OT: Car got towed

[PhilipJCaputo]

So my buddy was at a gold's gym in the DC area, he parked in the firelane (no signs indicating towing would take place), was working out for like 2 hours or so.. comes back and his car had been towed.

He goes to the towing agency his car is parked right out front, not behind any locked gates or anything like that.

He called and asked me what would happen if he got in his car and drove away. I honestly didn't know, it isn't like he is stealing the car (he owns it, title is in his name all that jazz)...

He ended up paying the $120 fee, and the tow company said if he had just taken the car there would have been a $1500 fine. They claimed it was because they temporarly "owned" his car because they had towed it, and becuase it was on their property.

So I'm wondering, what would happen, would he just have a big bill from the tow company?? How could they legally come after him for the money other than collection agencies.

I'd be tempted to get in my car and drive home......

any thoughts??

[winfred]

after a set amount of time they can apply for a permit to sell and sell the damn thing, or run up such a storage bill that it'd be cheeper to let then have it, i've seen it several times(and bought a few)

[PhilipJCaputo]

My buddy just talked to some lawyer types.... I guess when they tow your car, they put some sort of lein against it....

guess the moral of the story is not to park in fire lanes...

[TC535i]

My buddy just talked to some lawyer types.... I guess when they tow your car, they put some sort of lein against it....

guess the moral of the story is not to park in fire lanes...

Exactly. They have a lein against it until you pay, it's technically "theirs". If they have the lein for 30 days, they can file with the state (at least here in CA), and once the paperwork processes, it's their car, regardless of how much you owe.

My buddy's dad owns a tow yard, and he just got a pretty nice Caddy STS, for whatever reason, the owner never came and picked it up. Oops!

[ryan roopnarine]

ya borrow another tow truck, tell em your da police, and that the car was involved in a murder :D either that or ambush the driver before he can slim jim the lock (if that's the case).

[DanDombrowski]

Mabye he just reported it stolen and the insurance paid for it? Although I would think if you report your car stolen the first place the insurance would look is tow yards

[all2kool]

Mabye he just reported it stolen and the insurance paid for it? Although I would think if you report your car stolen the first place the insurance would look is tow yards

I think tow companies make a substantial amount of money every year in the cars they keep and sell. It's a ****ing racket for sure. Theives, all of them. Stole a car from me they did. Bastards.

[PatrickPGH]

I live in a neighborhood where most of the residents park on the street and drive to their day jobs. 7 a.m. I find a crew of flat bed tow trucks hauling away car after car to make room for construction equipment. Now most of the street is empty by 8, why couldn't they wait an hour and make life easier for everyone?

/rant mode off

[DaCan23]

Use to see them all the time when doing my laundry.... someone parks illegally and goes into the store for 90 seconds... bam its hitched up... and once hitched you gotta pay them.... real nasty altercations I've seen... there just as bad as lawyers trail an ambulance... driving around the main streets constantly and boooy do they do a quick hack tow to get em quick... almost guarenteed damage...


So my buddy was at a gold's gym in the DC area, he parked in the firelane (no signs indicating towing would take place), was working out for like 2 hours or so.. comes back and his car had been towed.

He goes to the towing agency his car is parked right out front, not behind any locked gates or anything like that.

He called and asked me what would happen if he got in his car and drove away. I honestly didn't know, it isn't like he is stealing the car (he owns it, title is in his name all that jazz)...

He ended up paying the $120 fee, and the tow company said if he had just taken the car there would have been a $1500 fine. They claimed it was because they temporarly "owned" his car because they had towed it, and becuase it was on their property.

So I'm wondering, what would happen, would he just have a big bill from the tow company?? How could they legally come after him for the money other than collection agencies.

I'd be tempted to get in my car and drive home......

any thoughts??

[Rigmaster]

First off, your buddy sounds like a real "Alfred Einstein", you know, a real genius. Parking in a FIRE LANE for like 2 HOURS ??!!!!!!!!

Anyway, the tow company, like it or not, is right here. Since this was a FIRE LANE (sorry, I still have trouble with 2 HOURS in this spot...), the city or town or county or whatever is the agency who makes it illegal to park here, so they use the tow company to enforce the law. If your buddy chose to get in his car and drive away, I imagine the city could/would simply report this to the DMV or whatever and make it so that he could never renew his registration or LEGALLY do anything with the car until the fine was paid.

IMHO, what he did was alot different than parking in the Mr Pizza parking lot, then going to Dr Linguine to eat instead, then having his car towed because he was not a customer of Mr Pizza. I'm sure he would have thought it was really funny if the fire dept used the biggest fire truck they own as a bulldozer to push his car out of the way if they were responding to an alarm and his car was in the way. Believe me, they would not hesitate to do this if necessary, and I'm glad.

Bret.




So my buddy was at a gold's gym in the DC area, he parked in the firelane (no signs indicating towing would take place), was working out for like 2 hours or so.. comes back and his car had been towed.

He goes to the towing agency his car is parked right out front, not behind any locked gates or anything like that.

He called and asked me what would happen if he got in his car and drove away. I honestly didn't know, it isn't like he is stealing the car (he owns it, title is in his name all that jazz)...

He ended up paying the $120 fee, and the tow company said if he had just taken the car there would have been a $1500 fine. They claimed it was because they temporarly "owned" his car because they had towed it, and becuase it was on their property.

So I'm wondering, what would happen, would he just have a big bill from the tow company?? How could they legally come after him for the money other than collection agencies.

I'd be tempted to get in my car and drive home......

any thoughts??

[winfred]

i had a pic of a e30 4 door that was parked next to a hydrant during a fire, they axed both back side windows and ran the hose right through the car


I'm sure he would have thought it was really funny if the fire dept used the biggest fire truck they own as a bulldozer to push his car out of the way if they were responding to an alarm and his car was in the way. Believe me, they would not hesitate to do this if necessary, and I'm glad.

Bret.

[PhilipJCaputo]

First off, your buddy sounds like a real "Alfred Einstein", you know, a real genius. Parking in a FIRE LANE for like 2 HOURS ??!!!!!!!!

Yeah... I wouldn't call him the sharpest tool in the shed, but not dull either....

It just makes me thankful that I live in the midwest, and not out on the east cost where people are on edge. I frequently park in the fire lane at kroger, flip the hazard lights on and run in for a few quick items, nothing that would take almost 2 hours.

[Robin-535im]

...will be tagged and towed. Street Cleaning!"

I used to wake up to that every second Monday and run like the dickens out to my car to move it, back when I lived in Cambridge.

Guys I worked with and I would take our coffee out to Vassar and Mass Ave to watch the troop of cop and tow trucks pick the cars off one by one. Cop walks around to note any existing damage, writes a ticket, and the tow driver slim jims it and hooks it up. The whole thing takes under five minutes and the car is on it's way.

Once we saw a tow truck (drag type) drop a FWD Toyota/Lexus as it was hauling the car off down the (very bumpy) street. WHAM-wham was the sound it made as it slammed down, bounced up a bit, then hit again. Originial driver didn't want to pick it back up, and the ensuing flat bed driver didn't want to pick it up either. We figured that whoever brought it in to the lot with obvious damage would get his pay docked or something.

Made for an entertaining morning, that's for sure. The thing that made me mad was after the street cleaner was done for the day, they still towed people just because the sign said they could. Yeah - it's a racket alright!

[biondani]

Those few minutes that you delay the firemen could be the life or death situation for someone who has a fire. Take a hint, use the carpark and not firelanes. If I were in the fire brigade I would crush your car with the biggest engine I had even if not in an emergency just to stop you parking there again.

My rant over
Ian

[andyman32]

Yeah, I agree with some on the both sides. I get pretty incensed when I even see some suburban yuppie mom roar up in her Yukon or whatever and park in the fire lane in front of the grocery store - even when there's a huge parking lot of open spaces just a few steps away. "FIRE LANE - NO PARKING" is NOT a very subtle message to have painted in 6' tall yellow letters across the front of the store. To me, it's just an example of poor judgment and, worse yet, poor behavior.

BUT, that having been said, towing is a bloody racket. There's one shop here in Raleigh that takes cars off the side of the street overnight even when they are parked legally. One guy I used to work with had his taken, and another guy chased them away because he happened to be up late and saw them pull up out of his apartment window. They towed me out of a convenience store lot once when I went in there to buy some snacks then ran up the block for a cup of coffee at the cafe. All of five minutes and they're holding my car for ransom of $150.

This shop gets sued and driven out of business at least twice a year, and I've heard/seen a number of other things. The windows get shot out with some regularity. Once they pissed off the wrong person, because they got a Molotov Cocktail through their window. The building was a gutted shell for several months. Sweeeeeeeeeeet justice.

[chapmanw]

Also, who would be responsible if that car got stolen while under their(towing company) possession. Seeing that they now have some sort of ownership over it.



So my buddy was at a gold's gym in the DC area, he parked in the firelane (no signs indicating towing would take place), was working out for like 2 hours or so.. comes back and his car had been towed.

He goes to the towing agency his car is parked right out front, not behind any locked gates or anything like that.

He called and asked me what would happen if he got in his car and drove away. I honestly didn't know, it isn't like he is stealing the car (he owns it, title is in his name all that jazz)...

He ended up paying the $120 fee, and the tow company said if he had just taken the car there would have been a $1500 fine. They claimed it was because they temporarly "owned" his car because they had towed it, and becuase it was on their property.

So I'm wondering, what would happen, would he just have a big bill from the tow company?? How could they legally come after him for the money other than collection agencies.

I'd be tempted to get in my car and drive home......

any thoughts??

[Jon K]

if the car were stolen from in the gated area of the lot, the towing agency has insurance to pay for that most likely. but i bet if they left it out front and it got stolen it's on them.