefer to plow at night when the lot is empty, it would make that significantly harder as well.
Well of course bigger vehicles do more damage, hence the reinforcements. What I’m saying is that more traffic means more repairs. Go look at any parking lot in a Home Depot, Walmart, Toys R Us or Sam’s Club. Plenty of damage all throughout the lot. Cracks, pot holes, dips along the backs of the stalls where the front tires are parked (not to mention broken bottles, cigarette butts, candy wrappers)… Those aren’t from garbage trucks, front end loaders or buses, they’re from Yugos and Mini Coopers. Yes it takes years to do that kind of damage, but allowing the lots to be used at night as free public parking will certainly accelerate that damage. So maybe they normally top coat every 5 years and rip out and replace every 15, but now they have to top coat every 4 years and rip out/replace every 12. Might not seem like much but the business isn’t going to just eat that. It’ll be passed on to the consumer.
I believe that legally you would most likely be trespassing onto private property. Differences being dependent upon local ordinances. Technically this is true even if you are walking down the sidewalk and cut the corner to the other sidewalk. Then again, as the old saying goes, it is only illegal when you get caught.
I also think it depends on what the options are. Where I live, on-street parking is free after hours, as is the borough-owned metered lot next to the post office. The borough-owned garage costs a buck after 5 p.m., but about half of the spaces are contracted to the hotel next door, so good luck finding a parking place there. On a busy night, such as during a car show or a major event at the college, it’s difficult to find a spot on-street or in the post office lot. There are a couple of businesses on the main street with parking lots that don’t mind if the public parks there after hours. As far as they’re concerned, it’s good community relations, and the bank makes a little money from ATM fees, because people who park in that lot tend to use its ATM.
My point is that it’s OK to use a private lot, as long as a) you’re not doing it because you’re too cheap to pay for parking and are looking for a freebie; and b) it’s OK with the business.
I don’t see a problem with just including b, although I can see b being less likely if paid parking is required elsewhere–the free parking would probably be full too often.
The only place I saw it done regularly was when we visited Squirrel Hill, in Pittsburgh. The off-street parking was terrible, even at night. There were definately cars parked in a bank lot on Murray Avenue; I saw people parking and then walking into Barnes and Noble, which has since closed.
I live in a smaller (36,000) town. There is a bar with a small parking lot across the street from a bank with a large lot. On the the door of the bar there is a sign that says you may park in the bank’s lot after hours, but remember it is a privilege, so please respect the bank’s property.