Parking Etiquette: OK to park at a bank after hours?

In My Humble Opinion
41

I park in the back employee lot of *my *bank after hours. It’s slam in the middle of a bunch of clubs and it’s just the most convenient place to park. It’s my bank. Those fuckers pay for parking lot maintenance on my dime (paying account fees and such). I can even prove that I’m a customer because I can whip out my debit card with the bank’s name and my name on it. I figure… it’s 11p.m. on a Saturday night, I’m parked way in the back, where employees park… who the fuck is going to call a tow truck? You can’t even see my car from the street. Their sign says customer parking only and doesn’t say anything about violators being towed. I don’t think I’m breaking the rules because I am a customer of that bank. They didn’t say I could only park there when the bank was open. I am confident this argument would hold up in a court of law. :wink:

So I takes my chances. Haven’t had a problem yet.

42

:smiley: I was trying to be flip in the OP- my beer-swilling usually consists of two beers over three hours and actually, it’s a pretty cute and safe downtown area with lots of lights, wide sidewalks, and people about, so walking isn’t much of a hardship. Parking is free in this town, so I usually just take the closest bank or non-bank spot I can find without preference.

I hadn’t considered that towing companies might operate independently of the banks; I had figured that I couldn’t get towed unless the bank called in a complaint. Good to know.

43

Downtown parking is evil. I hate it. I would park anywhere I can get away with, including after-hours at a bank. They’re not using it so it’s not hurting them, and I find it hilarious that anyone would consider that part of maintenance. Unless I have chains wrapped around my tires, there’s no maintenance cost!

Besides, if it’s after hours, who’s going to be there to call the tow truck?

44

As I said before (and was discussed in the article I linked), no one has to call the tow truck. In some areas, the tow companies proactively “patrol” looking for unauthorized parkers to tow. This is worth it to them because they make a lot of money towing cars. Once they have your car, you have little choice but to pay.

I have no moral problem with parking at a closed business. I just think you need to be very, very careful. The fact that they aren’t open DOES NOT mean you won’t get towed.

45

sharding beat me to it. Earlier this year there was an especially egregious case of this where a tow company was pulling cars from the lot of a restaurant that had gone out of business. By the letter of the law, it was legal for them to do so.

I will only park in lots where I have observed that after-hours towing is not enforced.

46

Is this why banks have needed to raise their fees so much lately? Because people park on their lots and cause extra wear and tear?!

47

As a former parking-lot owner, here’s another perspective.

I used to have a motorcycle shop downtown-ish. Big bar and club area, especially on weekends.
The shop was on the main drag, and there were nice condos set back from the road behind us, with their own gated, covered parking deck.
When I moved in, the condo-dwellers had usurped my lot for their convenience, since my building had been empty for some time. Wanting to be a good neighbor, I went to the condo folks and proposed a solution: when I’m open, the lot is mine. when I’m closed, you can park there.
Every C-D got the letter. Spelled out everything, hours, rules, etc… Everyone I spoke with agreed this was fair. Problem is, there’s always an exception…
I just had to run in to feed my cat. I had clothes in the washer. I’m having a nooner.
Pretty soon 2-3 times a week, my lot is full, and I’ve got 2 customers.
I didn’t want to be a jerk, but my lot is private property for my business, and I have to protect that.

Couple this with the overnight bar-hoppers and it became a real problem. Every morning when I would arrive, I had to get a can and go collect empty bottles, broken bottles, piles of trash, used condoms, used tampons (WTH?) and hose the lot down where someone had just a bit too much to drink and eat. Eww.

So now, I’ve got un-invited drunks staggering around my glass-strewn parking lot just waiting to get hurt. This is called liability. No Thank You.

I want to run a clean, family-friendly place where I don’t have to pick up New Jersey Whitefish every day.

So, I found a towing company, put up signs, and made a new agreement with the condo.
Not because I had to, but because I’m a reasonable guy.
Many condo dwellers would have overnight guests and they have no provision for this in their garage. Fine. All I ask is you call me and tell me. Aunt Edna visiting from Tampa? No problemo.
Just tell me the tag and Bubba won’t tow it. Most of the dwellers complied, but we towed one now and then.
As for the bar-hoppers, well, now and then someone would roll the dice and Bubba would get 'em.

And the answer to your most obvious question? Nope, never took a penny from Bubba as a cut.

I think you’ll find most lot-owners who don’t allow un-authorized parking simply don’t want the liability or the trash, plain and simple.