HOA Violation Hearing

I just recieved a letter with a hearing date from my HOA, the violation that they are coming after me on is this:
"We have been advised that you continue to use your garage to repair your vehicle and in turn using a parking space not assigned to you". First off I am confused, can a HOA tell you what you can and can not do inside your garage? Secondly, I have an agreement with my neighbor to use her parking space (I rent it from her on a monthly basis), if she does not care how can the HOA get involved in this matter.

The covenants do not have any reference to what you can do in your garage, however the HOA has recently posted rules and regulations stating "No vehicle maintenance, repair, or bodywork is permitted within the community" I am not sure how the HOA can tell you what you can and can not do inside your garage, any help is appreciated.

Raleigh, NC

I dont even work on my car anymore, I finished up a restoration about a year ago, every now and then I tweak something on it, but no, there is no welding or loud noises. My question is this, when we moved in there were no rules about what you can do in your garage, then the president and I had a few problems, now he is making up rules about the "no maintainence" and things like that. I am the only one in our community that ever worked on a car so I know it was created just for me. Is this legal? What is the difference between someone washing their car in their driveway and working on their car inside their garage. The door is almost always closed, if I open it, it is never open more than half way, and I always have a car in my driveway if I open the door half way. I definately understand how working on a car in your driveway can make a neighborhood look, but there has never been a situation where I touched my car in my driveway. Can an HOA create rules like this if there are no mentions of this sort of thing in the covenants?

"No vehicle maintenance, repair, or bodywork is permitted within the community" I would request them to explain the specific CC&R they devised this rule from.
So if you have a flat tire or dead battery, you cannot fix it or have AAA come? Rules need to be reasonable. I think a judge would find this rule unreasonable, and if you can prove it is aimed specifically at you, much better.
I lived in an apt once that had a rule forbidding non-vehicle-owning tenants to assign their parking space to anyone else. The apt manager could only do that. It was in our lease. Does your HOA documents give control of parking spaces to the board?

"No vehicle maintenance, repair, or bodywork is permitted within the community"

This "rule" is so vague that is would be difficult to even explain. Ask to see the minutes of the meeting where this rule was passed. You might be able to see where and why this was passed and what prompted the Board to pass it. (You suspect it is because of you, but even that needs to be confirmed)

"No vehicle maintenance, repair, or bodywork is permitted within the community"

I can't change my oil? I can replace my wiper? I can't wax my car in my driveway? Check my fluids? Even in my own garage?

I understand the Board's intention - and think that restoring a car should even be prohibited, but the wording needs to be more specific to prohibit the kind of activity they really don't want.

How do you "go elsewhere" to change a flat tire or a dead battery? This rule indeed precludes any ministration to a vehicle. There are no "exceptions." It is unreasonable and is ripe for selective enforcement - which OP believes is the case.

A tow truck is a good option.
I think its much more practical to write a ten word rule that prohibits all behavior and then grant reasonable exceptions on a case-by-case basis than to write a thousand words trying to include all scenarios and having to constantly revisit/rewrite the rule when a new scenario pops up.