Tow truck waited behind building, lifted my car, then charged almost $1,200 to release it
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.