How to deal with a parking spot thief

[bhskittykatt]

This is a story I picked up recently from one of Hubby's coworkers. This happened an undisclosed number of years ago.

At this particular apartment complex, there were two stories. People on the first floor had parking spaces in front of the building, and people on the second floor had their spaces on the other side of the lot.

Hubby's Coworker (henceforth referred to as HCW) lived with his wife on the first floor. Their upstairs neighbor kept parking in their spots.

One night, HCW had gotten tired of this. He got home after work around 9pm, and when he parked, he parked as close to his neighbor's driver-side door as he could. He then went and got his wife's car, and did the same thing on his neighbor's passenger-side. He then went inside and went to sleep.

The next morning, the neighbor called and HCW's wife answered.

HCW's wife: "It's our upstairs neighbor. She says she needs you to move your car so she can go to work."
HCW: "Alright."

A few minutes later, the phone rings again.

HCW's wife: "That was [Apartment Manager]. He said that [neighbor] just called him, and if we don't move our cars in the next five minutes, she's calling [Property Owner]. He said that [Property Owner] has been trying to get in touch with [neighbor] for a while and she's been avoiding him, and asked that we don't move our cars just yet."
HCW: "Alright."

About ten minutes later, the property owner called and said it was okay now for HCW to move their cars. He doesn't know what Property Owner wanted to speak with that neighbor about, but apparently he finally got in touch with her when she called to complain. HCW and his wife never had trouble with that neighbor parking in their spaces again.

[AccountingDrone]

Never had a spot thief, but I did have a door slammer in the slot next to my car back in the early 80s. They drove an Aries [I think] and I had just gotten my 73 mustang prepped to go in for a paint job and I had just pulled into my spot and was sitting and looking at some paperwork before getting out. The idiot slammed her door open into my door, and got into her car and shut the door. So I did the fair thing, and I slammed my door open into her tinfoil car as hard as I could, and left a serious dent in the door as my mustang door was solid metal frame under solid skin and the aries was one of the new practically tinfoil skin and very flimsy compared to the mustang. As I got out, I made eye contact with her and all she did was blush and look away really fast.

Oddly enough, I never had trouble with her opening her door into my car ever again.

[Caractacus_Potts]

I suppose in a way I was a parking spot thief.

At the condo I lived each unit had an assigned off street parking spot designated with the unit number (I was in B1 so my spot had "B1" painted on it). There was on street parking on the dead end road the units were on for guests and people who had more than one car.

A new family moved into B7. There was one off street handicapped spot at my building. A disabled person had owned a unit but they had sold and moved years ago and this spot was a legacy from when they were here but still, no one parked in it because it was a marked handicapped spot. A week or so after B7 moved in I came out one morning to find the handicapped markings sprayed over in black paint and a crudely spray painted "B7" done in white paint.

A week or so later I see that a prime on-street unassigned parking spot had been crudely outlined in white spray paint and a crudely drawn "B7" marked it. My wife (then GF) and I both had cars. If one of us was in the assigned spot the other would park on street. My wife came home one day and told me that she had parked in the on-street spot that B7 had claimed and a woman came out screaming at her that she was in HER spot. My wife, being very non-confrontational, simply moved her car to another unassigned spot on the street but it made me extremely pissed off.

That's when I became a parking spot thief. I started parking in the on-street spot that B7 had staked claim to whenever it was open. Sure enough after the third or fourth time some harpy came running out of the building as I was getting out of my car screaming that I was in HER spot.

You ever see that movie Office Space? Remember the scene where the boss is yelling at the employee as the employee walks towards him but the employee never even acknowledges the bosses presence and simply walks right around him at the last second? Yeah, that's exactly what I did to her (and was thinking of that scene while I did it). I was expecting her to follow me screaming until I let myself into the unit but I think I just surprised the fuck out of her. She stopped screaming and just stood in the yard for a while eventually going back inside. Never had them yell at me or my wife again after that.

[bhskittykatt]

I saw a while back someone had crudely sprayed their unit number in a parking spot in purple spray paint. Not sure what the landlord had to say about that. I think they did in fact get that spot the next time the parking lot was repainted, but at the time I was just like "...really? Is that supposed to work?"

Some of our neighbors have cones with their unit numbers painted on them that they leave in their spots to prevent parking spot thieves. I came home to find one of them in my parking spot one day. I chucked the cone next to the dumpsters for them to pick up if they wanted it back. Not sure if they were really trying to take my spot, or if one of the kids moved it.

[dalesys]

I wonder if the DIY parking stall markers could be charged under an anti-graffiti statute for tagging?

[Ophbalance]

Parking can be serious business, folks!

Quoted for truth.

So, to set the venue, the situation is thus. Back in the late 90s my newly married self moved into a very economically depressed mining town in NE PA. Said town, being in PA and part of the mountain ranges found there, was built upon said mountains. And the houses were old. And extremely inexpensive. And, they were half doubles for the most part. For those not familiar with the term, think condo. But not even a quarter as nice. Picture it, 15 feet wide, 3 stories and a basement with just a postage stamp for a lawn in the rear of the house. Than imagine about 30 of them crammed into a block all going uphill at a 15 degree angle. So very much fun when it snowed.

Our block was formed of an entire row of half doubles. There was a street encompassing both the front and rear of the houses, but most of the parking was in the front part for the vast majority of homes. About half of the homes didn't have lots that ran the full distance between the two streets. We were fortunate in that the rear of our property had enough space to park two cars in series, and even had a little shanty for overhead coverage for one car.

For the most part we used the rear parking, but in the winter and when bringing in groceries, the front parking space was useful. But oy, the claims of "my spot!" were annoying. It's a public street, there are no assigned spots. But the kicker was the day our POS LeBaron decided to blow its second head gasket.

I had parked it out front as it was a better spot for trying to sell it. And there it sat, for a few months. Not selling. Bugger. Was it sucky? Eh, probably, but the rear parking not withstanding it's not like we otherwise parked a car out front. And even if we had left it in the back we would have been using the spot for one of the other working cars. In the course of time the registration expiration date passed. I couldn't really do anything about it as a valid registration also requires the car be inspected. Well, that wasn't really able to happen given that the car was running through coolant like a sieve.

And this is when I became educated about certain laws in PA. Did you know that it's unlawful to allow an unregistered vehicle to sit on a public street? I didn't. But I do now. Some neighbor of mine, too uncivilized to ASK that I move the car, was apparently aware of this law and called down the force on me. So one weekend I was greeted by an officer at the door demanding that I move the car before it's towed.

I still have never determined if it was the asshole couple on the left that called it in. And they were assholes in that they liked to throw parties at home as the female half was too young for a bar. The result of which was a house full of cigarette smoke enough to kill a moose (our house acted as negative suction for theirs for some reason). To which the police would do nothing for us. Or the super passive aggressive folks on the right that never said much of anything to anyone on the block. And it's not like it changed anything as I was now forced to park a working vehicle in the non-working vehicle's place! I'm so very glad to no longer be living in that town and in such tight living quarters.

[ComputerNecromancer]

I wonder if the DIY parking stall markers could be charged under an anti-graffiti statute for tagging?

Assuming the handicapped spot was set up legitimately (which would likely have involved the building getting permit to have it on the public street) then painting over it would carry a rather more serious fine than mere graffitti laws.

Add on having a car without a placard parked in it, and they'd just have a *wonderful* day. Not.

[ApolloSZ]

I had just gotten my 73 mustang prepped to go in for a paint job

OMGIloveyoumarryme XD I will own one of those Mustangs one day. Then a Shelby (Eleanor)

Never had to deal with parking spot theives myself, never had a personally designated park. Just the usual people who can't park to save their lives.

[Kaylyn]

Never had to deal with parking spot theives myself, never had a personally designated park. Just the usual people who can't park to save their lives.

Ugh me too. From my estimate there are approximately 327 people living in the apartment below us and to the right. And none of them can park. And we have parallel parking. Not assigned, but it's frustrating to park properly, and when I get out to go somewhere I have a car on my back bumper and a truck on my front. Some days I'm actually concerned that I won't be able to get out.

[protege]

A week or so later I see that a prime on-street unassigned parking spot had been crudely outlined in white spray paint and a crudely drawn "B7" marked it. My wife (then GF) and I both had cars. If one of us was in the assigned spot the other would park on street. My wife came home one day and told me that she had parked in the on-street spot that B7 had claimed and a woman came out screaming at her that she was in HER spot. My wife, being very non-confrontational, simply moved her car to another unassigned spot on the street but it made me extremely pissed off.

Are these people related to the goofballs that live next door to my parents?

For those who don't know, those goofballs are extremely touchy about street parking. Even though all 3 of their cars will fit in the driveway + garage, they enjoy trying to lay claim to the street as well...

Years ago, I was taking piano lessons. The teacher had parked her car (1960s Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud) in front of our house. Up the street, someone had parked a pickup. As I was taking my lesson, my mother had to go somewhere. Since she needed the van, and the car was behind it, she pulled the car in front of Goofball Central, and took the van to the grocery store. When she came home, the car was pulled back into our driveway. Not even a second after getting out of the car...she noticed that someone jammed a note under the wiper.

Basically, the goofballs were too chickenshit to deal with her directly, so they put a nasty note on our car. The kicker? After two pages of rants, the letter closed with "since you cannot park in your own EMPTY!!! driveway, you owe us $3 for parking."

Seriously? Are you fucking kidding me? You're trying to extort money from us...for parking on a public street, which you do not own? Sorry, but fuck that. First time, we let it slide. Second time, after one of our friends got "written up" and had the cops calls, we got even.

Er, rather *I* got even. Whenever I had to drop something off, and the driveway was full, I always parked in front of their house to torque them off What were they going to do, call the cops? Even if they did, there wasn't a damn thing the cops would do. I never parked on their grass or blocked their driveway. I even left enough of a gap between my car and curb...so their stupid hedges weren't disturbed.

Wrong? I didn't think so. If they were going to have a heart attack over having someone's car in front of their house...I was only too happy to oblige

[PepperElf]

we don't have that problem here much. it's open parking, save for handicapped spots. it's a bit of an unwritten rule that guests are not suppose to take prime spots, but it happens… for me, however it only annoys me when the guests can't park straight.

(like the "Norths" and their guests. not a single one of them knew how to park between lines properly, and he was the biggest complainer about parking! )


Right now I have a habit of parking in the non-prime spots cos I don't go out as much… but oddly enough some people are now taking those spots. I suspect it's overflow from another nearby lot on the property here. It annoys me a little but o well, I'll get over it. When they take the spots I want, I just zip into the prime spots in front of our apartment

[Antares]

My apartment complex has open parking except for the garages and carport spots. Those you pay for. I've come out and found someone in my carport spot a few times.

The first time I contacted the apartment complex as it was a POS that was just parked in the complex.

The next time I left a note on the car saying that if the car was in the parking spot again I would have it towed.

The third time I thought about it, but the car was moved shortly after I returned home.


I talked to one tow company and they said that they couldn't tow because there were no signs. There aren't any from a towing company, but the carports do have 'Reserved' on them. The complex gave me the name of a towing company that would do the towing. They said I would have to show my lease with proof that the spot was mine, but since I haven't had to call them, I don't know if they can/will tow since there are no signs.

[PepperElf]

oh and i know i've mentioned him before but… my former coworker "M" one night decided he was going to take a covered spot in his apartment.

We found out about it at work when he called in asking for a ride, because his car was missing.

You see, the covered spots were not open parking. You had to pay to get one assigned to you. And the man who owned that spot was pretty mad that "M" had just parked there as if he owned it.

And seriously "as if he owned it" was pretty much how "M" acted at work too. He kept going on about, "He had no right to have me towed!" ignoring "L" pointing out that … "Dude, you took the spot he paid for."

But afaik he never did that again.

[Anglesmith]

The covered parking spots at my apartment are assigned to each unit, and this is
written on our lease. Thankfully we have signs everywhere telling residents we have the
right to call the towing company to pick up a car if its parked in our spot.

A couple years ago, we had a woman in the building in front of where our assigned parking is,
let her friends constantly take our spot. I finally had enough of it when the husband and I
came home from shopping and had to lug groceries across the parking lot. I called the two company.

From what I heard from the husband, tow guy came, hitched up this woman's
friend's car, and she came flying out of her apartment in nothing but a t-shirt,
screaming and waving her lease. Unfortunately, they did not take the car. Her
friends stopped jacking our spot. Seems we weren't the only ones, we were the
first to actually call the tow company.

[cashierbex]

We have 8 apartments and 10 actual parking spaces. I live with 2 (well, 3 but shes only 3 months old) other people. We each have a car. One of the guys that lives here has a work van and a personal car. Another has his drinking buddies almost every weekend. They would sometimes take our assigned spot. And this was when we just had 2 cars. The landlord talked to them about it. Our new neighbor doesn't have a car and is typically a recluse so he lets us use his spot and there is a church next to us that a friend's niece works at. They gave us 3 permission to park on the grass if need be, when there isn't much going on there.

I also had a dumbass block the driveway. I took a pic from my phone and he backed up.