[Athena E.]

AIBU 23.09.2024​

AIBU, which stands for 'Am I Being Unreasonable', is the perfect platform for sharing your thoughts and opinions! So, for today's AIBU discussion, we have this story from Reddit/SensitiveHat8490:

Am I being unreasonable for having my neighbour’s cars towed from my garage?

'I’m building a house in a relatively new neighbourhood. Most houses are already occupied, and my place is one of the few still under construction. The exterior is nearly done, and the contractors are working on the drywall. After finishing up one night, I drove out to check on the work. Everything seemed fine until I checked my garage and found two cars and a minivan parked inside it.'

'I called the contractor, but he didn’t know who they belonged to either. I figured one of the neighbours might’ve parked there to avoid some potential hail. At first, I tried to ignore it, but the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. By the time I reached my car, I was fuming. I decided to call a tow company and had all three vehicles towed.'

'The next morning, my contractor told me the police were investigating the stolen vehicles. I explained to the police that I owned the property and had the cars towed. My contractor later said the car owners were yelling at them until the police told them to leave. When I went by after work, one of the owners confronted me, saying I’d ruined their day because they missed work and their kids were late for school. He claimed it cost nearly $1,000 to get the cars back and said I should cover it. I told him good luck with that and that he was the one in the wrong for parking in my garage without permission. We argued until his wife came and took him home.'

'Some other neighbours watched the argument and later told me I was starting off on the wrong foot. They said I should apologise and be more neighbourly, suggesting I should’ve left a note instead of calling the tow company. It seems like everyone’s against me.'

'I can see their point so maybe I overreacted? I’m not sure.'

 

[Wandiwa]

There was a case similiar to this recently in Australia (Melbourne?), someone parked persistenly in their driveway, so the guy got a truckload of bluemetal dropped off trapping the car, the illegal parker was offered a shovel when he had a whinge.

 

[Veggiepatch]

There was a video of an illegally parked car being filled with cement from a mixer doing the rounds years ago!

Hilarious when the owner returned!

 

[magpie1]

What a bloody cheek.....get the hell out of my property, who the hell do you think you are ? Now P**S OFF!!

 

[BellaB18]

Not a good start in a new neighbourhood. It was cheeky of the people to park in your property. But maybe you could have left a note on the windscreens. Asking please do not park in my property. Then if you were ignored then you could have taken further steps.
I don't think you should be told you need to foot the costs costs. The neighbour could have asked if you would mind if they used your garage.
Might pay you to put out an olive branch as you will all be living in the same street.
Good luck.
Kind regards Vicki

 

[Hollingworthlake]

Well I don’t think you over reacted. They should not be on your property These days you don’t know what could happen. Something fall on their cars and they could blame you and they could damage something o your property. Onlookers can give all sorts of advice but you are the one who would be liable not them if something happened. You had every right to get them towed away

 

[Michelle Sc]

had a van parked half accross my driveway and was encouraged to report it to the police.
Having managed to get my car out unsafely and coming back left it on the street. I had taken a photo of the offending vehicle but decided not to report it immediately.
Fortunately for them it was gone the next morning as I was then ready to take a more drastic action and yes a tow truck was in my mind and seemed more effective than just calling the police.

 

[outbacksant]

I think you perhaps should have knocked on your neighbours door, and talked to them first. They're your future neighbours, find a reasonable solution before taking it further. Communication is always the first option.

 

[Cheezil]

Nice introduction to your new neighbourhood. Enemies before you even move in.

Asking self entitled people to plz move your car probably wouldn't work either these days! Give them an inch & they'll take a mile, but if it's costing them big bucks to go collect their car it's not likely they'll repeat this behaviour, but retribution might be coming (egged house? residents car coined/scratched? Vandalism to his property?)- await the next episode of town life

 

[MariaG]

NEIGHBOURS...mmm....mmmm...dah dah dah
Everybody loves good neighbours,
Because, good neighbours become good friends....trah, lah, lah, lah lah...

 

[Towing]

I would have called the Police and let them handle it. They can check their database to check whether or not they were stolen, regardless they would have contacted the registered owners. People who take cars for "joy rides" sometimes leave them in some wierd places.