Why Don’t Private Parking Lot Owners Just Tow the Non-Paying Cars?

This whole quasi-judicial house of cards is regulated by the city.

Parking lot in Old Town. (Brian Burk)
By Marty Smith

I know the “parking tickets” you get in a private lot have no legal authority, and I’ve never paid one. What I don’t understand is why lot owners don’t just tow the non-paying cars, which they DO have the legal right to do. They have tow warnings posted, after all. —Welcome to Portlandistan

Define “legal authority,” Welcome. It’s true the slip you find on your windshield in a private parking lot isn’t a “real” parking ticket. It is, however, a real bill.

Then again, what is a “bill,” really? What does it mean to “owe,” to “pay”? Are we all just brains in vats? I have debated these and related mysteries with many creditors and collections agents over the years. Is anyone truly obligated to pay their bills? It’s a fascinating philosophical question.

As a legal question, however, it’s pretty boring. (Spoiler alert: Yes.) That fake ticket represents a real debt you’re supposed to pay, just like you were supposed to pay the Columbia Record and Tape Club for that Better Than Ezra cassette you forgot to tell them you didn’t want: In both cases, legally the creditor had you dead to rights.

However, you may recall that you DIDN’T actually pay for that cassette and nothing really happened, except maybe some threats to your credit report that never materialized. Are private-lot tickets similar—legally binding but largely consequence free?

You didn’t hear it from me, but I will say that an unscientific survey of people bitching on various message boards certainly included a lot of folks who, like you, claim to be ignoring these tickets and living to brag about it. Are lot administrators not currently prioritizing aggressive collections on small accounts? Maybe. But don’t come crying to me if they change their minds and nail your ass to the wall tomorrow.

Why don’t they just tow you instead of ticketing you when you don’t pay? Are they just generally chill, lenient dudes, waving away your transgressions with a gentle “‘S all good, brah”? In a word, no. It’s actually illegal for them to tow cars unless they’ve (a) been there for more than 24 hours or (b) already racked up multiple penalty notices.

Incidentally, this whole quasi-judicial house of cards is regulated by the city. If you have any problems, you can complain to the Revenue Division of the Bureau of Revenue. (I assume it’s their favorite division.)

Questions? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.

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