anyone know about the tow law??

[OC-PARTYCAT]

Allright heres the deal, with my procratinating being, I didnt pay the tags on my wifes car. She was gettin her hair done on friday and when she came out....the car was gone. Come to find out, after calling 911, the car was towed because of expired tags. I know you can get towed if you are driving on the road and the cop has a hard on for you but, the car was parked on private property, shopping center. Does anyone know if it is legal for the LE to tow your car in this situation????

[victorfb]

i was told by an orange county officer that they cannot tow cars that are parked on private property such as the shopping center parking lot.

[MRS FLYIN VEE]

Allright heres the deal, with my procratinating being, I didnt pay the tags on my wifes car. She was gettin her hair done on friday and when she came out....the car was gone. Come to find out, after calling 911, the car was towed because of expired tags. I know you can get towed if you are driving on the road and the cop has a hard on for you but, the car was parked on private property, shopping center. Does anyone know if it is legal for the LE to tow your car in this situation????
I think it is because it is on the street wether it be a parking lot or not .. it is not in the registered owners driveway.. it can not be on the street at all..

[MRS FLYIN VEE]

i was told by an orange county officer that they cannot tow cars that are parked on private property such as the shopping center parking lot.
unless it was called on privatly.

[RP1]

Under vehicle code section 22651 (o)...
The vehicle can be towed after the tag is expired over six months. The parking lot is considered common use for public parking, regardless of it being privately owned and the vehicle can be towed from there.
This information came from a Police Traffic Lieutenant.

[LHC30Victory]

That OC officer may be legally wrong but within THEIR POLICY:
22651 of the Vehicle Code says in part that a car may be impounded :
(o) (1) When any vehicle is found or operated upon a highway, any public lands, or an offstreet parking facility with a registration expiration date in excess of six months before the date it is found or operated on the highway, public lands, or the offstreet parking facility. However, whenever the vehicle is occupied, only a peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, may remove the vehicle. For the purposes of this subdivision, the vehicle shall be released to the owner or person in control of the vehicle only after the owner or person furnishes the storing law enforcement agency with proof of current registration and a currently valid driver's license to operate the vehicle.

[Kilrtoy]

How expired is the reg and as a rule of thumb, I have been told cops do not go into parking lots and take cars, its not good P.R.

[BoatPI]

The short answer is they may impound it six months after the day the registration has expired. It may be cited while parked thirty days after expiring. Most impound laws may be found under 22651 section or 22655.5.
PERIOD.
Unless a persoon posted private property impounded it for unauthorized parking. Then it is a private tow, but ONLY after it has been illegally parked for TWO hours. In this case the police do not get involved except to be notified by the private property owner that the vehicle was towed and provide ALL of the vehicle info and the towing shop location. The private property owner must sign for this tow.

[OC-PARTYCAT]

How expired is the reg and as a rule of thumb, I have been told cops do not go into parking lots and take cars, its not good P.R.
Longer than 6 months......When I called the officer, I asked, " Why did you tow it, I thought that you could not tow the car if it is on private property" she said "Well, we cant tow it if it is parked on your driveway but, how did you get the car to the parking lot?" What if I towed it to the parking lot? They should have just waited for her to drive off, then pull her over. So, what Im getting out of this is that the LE can tow your car when it is parked in a privatly owned parking lot? That is just bullshit. I know it should have been registered but..WTF, They tow it on Friday(when the DMV is closed) so now Im looking at 200.00+ in towing and storage.

[Kilrtoy]

Well if you read the signs at the entrance im sure it gives details about the tow company, among other things.
Also the property may be privately owned but it is open to the public, hence public roadway.....
Well you learned a valueable lesson in a very expensive way. also dont lie at the dmv and say the car was parked and skip out on penalties, god forbid they check at the court and you get caught for perjury....