ULPT: How to get a neighbor to move their car that's been parked outside my house for weeks.

Posted by Gravy_On_Toast@reddit | UnethicalLifeProTips | View on Reddit | 76 comments

Location: San Diego City.

We live on a cul-de-sac and street parking is limited. I have a neighbor in our cul-de-sac that decided to park their car in front of our house. We all have fairly large driveways, so they could totally park it there, but this neighbor is nice and I didn't want to cause a fuss so I've just ignored it.

It's been weeks and it's starting to annoy me that anyone who visits us can't park in front of our house. A few weeks back they put a cover over the car, so it looks like they plan on keeping it there long term. I haven't seen the car get moved in several weeks, otherwise I would just park there myself when/if they moved.

What can I do?!

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OkeyDokey654@reddit

Report it as abandoned?

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bigdrod68@reddit

Exactly abandoned and license plates covered. They'll come check it out. Can't be anonymous but they aren't supposed to tell them.

If you're neighbor complains then play dumb and suggest they store their car on their driveway or at least their own house if they don't want it happening again.

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Gravy_On_Toast@reddit (OP)

Can I do that anonymously?

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JL9berg18@reddit

Yes. Get it done app. Also, call the non emergency police line (easy to google). report an abandoned car. technically they ask for your number but I don't think that PD gives your info to the other party. And if it's covered then it's not like you know whose car it is, amirite? 😁

But also, can't you just talk to your neighbor?

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Tronracer@reddit

This is always the go to. It seems logical on the surface to give the offender a fair opportunity to right the wrong. The problem then becomes if they don’t oblige any ULPT would point the finger at OP.

Plus any rationally thinking person would know it’s rude to park directly in front of someone else’s house for an extended amount of time already.

I say anonymous report the car abandoned.

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KeepBanningKeepJoin@reddit

They won't tell. Just call it in

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OkeyDokey654@reddit

I honestly don’t know. But if they complain, you can say “Oh, that was yours? I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I just knew it was being stored in front of my house and my guests could never park there.”

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So_spoke_the_wizard@reddit

Go to home depot and get a cheap mail box and post and put it right where the car would be blocking it. Temporarily remove our mailbox. Notify the police and post office that the car is preventing the mail from being delivered.

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KeepBanningKeepJoin@reddit

Won't work. You can't move your box without USPS permission.

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bigdrod68@reddit

I don't think that's true, if you change it from door to curbside, then you do. However, if you move it to an equally accessible curbside space then you don't. Source, my mailman last week when I asked her this exact question.

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So_spoke_the_wizard@reddit

Interesting. That's the first I've ever heard that.

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chunky_lover92@reddit

They can't actually do anything about that in my town, but they can do something about being parked too close to a driveway.

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JoustingNaked@reddit

This is brilliant. And, to emphasize just how much I love your idea, this is the first time I’ve ever handed out an award to anybody. Well done sir!

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themobiledeceased@reddit

My cul-de-sac neighbors 3 cars in their driveway, 7 along on street, and 3 in the middle of the cul-de-sac. 2 adults with 13 vehicles. It's their car repair venue. What Joy is mine. No HOA. City doesn't care. 13 car family and their neighbor decided how smart it would be to put their garbage and recycle bins in front of my picture window view. Now my car street parks such that no one can park behind without blocking my driveway, and my bins take up another car space. Marvelous side effect of musical cars 2 days a week for trash / recycle service.

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UncleTrolls@reddit

Cleansing fire is your friend in this situation. A well tossed Molotov in the dead of night, starting with the 3 in the middle. and soon they'll either stop leaving them there, or the city will get sick of having to come deal with the burnt out wreaks that they'll actually deal with the people parking the cars there.

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UncleTrolls@reddit

Go knock on their door and ask them not to use the on-street parking in front of your house as their storage. If that doesn't work, find some local hoodlums and ask them to fuck up the car.

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Rolloveralready@reddit

Just go to his house and talk to him. If he is a nice neighbor as you say he is, he will move his car.

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phalangepatella@reddit

Has the car not moved in weeks? Or do they repeatedly park there and have done so for weeks?

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Gravy_On_Toast@reddit (OP)

I haven’t seen it moved in at least 2-3 weeks, since they put the cover over it. Although I work during the day, so maybe it gets moved then?

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phalangepatella@reddit

If it hasn’t moved, you can probably get a bylaw office involved. Other than that who knows.

However, have you asked the neighbor if they’d be willing to park elsewhere? You might be trying to start a war that doesn’t need to be fought.

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themobiledeceased@reddit

Asking them nicely will result in war. They know. Did it any way.

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phalangepatella@reddit

This is just a chicken shit answer. Grow up and talk to them. Don’t hide a fight a war they don’t know they are in.

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themobiledeceased@reddit

Such an elegant display of superior maturity. 👏

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phalangepatella@reddit

Oh! Thank you. I'm surprised you feel that way, as I thought you would have been offended.

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IndyAndyJones777@reddit

Obviously they are trying to start a war. That's why they came here for advice.

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NoHunt5050@reddit

Just go talk to them, Jesus fucking Christ

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Xtay1@reddit

So let me get this straight. You need a nice, friendly neighbor who lives there 100% of the time to not park on a public street where they live so you can have some random guest park there occasionally (maybe) for maybe 0.1% of the time? Entitled much?

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Smash_Shop@reddit

1) you don't own the street. If you need more parking space, you should buy more property.

2) if it is parked illegally, then just call the city and they'll deal with it

3) if there are unenforced parking regs that you and everyone else violates, but this car is only slightly more egregiously violating, beware of the trouble you're stirring up.

One time my neighbor (who had ties to the mayor) got tired of someone parking their work vehicles on the street all the time, so they pulled some strings to ban parking on our block during the day. This was fine for most people, but I shared a house with a 2 car driveway with another full family and we had 3 cars between the 6 of us, so one had to go out on the street. This ended up being an enormous pain in the ass, as the nearest legal street parking was nearly a mile away.

So every day, I sat by the window (work from home) waiting for my moment. One day their parents were visiting, and they parked out on the street. Well I had parking enforcement on speed dial and they were on site in a matter of minutes. They tried the whole "do you know who I am!?!" thing, as well as the "it'll just be a minute" thing, but the parking enforcer wasn't having any of their bullshit.

Wouldn't you know, the next week the NO PARKING signs had all been replaced with 4 hour parking.

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skits112189@reddit

Get it towed is the simple solution. If you just wanna fuck with them start lightly placing semi large rocks on the car(not large enough to cause damage stationary). Objective being they see it think it was thrown and freak out only to check and see it’s fine. Repeat till they move it or install cameras(then wear a mask)

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radarthreat@reddit

Call the police and report an abandoned car. They’ll put a tow sticker on it. Neighbor will see that and move the car. Or it gets towed. Win either way.

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SgtMac02@reddit

but this neighbor is nice and I didn't want to cause a fuss

So...instead of "causing a fuss", you choose to not bother being nice and talking to this nice person, but rather to try some weird sneaky shit? I know what sub we're in, but this situation really doesn't require the vast skills of r/UnethicalLifeProTips Have you tried....being a normal decent neighbor and simply talking to this nice person?

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AbriefDelay@reddit

Buy some car wheel dollies and do it yourself

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Wild-Spare4672@reddit

I’ve heard kids will sometimes egg an abandoned car in the middle of the night.

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Dismal-Channel-9292@reddit

Figure out what your city uses to tag a car for towing, make a counterfeit version, then call a tow truck if that doesn’t scare them into moving it. Bonus points if you chalk the tires a day or two before putting the fake towing tag on the car

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blazingStarfire@reddit

Just go ask if they can move it... Granted you don't own the street. But if they're nice theyll move it... Or discretely put a note on the window. Please move car or will assume it's abandoned and have it towed.

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GeologistBeneficial3@reddit

Yo!! SD resident here. We went through the same issue for 6 months. Someone abandoned their van in front of our place. Windows were broken, tires were flat, weeds growing around the car. We submitted the online complaint every month for six months. I was actually home the day the city enforcement officer came looking at it. I went to talk to him and he said… “ next time remove the registration sticker from the license plate and submit the complaint again… or if you really want something done quickly, say you’re close to a school and it looks like someone is dealing drugs out of the vehicle” they’ll tow it almost instantly! Goodluck!

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Bright_Crazy1015@reddit

This doesn't require an unethical tip. Just talk to the neighbor and tell them it bothers you.

If you really have to go the unethical route, back into it/turn into it while turning around to back into your drive to wash your car or whatever. Have collision insurance before you do this.

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Professional_Bundler@reddit

Yeah I have a hard time with suggesting something unethical when a simple and ethical solution not only exists but only requires a little bit of humanity and bravery. Who knows, maybe OP is a ln introvert or maybe they’ve had a bad experience confronting people before. But like… just be nice and tell them it bothers you (for whatever reason it actually does).

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indigowulf@reddit

If it's not moving any time soon, you could always hit the pet store and get some plain brown mice/rats and introduce them to the engine or any opening in the car. Be sure to add lots of tasty tempting food as well to encourage the rodents to stay and make the interior into a giant rat nest. Things like raw shrimp and fish get stinky fast and attract vermin. You can NEVER get the smell of rodent bathroom out of a car.

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IndyAndyJones777@reddit

Get spiders and snakes instead. Fill the car with them. They shouldn't be able to move unless they all move because it's so full. If any of them escape then get more. Make sure you only get venomous spiders and snakes and make sure you don't wear gloves or a shirt. You need to accept that this is going to cost more than both of your houses combined but the alternative is to have a polite conversation with your neighbor so you're basically stuck.

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indigowulf@reddit

sorry my unethical answer offended you enough to drive you to sarcasm. perhaps you should double check what sub you're on.

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IndyAndyJones777@reddit

I'm not offended. Snakes and spiders are less pleasant in my opinion so in my opinion this is an improvement of your idea. I apologize if you have chosen to be offended by someone attempting to improve your idea. Hopefully that apology will be adequate enough for you to stop spreading lies about me on the internet.

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Joyage2021@reddit

Steal his plates and car cover and report it abandoned. Bonus points if you take the tires and put it on blocks so it looks the part.

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IrradiantFuzzy@reddit

This might be the only unethical tip here.

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IndyAndyJones777@reddit

Start a fire under the car.

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IrradiantFuzzy@reddit

Fire is my usual go-to, but sometimes there's a perfect solution.

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IndyAndyJones777@reddit

Like communicating with a nice neighbor?

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Joyage2021@reddit

I’m doing my part

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workitloud@reddit

Car cover? Rocks. They won’t have any idea when it happened.

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IndyAndyJones777@reddit

Buy the street from the city and make a rule that they can't park there.

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crash866@reddit

Call San Diego parking enforcement and get it towed.

https://www.sandiego.gov/parking/enforcement

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jannied0212@reddit

Do the exact same thing to them. Park in front of their house. I'd go so far as to buy a $500 beater to leave there, and cover it.

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Comfortable_Guide622@reddit

Talk to them

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AndarianDequer@reddit

Look up how to chalk tires on YouTube. It's a tactic that's used by tow agencies. Tell them you've already seen somebody come out and mark the tires but they never came back. Car hasn't moved in weeks. You can also bag up some leaves and throw leaves all over the car to make it look like it's been there a lot longer than it really has.

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GnPQGuTFagzncZwB@reddit

It is more what you should have done, long before the cover, you should have asked them to move it. Now it is obvious they do not think you care. You can just ask them to move it or get like a used run down vehicle or better, a motor home the kids can play in, and park that in front of his house. See if he gets the idea.

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PoolAppropriate4720@reddit

Make a fake fire hydrant and then call a tow truck

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CootsieBollins@reddit

I dunno - maybe speak with your neighbor?

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Wild_Ad_9196@reddit

The Best LPT you can get here is to maybe go see a Psychiatrist?

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Neat-Complaint5938@reddit

Yeah honestly try to get to the root of the issue that stops you from just going over and talking to them because it's not that hard

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Wild_Ad_9196@reddit

(and yes you can do that anonymously)

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scaryworldinpacific@reddit

List it on Craigslist as a part-out and that the catalytic converter hasn't been claimed yet.

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PandaDad22@reddit

Get some wheel dollys, jack it up, roll it to his house.

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inkslingerben@reddit

NO! Move it by a fire hydrant.

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flynfiesta6@reddit

Just have your visitors park in their empty driveway spot.

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Time_Sir_8363@reddit

Call Luigi

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QuttiDeBachi@reddit

Luigi is commercial, call Mario for residential problems…

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Time_Sir_8363@reddit

I heard he handles pest issues

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QuttiDeBachi@reddit

Aye, if the pest is big enough, they both get involved in the thing…

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Time_Sir_8363@reddit

Then everyone eats

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nayrwolf@reddit

Where the tire touches the road draw a line down to the road and a few inches of the road. It’ll let you know if someone’s actually driving it. If they still line up in three days make a call to parking enforcement

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Eastern-Astronomer-6@reddit

Suck up them legally parking on a public street?

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Gravy_On_Toast@reddit (OP)

Yes, it is a public street and they are totally within their right to park there. But why not in front of their house or in their driveway lol

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