Texas retiree's car is towed from her own apartment and she's dished a $351 fine over making simple typo

A Texas retiree said her car was towed from her apartment parking spot due to a simple error she made when she registered for the space.

The Mesquite woman told FOX 4 her car was towed from the covered parking spot she pays for because of a one number mistake she made when she registered for the slot.

She said an apartment manager told her that her vehicle was towed from the spot she pays $15 a month for because her license plate had one wrong number on it and she was left with a $351 bill.

'[The documentation from the tow truck company] says no permit, reserved space, not registered online. Reality is, I do have a reserved spot, did register online. Due to a typo, it was towed,' she said. 

'I'm retired and $350 is a lot of money. My income is fixed. I can't speak for everyone, but that is a big amount of money for me. I've never missed paying my rent. I've always paid on time.' 

Her car was towed because the license plate had a '3' instead of a '2,' the rest of the plate number and make and model of the car matched up to what she registered.

'[The apartment manager] said, "Oh, it is one number off. That is the reason your car was towed,"' the woman said. 

'I said, "Is there anything you can do to help me retrieve my vehicle?" She said, "No, you put it in, it was your error, your mistake. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do. We don't show favoritism. If we do it for you, we have to do it for the whole apartment complex." I'm like, "Ma'am, I am not asking for any favoritism."'

FOX 4 reported that the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation has plans to discuss how to regulate the tow truck industry after an investigation by the local news station found many people had their cars towed from apartment complexes for simple mistakes.

An advisory board member said the department is seeing an increase in cars towed in connection to online registration requirements.

Las Colinas pharmaceutical legal analyst Ronnie Lewis brought the topic to the boards attention after his car was towed from a southern Dallas apartment complex.

Lewis said he was visiting a friends apartment had to park in a spot labeled 'future resident parking' because the visitor parking spots were blocked with trash cans.

'It all started when I was visiting a friend at an apartment complex. I came back to get my car, and it was gone. I thought it was stolen,' he told the local news station.

He went to court over the fine and a judge ruled that the apartment complex owed him $156 because there were no warning signs a car would be towed from the future resident parking. 

Lewis read about FOX 4's 2019 investigation that a trend that cars in low-income apartment communities were increasingly getting towed after they registered their vehicles online but accidently made a typo and took the issue to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Advisory Board.

'I am not asking vehicles not to be towed, I’m asking what TDLR can do to reduce the human error aspect and bring structure to the process,' he said.

Board member Ken Ulmer suggested adding the topic to the board's next agenda.

'I think it is an issue we need to be discussing and prepared for. I know we are seeing a lot more towing based on these electronic visitor programs,' said Ulmer.