HOA towed my wife's car

[CallMeGreen]

Your beef is not with the HOA. Maybe a little of it lies with the bylaws, but the HOA probably didn't even know your car was towed until you brought it to their attention.

Developments (usually with townhouses) don't get built with that many extra spaces, because they'd rather build more units than parking spaces to fit everyone's cars.

People b*tch about lack of parking, etc., and the HOAs devise parking rules to prevent the b*tching.

Contracts get signed with towing companies, and the towing companies are left to deal with the parking problems. The towing companies get their money by trolling for illegal cars, and will use any legal justification to "score" the car. That's how the tow-truck drivers make their living. If they don't tow cars, they don't get paid.

Generally the tow-truck trolling takes place in the wee hours of the night, at the odd times when people aren't calling for to get help with their own car problems. So in the lull hours, the drivers go to their contracted HOA developments and look for violations. If they're busy making normal towing calls, they stay out of the HOA lots unless someone calls in with a complaint.

The reason your wife's car went two weeks without being towed was probably because they got other violators first, were busy making normal calls, or just maybe, they were giving you an extra week to get the new stickers on the car.

In a former neighborhood where I lived, I once spent 15 minutes talking a tow-truck driver in to dropping my neighbor's car off his truck. The guy had just purchased a new car and had forgotten to put his rearview mirror hangtab back into the new car. I made a deal with driver, if he couldn't find another car, he'd come back and get my neighbor's (the guy wouldn't wake up when I tried to get his attention). About 10 minutes later, I heard the tow-truck driver honk as he hauled another car up the street.

In the end you end up paying rapist towing charges and it leaves a very bad taste in your mouth. It really stinks that this happened, but I can pretty much guarantee you'll never let it happen again. I've been through it too.

[Popeman38]

You know, I've never gotten a letter about expired registration/inspection/license. I found out about inspection because I was given a blank ticket while parked along the curb out of the country (because it was out of county, there was no fine). I found out about my expired license when I went to withdraw money from the bank and my ID was expired. I discovered my registration was expired when I was in the passenger seat of my car while my brother drove and the blue lights came on behind us. The cop had been following us for awhile, so I think he illegally ran my tags, 'cause there's no way he could read a little sticker in the pitch black while going 55 MPH. Anyways, my brother was let off the hook since it wasn't his fault and the cop didn't want him to suffer from it.

Anyways, I think the point I'm coming to, is why the hell have I never gotten anything in the mail?

The state of VA randomly mails registration renewals. Not every registered vehicle receives one.

Also, there is a MM sticker in the top/bottom left corner and a YY sticker in the top/bottom right corner on your license plate in VA that is tied to your registration. If your registration expired, your tags expired. That is how the cop identified you to pull over. Once he saw your dead tags, he most likely ran them to ensure they were not stolen which explains why he followed you awhile.

[PokerPacker]

The state of VA randomly mails registration renewals. Not every registered vehicle receives one.

Well at least I know it isn't just me.