Security guard at strip mall prevents car from being towed until I authorize
 

Starter keeps chugging but engine won't turn over.
I jump start it and take it to the autozone.
My battery is still under warranty and I get a free replacement.
Again the starter keeps chugging but the engine won't turn over.
I call a tow truck and they say they'll come out after rush hour.
The tow company calls me saying that the security guard on duty won't let them tow the car away and he calls the cops before he can get a hold of me. So the tow truck company gives him my phone number, he calls me, after he calls the cops, and I tell him to let them take my car.
Can a strip mall actually keep a car from being towed like that? The guard said he's doing everything. by the book, wth

Now imagine a situation where criminals are trying to steal your car.

You'd be labeling this guy a hero.

am thinking he did it for your sake.

Think how many cars a person could steal from a mall if a thief could get away with it

He might have even had the authority to tow your vehicle without your permission....

Then, like any non-strip-mall situation where a car can be stolen, the owner calls in into the police.

A tow truck could steal a lot of cars, doesn't have to be at a strip mall.

I'm sure he does have the authority to use his tow company to tow my car since I wasn't in progress of shopping there. The question is does he have the authority to prevent another tow company from towing a car that's there.

It's his property, or at least his property to protect, he can do whatever he wants. If someone came on your property and tried to tow a car would you let them?

As a strip mall security guard, he is obligated to protect the property rights of the owner.

He also has the right to refuse people access to the property.

This is a dumb thread.

A number of years ago there was a rash of auto thefts around where I live where the thieves would tow cars away at shopping centers using what looked like legitimate tow business trucks. They got a bit brazen and towed cars right out of people's driveways at night too. Witnesses would say they thought someone's car was being repo'ed so they never called the police. One thing that "sold" the witnesses on it being okay was that the truck had logos and phone numbers on it like a real business.

If a tow truck came to get someone else's car off my property is gladly allow it.

regardless I get the point based on all fedback

II say kudos to the security officer. Shows they were alert and cared enough to protect the premises so well, Believe me it is really hard to get security that care.

I congratulate the security officer. Believe me it is really hard to get security officers that care about the job.

That's actually pretty amazing that security guard is looking out for customer's cars like that. I doubt they do that in my part of the country.

As someone who's had a car stolen by a towing company that mysteriously vanished along with the car, after having written and signed permission from the property owner to leave the car where it was and that it would not be touched, you're lucky. I wish your situation happened to me.

Thankfully I did get the insurance payout by the property owner, because it was a different department that called this fly-by-night tow operation. But $700 book value on a 4 cyl Foxbody with a swapped 351 and all kinds of mods was pretty horrendous.

Strip malls tend to be private property with public access.
Guard is employee of mall/lot owner so it's up to him what can and can't get towed off the property.

This clears things up, thks