'Told me I could have knocked': Couple has stranger's car towed after discovering it in their complex's paid parking spot, forcing wife to park on dangerous street late at night, only to discover it belonged to a new neighbor "misinformed by the office"

Author image for Emma Saven
Emma Saven
Oct 15, 2025 8:00 PM EDT

When there's a new neighbor in town, or in this case, in the complex, it would be highly appreciated if their fellow neighbors showed them around and gave them a lay of the land, informing them on how things run within the complex. Normally, that would be the office's job, but it seems that a few things within the discussion between this new neighbor and the complex's office have been lost in housing translation. 

There is a woman in the complex who works late at night, often only getting home around one a.m., so her husband decided to pay for a reserved parking spot so she is never stuck without a parking late at night…until one night she comes home to find a car occupying her spot, forcing her to park on a dangerous main road outside the complex. Her husband, fed up with the complete disregard for their paid parking space, decides to call in the big dogs, who ensured that the car was towed by morning. The only awkward part? Turns out that the car belongs to their brand new neighbor, who claims she was told the parking was a first-come-first-serve service…Now the couple is feeling guilty, yet their not too happy with their neighbor's condescending approach that they wouldn't mind having towed either…

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  • The neighbor's introduction was, as expected…uncomfortable. Nothing says Welcome to the Neighborhood like, “We got our car towed on your first night here.”  The neighbor argued that they should have come knocking on their door, rather than calling security. But how were they supposed to know who the car belonged to, and knocking on everyone's door at 1 a.m. would've made them more than one enemy. Maybe they'll laugh about it over a barbecue in a few years, but we're not hearing too much laughter bouncing off the office walls now. I think that could be the tension we're sensing instead! Well, we wish these neighbors all the best, and hope that their relationship has a chance of lasting longer than 14 hours…

  • 01
    Car sitting in parking lot at night
    via Erik Mclean

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02

    AITA for having a new neighbor's car towed?

    Hello! So for background info, my wife and I have been living at our apartments for 3 years now and have never had an issue like this before.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 03
    Our complex has open parking spots that are first come first serve. They alos have covered ones you can pay for.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 04
    We have a covered spot that we've been paying for the whole time we've been here.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 05
    We did this because my wife gets off work anywhere between 12am to 2am, so they have a spot always available.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 06
    Now last night when I got home I didn't look at our spot. I never do.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 07
    I never park in it, I park in an uncovered spot if ones available, otherwise I park further away on the street.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 08
    When my wife got home though at 1am, there was a random car we had never seen before.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 09
    I have no idea who it belongs to, im not about to go knocking on random doors at 1am to find out who's it is.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 10
    For all I know the car didnt even belong to someone in our same building. So we called the security for our complex and they came out, verified we owned that spot, and then marked the car for tow.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 11
    My wife had to park way down on the street in the meantime, and we live off of a not so great main road so they didnt feel safe walking from the car.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 12
    Once towed, I went and grabbed our car and moved it back to our spot. The part that makes me feel like an asshole is that today I ended up meeting that aparent new neighbor.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 13
    They were being nice but in an intimidating way. She told me I could have come knocked, that it was okay she had the money to cover the tow.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 14
    Neighbors arguing
    via africa-images

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 15
    Every time I tried explaining the situation, she was just talking over me. We exchanged names, she dapped me up (a very aggressive dap i might add) and then proceeded to tell me that the office lied to her.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 16
    She said they told her its first come first serve. Im a very passive person so the whole confrontation just made me feel like we did wrong and that we should have just gone knocking on doors.
    via TheLaziestDwarf
  • 17
    lamlrene She told me I could have come knocked Knocked where? You had no idea who the car belonged to.
    via lamlrene
  • 18
    She said they told her its first come first serve. $10 says she didn't bother to pay attention enough to understand that yes, uncovered is a free-for-all but covered is paid. She is 100% in the wrong for parking where she didn't belong. You are NTA. She's a big one, don't let her intimidate you...she was wrong.
    via lamlrene
  • 19
    choaoctopus NTA If what she told you is true, she can take it up with the office. It was their mistake not yours. You pay for that spot. You get to use it. Also, you did the right thing not knocking on doors at 1am. No one wants a surprise visitor at that time. You could have woken up babies
    via choaoctopus
  • 20
    that are hard to get to sleep. You could have terrified some young person living on their own for the first time. Most people are asleep at that hour and most people need their rest to be able to function at work the next day.
    via choaoctopus
  • 21
    White car getting towed
    via nejron

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 22
    lets_talk aboutsplet NTA, I have a hard time believing an apartment complex with limited and reserved parking doesn't have a sign that says violators will be towed, regardless of what she says the office told her. She F'ed around and found out
    via lets_talk_aboutsplet
  • 23
    No-Assignment5538 NTA. This person chose to park in a space that they had to know was not theirs to use. Expecting you to hunt through the building for the owner of the car wasn't a reasonable expectation at all. They got towed, that was the consequence of their own bad choice. It's not on you to worry about if they can afford the tow or to get the car out of impound. They are the ones who did something wrong not you.
    via No-Assignment5538
  • 24
    SomeOkieldiot I highly doubt the office lied to them and it's likely written on paper they have the option to pay for a covered spot that they didn't pay for, probably assuming whoever paid for that spot worked an overnight shift and they could get out of there in the morning before the person paying gets home. I'd be towing cars on the spot each and every time
    via SomeOkieldiot
  • 25
    Discount_Mithral They were being nice but in an intimidating way Yeah... sounds like she was just being intimidating and covering it with a "smile."
    via Discount_Mithral

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knock knock neighbors entitlement meeting neighborhood late night reservation wife neighborhood-drama cars husband parking spots presidents day payment Reddit dangerous work-late neighbor
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