u/Hopeful-Pool15

Looking for advice from anyone in Toronto/GTA who has dealt with private towing like this.

Tonight in Brampton, we parked for about 10–15 minutes at a medical office building. The lot was mostly empty. I genuinely did not realize we weren’t allowed to park there.

The towing signs were small and off to one side of the property. There was no sign directly in front of our vehicle, and from where we parked/walked, I did not notice anything clearly warning that we could be towed almost immediately.

When we came back, a tow truck had already lifted our SUV and put it on dollies.

The vehicle had not moved at all.

The tow truck appeared to have been waiting out of sight beside/behind the building, and it felt like they were monitoring the lot and waiting for someone to park.

We were told we could pay:

$600 cash

- no invoice

- no receipt

- no tax

or, if we wanted the proper documented/legal payment with an invoice:

$990 + HST

We ended up paying by e-transfer because they told us they couldn’t process credit cards because the office was closed.

So yes — we paid almost $1,200 just to have our car lowered back down into the exact same parking spot it was already in.

It was never actually towed anywhere.

The invoice we got basically just says:

“Towing — $990”

with no meaningful breakdown.

We were also told that if we didn’t pay right away, the vehicle would be taken to an impound lot in Mississauga and the amount would jump to at least $1,495 + tax, plus possible evening/after-hours fees.

We had our kids with us and were basically being told: pay now or the car leaves and the price goes up.

The driver also told us words to the effect of:

“Good luck fighting this. We’ve towed police officers, firefighters and tons of other people before and nobody had a chance fighting it.”

We later called the property management company. They told us there was no specific complaint or call about our vehicle that night. They said the towing company has a contract with the building and that we would have to deal with the towing company directly.

Meanwhile the invoice says:

“Request by: Property Management.”

We have photos of the whole thing, including:

- the car still in the original parking spot;

- the tow truck;

- the lot;

- the signs;

- the invoice;

- payment proof.

We’re contacting Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation tomorrow because private tow operators are provincially regulated now, and we want them to review:

- the $600 cash/no-receipt offer;

- the $990 + HST charge;

- whether the invoice was properly itemized;

- whether we should have been allowed to pay by credit card;

- whether a full “basic tow” charge applies when the car was never even moved;

- and who actually authorized the tow.

I understand private property is private property. I’m not saying there can never be a tow.

But almost $1,200 for lifting a car and putting it back down without moving it anywhere feels completely outrageous.

Has anyone else in Toronto, Brampton, Mississauga or the GTA experienced this?

Did you fight it?

Did MTO help?

Did you get any money back?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Looking for thoughts on this situation.

Tonight we (our family with 2 small kids) parked at a medical office building in Brampton ON for about 10–15 minutes. The towing signs were small and mostly on one side of the property, while we parked on the other side.

When we came back, our SUV had already been lifted and put on dollies by a tow truck — but the vehicle had not actually been moved from the parking spot at all.

The driver told us he could “help us out” and release the vehicle for $600 cash, but said there would be no invoice, no receipt and no tax.

We asked what it would cost if we wanted to pay properly with an invoice showing what we were being charged for. We were then told it would be $990 + HST

We wanted to pay by credit card but were told they couldn't process credit cards because their office was closed. We were told our options were essentially cash or e-transfer, so we eventually paid the $990 + HST by e-transfer.

The invoice we received simply says:

“Towing — $990”

There is no actual breakdown/itemization of the $990.

We were also told that if we didn't pay immediately, once the vehicle was cleared it would be taken to an impound lot in Mississauga, where the charge would become at least $1,495 + HST, plus possible evening/after-hours fees.

Again, the vehicle had never left the parking space. It had only been lifted and was ultimately put back down in the same spot.

The driver also told us words to the effect of: “Good luck fighting this. We've towed police officers, firefighters and lots of other people before and nobody had a chance fighting it.”

We later called the property management company. They told us there was no specific complaint or call about our vehicle that evening. They said the towing company has an arrangement/contract with the building and that we would have to deal directly with the towing company. Interestingly, our tow invoice says “Request by: Property Management.”

We have photos of the whole incident, the vehicle still in the original parking spot, the tow truck, signage, invoice, payment proof and parking-lot layout.

We're contacting Ontario's Ministry of Transportation because private tow operators are now provincially regulated, and we're specifically asking them to review:

the $600 cash/no-invoice/no-receipt offer versus $990 + HST with paperwork;

whether the invoice was properly itemized;

whether they were required to allow credit/debit payment;

whether $990 is actually an allowable charge when the vehicle was never transported;

whether there should have been a separate hookup/drop/release rate;

who actually authorized the tow;

and whether the threatened $1,495+ impound charge was legitimate.

I'm not looking to argue that being on private property automatically means you can't be towed. I'm more interested in whether the way this was handled and charged is normal or lawful. There was construction on the street and we didn't see any signs coming into the parking lot saying that you can't park in this public lot as they were only on the building concentrated in a small area and we literally walked the other way.

Also, literally I think they were waiting for ppl like us and as soon as we left he set our car up and then he waited for us to give us the cash deal or threaten us that it would cost us much more at the impound lot.

Also he asked us to send to his number a picture of the registration and driver's license so this company has our private info/address/full name.

Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated.