not neighborly, i confess.

[fox]

I have just had someone towed from my parking space.

Look, it was late and it's dark and cold and rainy and there weren't any open unreserved parking spaces, and I paid money to reserve that parking space, so coming home and finding that someone else had parked in it ... yeah, sorry, I called it in, because I don't know whose car it was and it's frankly not my job to go around the complex knocking on doors waking people up to encourage them to move their - wait for it - S-Type Jaguar from the parking space that has been reserved by someone else.

Somehow the fact that it was such a fancy car makes me feel less sympathetic about having it hauled away. If it had been an old beat-up Civic or something I'd think it might have been an honest mistake, but in this instance I suspect the kind of entitlement that actually makes me wonder why such a person is living in this building in the first place.

Comments

[neotoma]

I think the 'fancy car detracts from sympathy' totally makes sense, and really, you paid for that parking space, and I assume it's in an area that is well marked with 'reserved places -- parking with permit or be towed' signs. So whoever it was took their chances, rolled their dice, and *lost*. Boo hoo for them.

[juice]

I'm always surprised when people put far more money into their cars than they do into a place to live. Some of the most rundown parts of town here are lined with Mercedes. Not that your complex is rundown (I can't imagine you living there if it were) but clearly their priority is a really expensive car rather than upgrading their living space.

And yes, I would have had it towed too. Once I let the air out of all four tires of the car parked in my spot, when I had an apartment. We had assigned spots that correlated to our apartments, so it's not like they made a mistake. And they didn't do it again, either.

[longtimegone]

Not "neighborly", but their actions hardly were either. You're paying good money for the spot. I so don't blame you!

[jae]

I would have done exactly the same thing (and have in fact done just that).

-J

[laurajv]

I have regretted, to this day, not calling a towing company when I came home to find someone parked _in my driveway_. (I left a note on their car, and was going to call the next morning -- it was 3am -- and they were gone by the time I woke up.)

Which is all to say, I think you made the right move. If nothing else, perhaps they will learn not to park in someone's spot.

[dorothy1901]

Speaking as someone who's had my reserved, paid parking spot stolen/obstructed four times by unauthorized cars, and never been able to get the idiots towed: I would not only have done the exact same thing, I would additionally have sat back and relished the tasty schadenfreude.