Queen Anne Car2go standoff ends in a ‘win-win’
Jun 11, 2019, 8:28 AM | Updated: 2:46 pm
Queen Anne property manager Dan Smith built a fence around a Car2go vehicle illegally parked on his property. (KIRO 7 TV)
(KIRO 7 TV)
Back in May, a Car2go Mercedes was abandoned on Dan Smith’s East Queen Anne property. Smith proceeded to fence the car in, and refused to let the company retrieve it until he was fairly compensated. Now, it appears as though he, Car2go, and the hostage Mercedes will all be getting a happy ending.
“I felt like it was a win-win,” Smith told KIRO Radio’s Candy, Mike and Todd Show. “It turned into the way neighbors should behave, and I think of business people as neighbors, so it went in the right direction.”
Initially, Smith had made numerous calls to tow truck companies and Car2go, asking that the parked car be removed from his property. After that proved to be fruitless, he built a fence around the car with wood planks and twine, with signs noting that a payment was required to pass through and pick up the car.
He had asked that the company a “storage fee” of $65 per day for “doing business illegally on private property,” and had three security cameras on the fence in case anyone tried to break in.
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Smith has now settled with Car2go, ending the days-long standoff. Ultimately, the person who parked the car was held liable.
“It was parked pretty cavalierly and frivolously, so I think they got plenty of charges charged back to them — that was maybe the most satisfying thing,” he said.
Smith’s settlement with the company included money to cover expenses and damages. He decided to drop his request for a $65-a-day storage fee, though, after Car2go explained the circumstances.
“The initial problems started with a mistake by a new person in the Car2go system,” he described. “She didn’t route it properly to a manager, and that’s what allowed the car to stay active.”
“When I found out, I mean everybody’s been new, and you make some dumb mistake on the job. That made me soften up a bit, that it was a new person mistake — you have to make some room for that,” he added.
It’s not the happiest ending for whoever parked the car in the first place, but at least for Smith, justice has been served.
