That is a slick way to move a car around on a smooth level surface, but I don’t know if I would want to use it on any kind of grade. Seems like run-away momentum could pose an issue.
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and around and around and
Yep!
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Solve this “The Chicago Way” by declaring dibs. OK, so there’s no snow involved, but everyone knows in Chicago you don’t dare move a lawn chair holding a spot.
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Assuming his account is accurate - and that’s a sizeable if, but one bolstered by the company ducking the journalists’ questions with meaningless corporate doubletalk - he tried the legal avenues to get the car moved and the local LE and tow companies wouldn’t help. So if it’s in fact his property Car2Go lets their customers park on without consequence, he may have done the only thing he legally could to avoid liability. If putting up the fence was his first move, then sure, that would be petty. But other than idle speculation in this thread with even less evidence than the 2 minute local news video no one seems inclined to watch, he tried to get the cops and the towers to move it and they refused. And frankly, it doesn’t seem like most of the people in this thread criticizing him actually bothered to watch the video.
Nonetheless, the company is using his driveway as a corporate lot to make money. They ought to share responsibility with their clients who park random vehicles in people’s driveways. And because they’re the instigators of the situation, they should bear the brunt of the responsibility. Instead they’re trying to claim he STOLE THE CAR. So, you know, if you want to sympathize with them then go ahead, but they’re in the wrong here as far as I’m concerned.
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He’s trying to charge them impound fees that he pulled out of his butt, and holding the vehicle hostage until they are paid. I can easily see where they could characterize it as theft. He may have been been demanding those fees from the very start.
I can see Car2Go as the likely initial bad guys for, possibly, not agreeing to retrieve the car immediately. But this guy is lying out of his butt with his claims of fear of liability if someone retrieves the car, and hence why he “had” to fence it in (which just so happens to correspond with his desire for a big cash pay out).
That’s the exact same MO of any other “legitimate” impound lot. They just have nicely painted trucks and a building. All those “legitimate” charges and fees are just made up numbers too.
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Oh, I think they are a racket, too. But even they are subject to at least some rules and regulations. And when allegedly asked by this guy to tow, they took a pass. And now he is trying to do what the tow companies thought better of doing. My non-lawyer thoughts are that his attempts at arbitrary fines for storage are likely to help him to lose the case if this goes to court. He’s not attempting to mitigate, and there is no contract, as there purports to be when towing signs are posting in a parking lot.
Putting up signs in a commercial lot doesn’t constitute a contract between a 3rd party tower and anyone who parks there.
Much like Car2Go saying “you can park anywhere!” to a customer doesn’t constitute a contract between Car2Go and any random person who’s property a customer may trespass onto.
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You may be right. However, the issue remains that there are rules for how cars left on private property can be dealt with and the man in this story does not appear to be following them.
I guess. But I have no sympathy at all for the corporation. And if anyone should be paying anyone here then it’s the corporation who should pay the guy for using his own property without permission.
All the people here saying “oh he could have rented the car and moved it” are fucking insane IMNSHO.
A private company told its idiot users to park wherever they like, then when their dumbass user decided to park on and block a private driveway, the company didn’t move it when initially asked to by the owner. While still expecting to make money using that car once someone engages it.
I think the right thing to have done really is to have just gotten out a come-a-long and winch it out into the street to let the cops deal with it.
“Is this your car?” “No.”
Cop runs plates
“I guess it’s not your car”
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I agree on that. Then he’d be subject to their TOS. Paying them for right to move their unauthorized car off his property would be stupid.
However, there are rules, at least in CA, about how a car may be towed from private property. (Not sure about his state). Absent a towing sign (or some other specific circumstances) the property owner can only tow if
“• the vehicle has been issued a notice of parking violation, and at least 96 hours have passed since the notice was issued”
The company should have moved quickly to get the car. This guy should not have put up his fence to prevent them from doing that. He did so because he wanted them to pay money, not because he wanted the car gone as quickly as possible.
As to moving the car himself, while it is in park, with the brakes on, and with an unknown security system. Now that could be a liability nightmare, for him. Not a good idea, even if it might seem appealing and expedient.
He can want 2 things. They’re not even mutually exclusive.
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In this case, they are,
They would be, if Car2Go ever intended to move it quickly. Didn’t they leave it for a whole day? They have employees.
Eg Priority 1: I want this car off my property quickly. It’s not moved quickly and possibly even causes problems like difficulty getting to work due to blocking.
Priority 2: I now want to be paid for this service I’m being forced to render to some faceless corporation.
He’s being an ass, but I’m going to side with the actual human over a corporation probably every single time.
He put up a fence to prevent the vehicle from being removed. He unarguably wants money more than he wants the car gone.
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Many of them involved boobytraps. In one case recently the homeowner lured a couple teenagers in with intimations that he was out and there were valuables. He was waiting in a prepared position and shot them on top of a tarp he had put down to catch the blood and make the bodies easier to move. The jury didn’t buy his self defense claim.
I’m seeing a lot of speculation about what he did and didn’t do, and assumptions about what his motivations are, and I’m wondering where you came about these conclusions.
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A fair point to a certain degree, but not about one thing: If he wanted the car gone more than he wanted money he wouldn’t have put a fence around it preventing it from being removed, a fence with a sign prohibiting Car2Go or their agents from stepping on the property.
He has demanded money, as reported by the Seattle Times:
"Smith is asking Share Now for $300 for fence supplies, $65 a day in impound fees and $30 every 15 days for late fees. Smith is also seeking a “$500 renter harassment fee,” which he said is a number that would “make our renters happy.”’
He wants money more than he wants the car gone. His actions show that beyond a doubt.
Based his demands, he currently wants $1840, and a late fee.
And there is no way a couple of rusty fence stakes and a pair of 1x2s cost $300.
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Or he’s just fed up with Car2Go.
[Edited to be less snarky, because you’re debating in good faith and didn’t deserve the level of sarcasm entailed in my original reply.]
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How about a winch? Just drag the car into the street, then call the cops about a car blocking traffic.
