A WOMAN who had her car towed due to expired registration plates ended up forking out $450 in costs – and she had no luck when she went to the DMV to solve the issue.
Yasmin Armstrong, a Las Vegas resident, said her HOA took action and took her vehicle away earlier this month.
A woman has had her car towed, forcing her to fork out $450 in costs, due to expired registration plates[/caption]
A scheduled appointment with the DMV was delayed after a statewide cyberattack – just before her registration expired[/caption]
She argued that the DMW didn’t give her any notice before towing her vehicle[/caption]
But according to NEWS3LV, she had scheduled an appointment with the DMV before her registration expired – but a statewide cyberattack delayed her appointment.
This meant she was unable to update the registration in time and her car was then towed by her HOA, which apparently did not provide a warning notice beforehand.
Armstrong said: “To wake up in the morning, 5 o’clock in the morning, and realize your car is not there, that I had to call an Uber, hopefully hoping the Uber gets there in time to get me here on time.
“So I would not, of course, be late for work.”
Her car, a Chevy HHR, has been described as essential for her and her family.
Armstrong explained that her HOA required updated registration information, with her permit expiring on August 29.
The car was towed on September 1, just days later.
“My appointment was for last week,” Armstrong added, saying that the DMV closure prevented her from updating her registration in time.
Now, Armstrong has been left needing to pay some $450 – money she typically allocates for rent and caring for her disabled niece.
She said: “With her and taking care of getting her back and forth to her doctors’ appointments, things of that nature, I cannot be without a car.”
She revealed she’s had to use her rent money and secure a loan to help cover the costs, adding: “I had to take this and get this out of my rent money. And then get a loan to take care of the rent money.
“I think that, just keeping in mind a person’s situation. I did not even get a flag on my car, the 72-hour flag notice; they just came and towed it.”
While Armstrong praised DMV employees for their assistance in resolving the paperwork issue, she questioned whether the HOA could have been more accommodating – especially given the cyberattack’s impact on her ability to update her registration.
Attempts to contact the HOA were unsuccessful due to its automated system.
This comes as another driver in Las Vegas was forced to pay a $417 ticket despite doing nothing wrong – as part of a rule that forces motorists to “pay first, fight later.”
In January, Kim Ferguson was pulled over by police for speeding, with the officer claiming she was exceeding the limit in a 15 mph school zone.
Ferguson says she had never received a speeding ticket before and claimed at the time she was driving below the speed limit.
However, the officer stated she was driving at 31 mph as she followed the flow of traffic, although Ferguson maintains there was no indication that the area she was driving through was still in the school zone.
Worse still, state law requires her to pay the $417 fine whether she wanted to fight it or not.
They later paid the ticket and said there was no point in fighting it, adding that it would cost more money to hire a lawyer – although the law states the payee would get their money back should a judge side with them in court.
Can an HOA ban street parking?
Homeowners associations hold the legal rights to ban parking anywhere – even in a homeowner’s driveway, according to a lawyer.
The trick is the deed homeowners sign when they buy a home within a subdivision, says North Carolina HOA lawyer Mike Hunter.
“If you buy a home in a deed-restricted community, you’re obligated to abide by those restrictions,” he told the Charlotte Observer.
“If the restrictive covenants say you can’t park on the street, the board has the legal duty to enforce that.”
Many states are passing laws to limit the power of HOAs, though a majority of states still grant HOAs to enforce their regulations, restrictive or otherwise, however they see fit.
Read more here.
