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December 12, 2006
Punk't
|
| Cars are disappearing from the downtown
lots like hippies from a bar with a new cover charge! Has the City of Chico
signed up for a mass episode of "Pimp
My Ride"? Is
Ashton
Kutsher
in town
filming
the
greatest
"Punk't" scam
ever? Nope. The hepp cats down at Chico PD are towing cars from the downtown parking lots with expired tags. Any cars that are more than 6 months past their registration dates are subject to towing. One of the cars that got pulled out was last registered in 2004. They do call in to verify that the car is not registered (versus just missing the sticker). I recently let my car registration lapse for an extended period of time. I wasn't trying to stick it to the man I just misplaced the DMV notice and then forgot about it. Chico PD left me a friendly little yellow reminder on my windshield and I took care of it. That was much nicer than towing my car. I wonder if the Chico PD hired a Marge-ish consultant to whip the towing department back in shape? I also feel sorry for the students who have to walk the 6 blocks home after finding their cars gone. |
Posted by Lon at December 12, 2006 08:56 AM
Comments
That happened to me a couple of years ago. Somehow, in the process of registering my truck, an earlier outstanding parking ticket showed up after I'd paid and left with my new sticker, so the registration wasn't completed. As a result, DMV never sent me a renewal notice. I spaced it out, and about six months or so after the putative expiration, a cop noticed it on the street, cited me, and had it towed.
End result was a half a day of going through an administrative bardo. First I had to get a ride to my other car, then off to the DMV to correct the oversight (and we know how speedily efficient and customer-service oriented they are over there), then to the Chico PD to pay the ticket (and no, they don't take credit cards, so off to the bank to get some cash), then to get a ride from a friend out to the impound lot at the airport to retrieve my truck (and, oh yes, there's the towing fee).
Don't let your registration lapse; it's a nightmare.
Posted by: Alan Chamberlain at December 13, 2006 06:29 AM
Hmmm...
I wonder why they didn't tow my car. I'm pretty sure I was 6 months out of date. Maybe they couldn't raise the anchor.
I had a car towed for parking at Great Western Bank back in college (Washington Mutual nowadays). It went to an impound that was both expensive and difficult to retrieve the car from. Having your car towed is a huge pain.
Very un-Christmas-y.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at December 13, 2006 11:20 AM
In my business we have a few vehicles. In the early 90's we purchased a work van.
For some unknown reason the DMV would never send us a registration renewal notice on that vehicle. Countless numbers of letters, phone calls and visits to the DMV over the course of years never did explain or fix that problem. There was something about their computer record on that vehicle...We just had to mark the calendar, call 'em for the yearly amount, mail it in.
Posted by: Mark Sorensen at December 13, 2006 02:14 PM