Woman Says Her Roommate’s Boyfriend Took Her $180 Parking Spot Again — So She Had His Car Towed at 1 A.M.

A woman says she finally had her roommate’s boyfriend’s car towed after he repeatedly parked in the reserved spot she pays extra for, then acted like she was making a big deal out of nothing.

The 31-year-old woman shared the situation in a Reddit post, explaining that she lives in a two-bedroom apartment with a 27-year-old roommate. The building has limited reserved parking, and the poster pays an extra $180 a month for one of those spots because she works late shifts and does not want to hunt for street parking at 1 a.m. When her roommate moved in, the poster said she made it clear that the paid parking spot belonged to her and that the lease allowed unauthorized cars in paid tenant spots to be towed. Her roommate said she understood.

A few weeks later, the roommate’s boyfriend started using the spot anyway.

The first time, the poster left a note and texted her roommate to ask that it not happen again. The second time, she ran into the boyfriend as she came back from the store and asked him directly not to park there because she pays for the spot and needs to use it. According to the post, he laughed and said it was “just a few hours.” Because her space was taken, the poster had to park on the street and ended up with a $75 ticket.

Then it happened again.

The poster said she came home at midnight and found his car in her spot. She drove around for half an hour trying to find somewhere else to park, ended up on the street again and got another $75 ticket. She texted her roommate and asked her to make things right. The roommate apologized and promised it would not happen again, but did not offer to pay for the tickets.

Then last Thursday, the boyfriend parked there again.

This time, the poster said she got home at 1 a.m., saw his car sitting in her reserved space and felt that awful pit in her stomach. Instead of texting again and hoping someone would suddenly care, she took a picture of his plate and the reserved sign with her apartment number. Then she called the tow company listed in the lobby.

The tow truck came about 20 minutes later. His car was removed, she parked in the spot she pays for and went upstairs to bed.

About an hour later, her roommate barged into her room in a panic because the boyfriend had gone downstairs and realized his car was gone. The roommate yelled at her, saying she should have called them first and asked him to move it instead of having it towed. The poster said she had already tried calling and texting about the parking issue many times, and none of that had worked.

The boyfriend now had to pay $275 to get his car back.

The next day, the roommate asked the poster to cover the towing fee. The poster said she would be happy to “split the difference” if the roommate paid her back for the parking tickets first and covered the next month’s parking fee, since she had not been able to use the space she pays for. The roommate accused her of blackmailing her and said she had gone too far by calling the tow company.

Now the apartment feels tense and awkward, and the poster asked Reddit if she overreacted by towing the car.

Commenters were firmly on her side. One person said they would have called the tow truck the second time the boyfriend laughed about taking the space. They also warned her to keep an eye on her car in case he tried to retaliate.

Another commenter said the whole thing came down to a simple point: it was her spot, and she paid for it. They said the roommate and boyfriend were fine with the poster being inconvenienced and paying tickets, but suddenly thought consequences were unfair when the cost landed on them.

Several people told her not to pay a cent toward the tow fee. One commenter said she should demand the $150 back for the two parking tickets instead. Another said if the boyfriend kept doing it, she should “tow on sight.”

Others said the roommate’s reaction showed a bigger problem. The roommate had been warned when she moved in. The boyfriend had been warned after taking the spot. The poster had already paid real money because of his choices. By the time the car was towed, commenters said this was not some shocking escalation — it was exactly what happens when someone ignores a clear boundary over and over.

A few people even suggested involving the leasing office if things continued, especially if the boyfriend was around enough to cause ongoing issues. One commenter said the next call should be to the landlord about the unauthorized tenant situation if the roommate and boyfriend refused to correct their behavior.

The part people kept coming back to was the money. The poster was paying $180 every month for that parking spot specifically so she would not have to search for parking after late shifts. Then, because someone else kept taking it, she had already spent $150 on street-parking tickets. So when the roommate acted like the $275 tow bill was unfair, commenters basically said the boyfriend had finally run into the consequence that had been posted in the lease all along.

By the end of the thread, the poster’s decision did not come across like revenge. It came across like the first option that actually worked. She asked nicely. She warned them. She ate the cost twice. And when she came home at 1 a.m. to find the same car in the same paid spot again, she stopped begging for respect and called the number on the sign.