Here's my situation. I was parked in a 20min zone at school (University) in my Z and apparently i was there 21min because as i was walking out to my car, it was getting ready to be towed away. The back tires were off the ground, and for some reason my drivers side door was open. Im not trying to get out of the ticket...i'm willing to pay the $70 fine because i was in the wrong and was there too long, however, they incurred damage to my locking mechanism when they jimmied my car door open. I just took it to the dealer and it cost me $120 to fix.

My question is, is there any way I can get the parking department to pay for the damage they incurred to my Z by jimmying the door open? Should they pay it? If anyone knows anything about the law, or if i have a case here i'd really appreciate the help. Thanks.

The parking department have nothing to do with the damage. You need to file a damage claim with the towing company. When you pick up your car, there is some paper that you need to sign, you might want to re-read that, especially the fine print, it contains most of the information you need.

Happened to one of my college friend several years back and he contacted the towing company regarding his axle damage and they agree to fix it; it's a pain, but they do pay for their mistake.

Good luck.

That's BS, because if you were there "21" min in a "20" min zone, the guy would have had to be sitting there with the tow truck waiting when you got out of the car!

I would fight the entire thing, can they prove you were there 20min? Seems fishy.

..did you say "Z"?

yes he said z
his form name is zthang

If they "jimmied" the car door open and your rear wheels were off the ground, that means they had to "jimmy" the steering wheel lock mechanism too so they didn't "drag" your front wheels all over the place while they were still locked in place.

Did the "unlock" your steering wheel, too? did they do any damage to the front wheels/suspension if they didn't?

There may be more damage than you know.

Originally posted by zthang
Here's my situation. I was parked in a 20min zone at school (University) in my Z and apparently i was there 21min because as i was walking out to my car, it was getting ready to be towed away. The back tires were off the ground, and for some reason my drivers side door was open. Im not trying to get out of the ticket...i'm willing to pay the $70 fine because i was in the wrong and was there too long, however, they incurred damage to my locking mechanism when they jimmied my car door open. I just took it to the dealer and it cost me $120 to fix.

My question is, is there any way I can get the parking department to pay for the damage they incurred to my Z by jimmying the door open? Should they pay it? If anyone knows anything about the law, or if i have a case here i'd really appreciate the help. Thanks.

I guess your best shot is at the towing company right now. In fact, whoever opened you car for that matter. Make sure you take care of absolutely ANYthing that does not look alright in the locking mechanism and surroundings (paint chips or anythin they could have caused). Man, I would be so paranoid.

Anyways, bottom line, you shouldn't have to take any legal actions. Let you insurance get in touch with them. That should take care of the whole business.

They could well have done a whole lot of damage to the car that may not crop up for a long time. sell it, get a 8, you will be happy in the longrun.

Go to this site,

http://www.motorists.org