I don't know what to think.

[rivka]

Misha and I are home safely from our vacation.

My car isn't in the parking lot.

There's no message from our landlords indicating that they had it towed - not that there was any reason for them to have done so. It was displaying a residents' hang tag. And surely if it were towed, we'd have gotten a letter or phone call or something. This is the address at which the car is registered.

The police are on their way over. I don't know what to think, at this point. Even though I'm sure I know exactly where I left the car - I remember that there were spots close to the door, and I chose one lower down the row as a courtesy to my neighbors, because I wasn't going to be driving it for a week - it still seems inconceivable that the car could have been stolen. Who would steal a twelve-year-old station wagon with a cracked windshield and patches of rust on the body? It just doesn't make sense.

So I'm not panicked. I just feel numb. This is bizarre.

Update: The officer was able to locate my car... at a tow lot. Our complex apparently had it towed on Monday, and didn't bother notifying us. Argh, it's probably going to cost a fortune to get it out of tow. Misha says we'll make the landlords pay, but they really have the advantage on us here - we'll have to pay the towing company or they won't give us the car, and then all they have to do is refuse to reimburse us.

I can't imagine why they towed it. Argh. Argh. Argh.

Thanks for your sympathy, everyone.

Comments

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Oh, my god. That's awful!

I'm glad you're home, but keep us posted. *hugs*

-J

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're home, but keep us posted. *hugs*

*hugs* Thanks. Apparently our apartment complex had the car towed, which is a terrible hassle and inexplicable and likely to be expensive, but at least means that the car is in one piece and has its contents intact.

In the morning, we get to take up the fight with the landlords to force them to pay for its retrieval.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Why on earth would they tow your car?!

-J

Re:

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Why on earth would they tow your car?!

They claim it didn't have a hang tag. The guy at the towing company said they put a warning on it on Friday - when we were driving the Icefields Parkway - and towed it on Monday. It kind of boggles the imagination, doesn't it? Whether it had a hang tag or not (it must! Where would the hang tag have gone?), that they just happened to pick a time when we were out of town to make an issue of it...

[geekchick]

Misha and I are home safely from our vacation.

Welcome back!

My car isn't in the parking lot.

Oh good lord. I'm so sorry that you had to come back to something like this. =( I hope it gets resolved quickly.

[wldrose.livejournal.com]

Besr of luck hon fingers and toes crossed

Ash

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

I realise this is assuming the worse, but if it's a popular older car where the parts are now hard to find, it may have been stolen to be wrecked for the money in parts.

Oh!

[mittelbar.livejournal.com]

Poor! It *is* bizarre.

It brings to mind a very bizarre thing that happened to our housemate's car yesterday, but that's a whole 'nother story and now I have something else to think about.

Welcome home.

[iamjw.livejournal.com]

I've done that. Walked out to the parking lot in the morning to find a little pile of glass where my car used to be. Walked up and down the lot wondering if for some reason I'd parked it somewhere else. Even checked the store parking lot next door before it finally sank in that it was gone. I got mine back, after about three days, not much the worse for wear. I hope the same is true for you - and that you have good insurance coverage.

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear the car has been located.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Good to see that you're home safe and the car has been located. I imagine Misha and you will be up to the task of making whoever had the car towed wish fervently that they had not done that.

[redbird]

How to make the landlords pay: if they won't after being polite, take it out of the next rent check, with a letter explaining that this is what you've done, because they owe you $nnn.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Well. When we went to pick up the car, the hang tag was in fact missing. I can't imagine what happened to it, except to say that we've had the car worked on a couple of times recently, and it might have been knocked off accidentally. You'd think they might've given me the benefit of the doubt, considering that we've lived there - and parked this car there - for two years, but I suppose that if the hang tag wasn't visible they weren't obligated to do so.

The good news, I guess, is that it only cost us $148 to recover the car. I had read enough about tow yards charging enormous daily "storage" fees that I expected a much higher amount. But this tow yard owner actually apologized to us ("They're tough about parking, there - some of the residents can be real parking Nazis. I want you to know that we would never have towed it, except that they called us, and they do have a contract with us. Here, let me scrape that sticker off the windshield for you. Sorry about that.") and the fee, while unpleasant, wasn't ghastly. It could've been a lot worse.

We'll see what can be done, with the complex management, I guess.