Originally Posted By: SeaJay
Originally Posted By: Burt
I confess that I once parked in a restaurant parking lot at 2 pm in the afternoon that said "customer's only", because I couldn't find a parking spot elsewhere. When I came back to the nearly empty lot, the owner came chasing after me saying "tow truck on way!". Was it rude on my part? Perhaps she had lost business at other times and was taking frustration out on me, but I don't think that I harmed her business. Probably better to look like she actually had customers at that time of day.
By me, they will tow you. It is a symbiotic relationship. The owner keeps all parking spaces available for his or her customers. And the tow trucks get a quick money maker. It probably costs $200 or more to retrieve the vehicle. Plus they sometimes insist you show proof or registration with the state and proof of valid insurance, just in case you were negligent on those items.
It ain't worth it, drive around, find a spot and walk the few extra blocks.
I work on a college campus, and we have a lot of business bordering campus that are fiercely protective of their parking spots. It's understandable as they often don't have many and will have students try to park there to avoid paying for on-campus parking. During the first week of every semester, the McDonalds, which is a block away from the parking office, has spotters in the lot and tow trucks staged-they WILL tow you if you step one foot off their property. A favorite tactic is to park there, go in and get a cup of coffee, or whatever and then walk over to parking to buy your parking pass-something they quit putting up with a long time ago as the waits during the first week can be an hour or better at the parking office.
In any case, I'll sometimes walk over to a sandwich shop on the other end of campus for lunch. This particular shop has basically zero parking(there are about 20 on-street spots that they share with 10 other businesses) but they stay plenty busy from foot traffic. There is a strip mall across the street that has just enough parking for their customers, but many folks think they'll get clever and will park in the strip mall and will walk to the sandwich shop or one of the other restaurants in the same strip. There again, the strip mall has folks who watch it and if anyone parks and steps off their property, they have a tow truck there in 5-10 minutes. If I spend 20 or 30 minutes there eating lunch, it's rare to not see at least one car towed, and often two or three. I also see plenty of folks go running, but of course if the truck is there the car owner still has to cough up the money to avoid a trip.