tow company = Satan

[BenSD]

Re: Re: Re: Re: tow company = Satan

Even though that spot is legal, do you really want to park next to the basketball court? I'd be worried about people running into the truck, bouncing the ball off of it, etc.

I don't park there during the day, only at night. The court is empty, and I don't have to worry about car doors being opened into my 4R on the right side.

 

[BenSD]

How about when you hear or see the tow truck, just hit the panic button! The panic button is your friend and could really scare the crap out of people. Whenever somebody goes near my truck and I see it, BEEP BEEP BEEP!!

That's how I ran them down the first time. When they had just hooked up the truck, and were starting to pull out of the parking lot (they were still on private property). I hit the panic button, and hauled ass until they finally decided to stop --- conveniently on public propertly. I did a quick review of the law in CA, and it looks like they can charge no more than 1/2 of the full towing fee if the vehicle is stopped after exiting the private property. In the first towing incident, I hit the panic button before they exited the parkinglot, and they charged $150 for the towing. Yesterday when I went to pick up the 4R after a full towing, they charged $260.

This is really starting to piss me off the more I read about it. I really do want to contact an attorney at this point so they can look at the law and find all the sections that were violated. Do you guys think that's the best route?

 

[boston_kevin]

If you have a digital camera, take a picture of your vehicle in the spot you park every night and make sure you include any signage that states it is legal or illegal and your license plate.
Most cameras store pictures with information about the time/date the picture was taken, which is information that could be used against the towing company and the apartment complex owners should they tow you again. If you are parked in a legal spot and you have a picture to prove this, they have to reverse the towing charges, and pay for damages to the truck. The pictures might take up 10 MB a week if you store them for a week at a time on your PC. A friend of mine did this in Boston and also got awards for lost time at work since they towed his only transportation.

I would also issue a word of caution about "going after the towing company" and pissing them off even more. After my buddy was awarded this money, his car (this was a maxima) mysteriously had 2 of the 4 tires slashed and the paint keyed one night, yet no other vehicles on the block had any damage whatsoever.

 

[BenSD]

While visiting the tow company, it appears that their front access to their building is out of code....... the pathway is too narrow, and the cement stairs are the home-grown non-permited variety. I wonder if I could call the city on them to point out the violations?

 

[EDGE]

how do they tow it, rear wheels, front wheels, flatbed, I always worray about what damage will be done internally over the long run, I've seen brand new cars get pulled out of spots and I would never want my 4Runner like that.

 

[Gryphon]

While visiting the tow company, it appears that their front access to their building is out of code....... the pathway is too narrow, and the cement stairs are the home-grown non-permited variety. I wonder if I could call the city on them to point out the violations?

Heck yeah! Whack 'em where they get you! Fair is fair!

And again, HECK YEAH, get an attorney! They should talk to you for free to begin with, and go after them on a contigency basis...at this point, were it me, I would be happy if the lawyer took it all, just make these guys stop.

Did you talk to the apartment manager? That would be interesting too.

Maybe LoJack and report it stolen! It will probaly not do anything, but it would at least inconvience them!

 

[BenSD]

how do they tow it, rear wheels, front wheels, flatbed, I always worray about what damage will be done internally over the long run, I've seen brand new cars get pulled out of spots and I would never want my 4Runner like that.

They were doing the towing properly. They have a little cart type thing they put the front wheels on, then lift up the back wheels onto the lift on the back of their truck. None of the wheels on the 4R are making contact with the pavement while towing. I closely inspected the bottom of the runner to see if anything was damaged by their jacks when they extracted it from my parking position. Usually I'll crank the wheel all the way to the right, then hook on a club so that they can't straighten the wheels, but I don't think that would help too much. If they want to take your truck, they'll do it.