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

[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.