City of Chicago Moving Cars
Few things can ruin your day as quickly as a possibility that your car has been stolen. Unless you are delinquent on your car’s payments, few people prepare themselves mentally for the possibility of their car being gone when they return from the store. The usual question one asks when the looking for their car:
- Is the car stolen ?
- Repossessed ?
- Towed for tickets ?
- Forgot where you parked ?
Residents of Chicago can now add, the city moved my car and simply forgot to tell me. Chicago will not notify residents that their car has been moved but expects them to take initiative to locate their vehicles. Often in panic some owners call 911 to report their vehicles stolen. The city does not notify owners because it doesn’t have their emails or phone numbers readily available and mailing a letter would take too long.“Has the city moved my car and simply forgot to tell me?”
To enable emergency road work or maybe clear the street for a movie scene City of Chicago instruct tow truck drivers to move cars into the next available legal parking spaces. That space may be as little as a street away or as much as a mile at times. Just last year city of Chicago relocated 17,000 vehicles.
To deal with this issue a special hotline ’311′ was setup up for drivers to get a status on their vehicles. Although the city’s policy of moving cars is implemented to minimize the inconvenience to vehicle owners, often due to the delay in logging cars, the city will not have answers for drivers looking for their cars. Some driver only located their vehicles after a week, not realizing that the city moved their cars, and after filing a theft claim with their insurance companies.
It is one thing to have your car moved due to a parking violation or ignoring a posted sign, however the situation is different when one parked correctly. Many owners are upset that vehicle are being moved without their permission.
A recent poll by Autoblog asking, “Would you be upset if Chicago moved your car without asking?” got an overwhelming response with over 88% of participant responding that yes, they would be upset. Nevertheless the City of Chicago has not indicated that they are willing to change their policy and will continue to do things as is.88% of people say they would be upset if a city moved their car without asking
Sources: Auto Minded, Chicago Tribune, Autoblog Poll
88% that is it! If I came out of a store and my vehicle was gone and I was in a panic and call the police only to find the city moved it. I would be mad and violated that my property has been moved.
This happens not only in Chicago! in Miami it is the same! You park the car, you think in a safe place, you come back there is no car…..and sometimes there is no signs of who regularly towing from this area. Now go figure who, when to where they took your car.
The best thing is to call to report to the police,
I agree that 88% of people say they would be upset if a city moved their car without asking. Without permission is disgusting for them.