Tow company accused of ‘preying’ on residents of St. Johns County neighborhood after cars towed from driveways

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – People living in The Gables at Wingfield Glen, a gated community of townhomes in St. Johns County, said they are fed up with finding their cars missing from their driveway.

They say ASAP Towing trucks patrol their St. Augustine neighborhood looking for even the slightest violation of the parking rules created by the Homeowners Association (HOA).

“It was about two in the morning, they came outside and the car was gone,” said Filipa Cardosa.

She said her daughter woke her up after discovering her boyfriend’s car had been towed from her driveway.

“According to the paperwork, a quarter of his back tire was not on the apron on the driveway,” said Cardosa, who showed News4JAX the end of her driveway where it meets the street, known as the apron.

His car was parked parallel to the street. She said she had to pay $175 to get it out of the tow lot.

The driveways in The Gables are narrow and short. While each townhome has a garage, residents said the garages are narrow and do not allow room for a car and storage. Many have to park their cars in their driveway and are allowed to park parallel in the apron.

Another resident, who did not want to be identified, said her car was parked the same way, on the apron, and was towed because part of her tire was touching the street.

“Everybody’s in fear. It’s like the towing company is traveling through the neighborhood at night, waiting to pull cars and just looking,” she said. The problem has been happening for months, she said.

She said ASAP Towing refunded her the money, after she contested the tow and that she would have been towed a second time weeks earlier had she not caught another tow truck driver trying to tow another one of her cars because part of her tire was touching the grass off the driveway.

“The gentleman said he would take it off the tow truck with a one-time courtesy,” she said, adding there is not enough parking in The Gables for residents or their visitors.

Stephanie Leahy said the towing is so bad in The Gables, that she is afraid to have any visitors after her relative’s car was nearly towed during the summer when they parked in a handicap spot in the visitor parking lot.

“I was told they would be able to park there, they were handicapped, and they were going to tow them because they didn’t have the right sticker,” she said.

Visitors have to display a visitor’s tag inside their vehicle to be allowed to park in The Gables.

Another resident said it cost him $250 to get his car out of ASAP’s tow lot.

“It was 5 a.m., they had took the vehicle out of my driveway, saying it was impeding the sidewalk. No warning, no anything,” said Tityus Mitchell.

The father of four said he felt like he was targeted since he counted 13 other cars in the neighborhood that were blocking part of the sidewalk too, but said only his car was towed. The sidewalk cuts through driveways on one side of the community making driveways even more limiting to park.

Filipa Cardosa said she feels like ASAP tow truck drivers are “preying” on residents’ cars.

“They’ll park down the road waiting for people to park to snap cars up or they’ll park at the entrance to the community,” she said.

The News4JAX I-TEAM spoke with the owner of ASAP Towing company, who insists his drivers are just following the rules created by the HOA and that his company is not doing anything predatory or illegal.

“Many people use words they don’t understand what that word means,” said Vince Serrano, owner of ASAP Towing. “What does ‘predatory’ mean? It means you’re going to tow vehicles without a contract. You’re going to charge exorbitant rates. Neither of those are existing. We’ve been in business for 28 years. We have contracts with these communities. They have rules, they’re enforced.”

The I-TEAM confirmed ASAP Towing does have a contract with Leland Management, the property manager of The Gables. News4JAX called and emailed the property manager, but still has not heard back to answer our questions.

News4JAX also called the HOA president to ask about residents’ complaints.

Zenzi Rogers said she has not been a member of the board for very long, but that residents have complained previously about the parking rules not being enforced.

The Gables parking rules clearly state that cars are not allowed to park on the street, on the grass or impede the sidewalk. The rules have been in place for several years.

Rogers said any resident who is towed can request a review. ASAP takes pictures of a car considered in violation before it is towed. Rodgers said a resident will receive a refund from ASAP if a review determines there was no violation.

Since ASAP said it is just following the rules established by the HOA, News4JAX asked a consumer law attorney about an HOA’s power.

“Generally speaking, in the state of Florida, HOAs are allowed to pass rules and regulations as they see fit,” said Adam Thoresen, Division Chief of the Consumer Unit of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid.

He said as long as the HOA is not violating state law or municipal code, HOAs can set rules, even if they seem to be unfair to residents.

“Make sure to communicate with your association and do so in writing. Homeowners should attend board meetings and voice their concerns, and finally, the homeowners do have the ability under Florida Statute 720, to sue their association or take their association to court if they feel like the rules are being broken, that they’re not being enforced reasonably or maybe that they’re being selectively enforced,” Thoresen said.

Residents said they have complained, but feel their complaints are being ignored because many of them rent their homes and are not property owners in The Gables. They said It’s costing them a lot of money.

The News4JAX I-TEAM has discovered that more cars have been towed from The Gables, located on Scrub Jay Drive by ASAP Towing, than any other community in St. Johns County since January of last year.

News4JAX checked the tow logs and ASAP towing has towed 62 cars between January and August of this year. Already more than the 52 it reported towing during all of last year equaling 114 tows in just 20 months.

News4JAX could find only two other communities where ASAP frequently tows cars in St. Johns County: the Whispering Pines apartments and Whispering Woods apartments.

But, the numbers are nowhere near the same number of tows from The Gables. Thirty-three cars were towed from Whispering Pines and 39 from Whispering Woods during that same 20-month time period, which are much lower than the 114 tows from The Gables.

News4JAX also found a big difference: Drivers in Whispering Pines and Whispering Woods are issued warnings before their car is towed, but that does not happen at The Gables.

ASAP’s owner said he’s just following his contract with the property manager and the HOA.

“The problem is not the fact that we decided to tow, the client has rules and they’re having problems with people coming in and not obeying the rules, said Serrano.

Serrano said if the rules change, he will follow them.

Right now, according to the contract, ASAP Towing has access 24/7 to patrol The Gables and does not need any approval from the board or the property manager before his drivers tow a car. While residents who contacted us for help, asked if ASAP is breaking the law by towing their cars for minor infractions, we found no evidence the company was doing anything illegal.

Anyone thinking about moving to a neighborhood governed by an HOA should make sure to get a copy of all the rules so you know what to expect.