Around the University of Central Florida, almost every apartment complex has strict parking rules for visitors. Unfortunately these rules are not the rules that usually apply for regular non-university apartment complexes. If you do not park in a visitor spot be prepared to drive thirty minutes to pick up your car and dish out $150.00 to get your car back. Sadly, many visitors look for blank spots thinking that there are reserved spots for the students that live at these apartments.
Even worse, chances are your car could have only been parked there for an hour or so and it will be gone, when you go to leave or wake up in the morning. With the towing trucks driving around in the late hours of the night, you never know what to expect. But why are students subject to this? Many of us are just starting to pay for our own things now that we don’t live at home and struggle with money. Yet we are being targeted for towing in the communities we live in and our friends and families are as well, when they come to visit us, therefore ruining the weekend.
As young adults we’re still learning many things about the world and unfortunately many of these towing signs are hidden, but because they are posted even if not easily visible the only thing you can do to pay to get your car back. Is there any real advantage for anyone other then the towing company though? What is the real reason our communities have regular towing and why are we so limited on our visitor parking? Is there no other alternative for us as students and is there anyway to stop the towing and save us some money for things we actually need?