Talk about parking problems - look what this guy suffered.

[rn79870]

It's time for another installment of Carsumer Advocacy. We won't go into the nitty gritty details of this one, as it's spread across a 61-page forum post on VW Vortex. The basic gist is that a guy moved into a house in a nice neighborhood. Said neighborhood then started a Home Owners Association with an annual fee of over $1,500. The new HOA then hired an outside contractor to police parking inside the neighborhood. Parking passes were then required that had to be displayed within the vehicle at all times, even when parking in your own driveway (!). If the loose passes (they weren't stickers) weren't displayed, a homeowner would get a $140 ticket and a couple of boots slapped on his or her wheels until the ticket was paid.

One day, forum member The A1 and A2 German forgot to hang his parking pass on the rearview mirror of his mildly tuned Audi A4. The boots came, but rather than acquiesce, he got some rolling jacks and wheeled his car, boots and all, back into his garage. It's the principal of the thing, as this guy apparently always used his parking pass and, despite the rent-a-cops knowing his vehicle, they ticketed him and gave his car the boot anyway. Then the standoff began. This guy was smart and called the police to make sure he wasn't doing anything illegal like stealing the contractor's boots, and when the HOA contractor's eventually found out where their they were hiding, he was happy to let them come and retrieve their property. The contractor now his boots back, but the man's parking pass has been revoked and apparently his neighbors are now being terrorized by these boot police who are hell bent on revenge. Click the link below to read the story.

For Readers digest condensed version click link.

http://www.gtplanet.net/forum/...60584

[C-Kwik]

Coincidentally, someone just dropped off a flyer on my doorstep this morning stating that they want to petition to require permits to park on our street. We're not part of any kind of HOA community, but the reason is that the street I live on is a small cul-de-sac. I'd guess we have about 10 houses max. Teh reasoning is that a house on the corner of the entrance of our street, which is technically on the street outside of mine, parks several vehicles on our street. Its pretty overcrowded, but at the moment, feels even worse as they are performing construction on the street outside of our street as we speak.

I doesn't affect me greatly as I'm as far away from the problem as I can be on this street, but it does make the street much more precarious than it used to be. I'm not thrilled about having to use parking permits but will look into this as I would like to see our street a bit more reasonably clear. I'll be sure to bring that thread up if they decide they want to boot cars up and the like. That's the last thing I want to deal with.

[Jacko3]

Very interesting! This is why I refused to buy a home in new neighborhoods because I don't want to be needled and harrassed, with all the problems and aggravations of home owner associations (HOA)---Herd Of Aggravators, or Homes On Apprehension. I park my car all day long on the street in my neighborhood, mostly on the weekends.

I can't stand to deal with making monthly payments for additional aggravation and lack of peace in my life. A man's home should be the last bastion of his sanity and peace. I am not convinced HOAs really, really have a huge difference in property value than homes that do not have HOAs. Only security on my street are good old city cops who routinely patrol around.

[Beancooker]

I'm the president of the homeowners association where I live.

I would fire a parking company that pulled some crap like that. They will only tow a vehicle if they have been called by either myself or the VP. No one is going to boot anything in my neighborhood.

Our association actually does some good with the $40. you spend each month. We pay for insurance in the park, pay for street lamps, and the power to operate them, pays for the water necessary to keep the park and front yards of every homeowner watered, and best of all, it also pays for the lawn care and maintenance of the front yards, so all the houses look nice out front.

[Jacko3]

Beano:

Of course, with you as head of a HOA, I would agree to pay the fine/taxes each month---trying to suck up to you after my funny drivel

[telcoman]

I'm the president of the homeowners association where I live.

I would fire a parking company that pulled some crap like that. They will only tow a vehicle if they have been called by either myself or the VP. No one is going to boot anything in my neighborhood.

Our association actually does some good with the $40. you spend each month. We pay for insurance in the park, pay for street lamps, and the power to operate them, pays for the water necessary to keep the park and front yards of every homeowner watered, and best of all, it also pays for the lawn care and maintenance of the front yards, so all the houses look nice out front.

Beaner

I'm with you on this one. Some HOA's are very good and some are very bad.Although California leads the nation on some aspects of life on this planet, (smoking, air polution control, etc) there are some crazy people out there.I'm just glad they are not living in New Jersey.

Telcoman

[joe603]

wow...that was crazy! I can't believe how nuts the tow company got! I'll be looking for this on the news