Parking Ticket Seizures: What Lienholders Need to Know

Many cities and towns use license plate reader technology to scan for “scofflaws.” Scofflaws generally are people who have two or more unpaid parking tickets. When a license plate registered to a scofflaw is found, the typical practice is to boot the vehicle, and then tow it away to an impound yard. By the time …

Vehicle Abandonment Traps

A vehicle abandonment trap is a technique used by local government agencies to convince a lienholder/lessor to give up its rights to a vehicle.  The most common trap occurs when the government agency sends a letter which states that, unless the vehicle is claimed within a certain number of days (ten days is typical), the …

No Tow Yard Storage Fee Lien For A Private Lot Tow

Tow yards can assert a storage fee lien only where the towing is requested by the vehicle owner or police. No lien is allowed where the towing is requested by a private lot, store, or apartment complex. Nevertheless, tow yards often claim a lien anyway hoping that lienholder/lessors are fooled into paying their charges.  In …

Can an Automotive Lienholder Lose a Lien in New York?

Lienholders cannot lose their liens in New York, but there is a lot of misinformation that confuses this simple topic. Let’s clear it up. Usually, this problem comes up when the lienholder discovers that someone has obtained a new title and the lienholder’s name and address is no longer showing on the title. This prompts …

Can a New York Garage Lien Sale Wipe Out a Perfected Lien?

When a lienholder has perfected its lien in a vehicle, the perfected lien is protected against loss to later claims made against the vehicle. Garage lien claims present a quirky problem because garage lien sales are done by self-help. Self-help means that the garage places the vehicle for sale on its own say-so with no …

Appeals Court Rejects Tow Yard Front-loaded Storage Fees

Tow yards in New York cannot charge storage fees after towing a vehicle for police unless they follow the strict set of rules in New York Lien Law 184. Tow yard overcharging is a persistent problem because tow yards see no downside to pushing the envelope, hoping that lienholder/lessors are unaware of the legal limits …

Federal Court Puts the Brakes on Gouging for Parking Tickets

For many years, the City of Yonkers deployed a strategy designed to make lease/lienholders pay for the costs of its attempt to collect unpaid parking tickets. Yonkers would boot a vehicle and then call in a private towing company to haul away and hold the vehicle hostage. Yonkers would then send the lease/lienholder a letter …

Lienholders no longer have to pay for parking tickets in Nassau County

For many years, Nassau County has seized cars as a way to make drivers clear up old parking tickets. If the tickets were not paid, the County  would dispose of the vehicle. If a lienholder or lessor wished to recover a seized vehicle, Nassau County required payment of not just the tickets on the seized car, …

Six most important changes in garage lien laws in 2021

2021 brought many changes in garage impounds Here are the six most important developments that benefit lien/leaseholders… Elimination of abusive storage fee tacticsThe worst abuse, the secret lien for storage, has met its demise.  For years garages contended that they had no obligation to send notice of accruing storage fees to lienholders/lessors. Garages would pile up …