Advanced Towing Accused of “Predatory Towing”
The company that published an edited video of ESPN reporter Britt McHenry has been accused by many of “predatory towing”:
Carlos Martinez was expecting to spend about $12 on lunch for himself and his son, but the bill topped $135 when his car was towed after he went to an ATM for cash. Martinez parked in the lot near the Boston Market restaurant at Columbia Pike and S. Glebe Road but realized he needed money. He crossed the street to the Bank of America, but when he returned, his van was gone.
Advanced Towing, an Arlington-based company, hooked the Dodge Caravan and took it to the impound lot a few miles away. Now Martinez is joining others who’ve been towed in accusing Advanced Towing of predatory practices.
“They are like thieves,” said Martinez. “We leave the car and immediately they stole our car and we have to pay a reward to get our car back.”
. . . .
Arlington County Police records show from 2012-2014, Advanced Towing was the subject of 155 complaints, far more than any of the other towing companies that do business in Arlington, according to statistics recently gathered by the News4 I-team. In fact, Advanced got almost two times as many complaints as all the other companies combined.
Police determined Advanced Towing committed 15 violations in that time.
I just called the Boston Market referenced in the story here, and spoke to a manager. He said that this sort of towing goes on every day, “all day long.” He said the towing company hires two people, a driver and a person who is “always peeping.” If someone leaves the lot in a direction other than the business corresponding to their space, the peeper contacts the driver and the driver quickly tows the vehicle. He said the managers believe the constant towing is hurting their business, and another manager has talked “many times” to the landlord about it, to no avail.
On the company’s Yelp reviews page, you see things like this over and over:
This company is scum of the earth. I was towed in the Arlington parking lot where Pho 75 and Ben’s Chili Bowl is located after I ate at Ben’s, and then subsequently walked across the street to pick up some catering for a party I was attending. I was gone for no later than 5 minutes only to return (with three catering trays of hot food) to find my car gone. When I tracked it down to Advanced, I was treated like a jerk by the awful woman attendant – she was not remotely interested in hearing my side of the story, saying that “you never should’ve left the lot” over and over again like a broken record. Highway robbery. I am hoping the better business bureau shuts down this place, as their business practices are exceptionally awful. Just thinking about how they abuse their power makes me ill.
This does not make it appropriate to criticize someone’s appearance, even if they criticize yours first (which may well have happened; one commenter of mine thinks she hears the tow truck employee accuse Britt McHenry of having dark roots). But it does provide a little more context that might help explain why McHenry was upset. It might not just be the inconvenience of having her car towed. It might also be that she was dealing with a company engaged in behavior that most people would consider unreasonable, and on top of that ran into a rude employee.
If you park in a space for Business A, and go to Business A and Business B, it may subject your car to towing as a technical matter — but towing the car in that situation seems against the rules of “fair play” that society plays by. The speed with which they tow cars shows that they are not concerned with keeping parking spaces free for patrons of the business, as much as they are trying to make a buck.
In my constitutionally protected opinion, they seem like unpleasant people who are at best exploiting technicalities to make a buck in an unreasonable manner. And they sound rude. And after they force you to come into their business to pay ransom for your car, if they don’t like the way you behave, they will edit a video to remove their own rude comments and try to shame you.
And if your comments were even slightly out of line, they’ll get an entire Internet to go along. And relatively few people will ask what provoked the reaction to begin with.
I hope stories like the one linked in this post, and posts like this one, are the beginning of a Streisand effect for this company. They deserve it.
in chicago
wherever they can
they skip the middleman
happyfeet (831175) — 4/18/2015 @ 5:38 pmI just can’t see how this is legal. By what authority do towing companies take other people’s property?
Pious Agnostic (4e1a81) — 4/18/2015 @ 5:47 pmThere are remedies but they take time. A few sting operations have shut down bad behavior temporarily – but I wouldn’t mind a few Virginia laws specifically setting down highly punitive fines for companies that engage in unethical towing, and ban collection of any fee for a legally parked car (one with a sticker or permit) and require a payout to the person whose property is improperly touched.
In fact towing not for immediate safety or investigative purposes should always require a property-owner witness and a waiting period of 12 -48 hours.
SarahW (6f3980) — 4/18/2015 @ 5:57 pmyes yes there should be rules
(and it’s nice to see you)
but there should also be an ethos no?
let’s be gracious out there
happyfeet (831175) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:05 pmThe state.
Government is simply a word for the things we decide to do together.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:06 pmSo while we’re keeping an open mind on this story, as I know we are, I think it’s possible that the towing company has found a cash cow and is gleefully towing cars left by innocent drivers. But I think it’s also possible that the lot owner got tired of merchants complaining that their customers couldn’t come in because there was no place to park, so the lot owner hired the towing company and instructed it to immediately tow anyone who wasn’t visiting those merchants.
My experience is that tow companies often give people a grace period, such as by giving them extra time if they visit the merchant to also visit other merchants in the area or by not towing until the following day. It’s good business if you don’t want your employees to be mistreated,and generates good will. But high traffic areas with limited parking may not have that luxury. Either way, I want to know what the lot owner told the tow company before I decide who is or isn’t a predator.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:11 pmso is “disease”
happyfeet (831175) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:11 pmI hear you, but to me this just sounds like an argument that the lot owner may be complicit as well.
The towing company knows what it’s doing. If they’re doing it at someone else’s request, it’s still immoral behavior in my view.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:14 pmHeh. From Advanced Towing’s website:
But then they define “customers”:
They have certainly earned their F rating with the Better Business Bureau, having racked up 41 complaints against them in the last 3 years.
Dana (86e864) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:16 pmThe last time (and only time) I considered arson was when my truck was vandalized and then towed when I left it outside a BMW repair shop one time about 30 years ago. I had picked up my car and left for Santa Barbara to a medical meeting. I had driven my small truck, which was near new, to the shop and left it for the weekend until I could pick it up on Monday. I saw no signs and nobody in the shop mentioned a problem. It was not parked in front of any other business.
It turned out that the small industrial park was shared with an appliance business that has since grown and is well known in Orange County. When I returned on Monday to find the truck gone, I asked around and a woman who was working in a contractor’s office next door to the BMW shop told me that this appliance store was very hostile to anyone leaving a car over night at the BMW place. She didn’t know of anyone else since weekends were mostly deserted.
I finally, by calling the property management company for the industrial park, found where the truck was. It had been towed because overnight parking was not allowed. I asked about a sign and was told there was a small one somewhere. I drove to the tow lot and found the truck had been vandalized, by keying the sides, slashing the tires and finally towing it away. It was several thousand dollars in damage. I know that the appliance store, which now shares space with Best Buy in several locations, was the culprit. Nobody else cared. I considered pouring gasoline into the mail slot and setting it on fire but it had common walls with other innocent businesses so I have taken it out over the years in ill will.
I had to have the truck repainted and all new tires. I have never crossed the door of that appliance business. If, by chance, they should burn down, I hope their insurance has expired. The tow company was the least of it.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:17 pmAssuming the city contracts with Advanced Towing, then the city is willfully ignoring its residents’ complaints because of the easy, and likely significant, revenue from taxpayers.
Dana (86e864) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:18 pmHow is it immoral to tow people who don’t park according to the rules? Isn’t it just as immoral to borrow someone’s parking space for an extra errand or to stop by the bar?
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:19 pmHere’s an example of the towing abuses in apartment parking areas. This is in Texas but they have been in Orange County, too.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:21 pmWhen you send out a hit piece video with your audio edited out, I think it is fair to say that your ethics are questionable. Couple that with predatory towing tactics and a pattern begins to develop. In fact, I now think that they have become so arrogant that releasing the video was a deliberate bullying tactic and I hope this turns around and bites them in the arse.
Thresherman (0e119e) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:25 pmNot in my view. It’s a matter of reasonableness. If your primary trip is to the business for whom the parking spot is reserved, but you have to make an ancillary trip, a lot of factors might influence whether it’s reasonable to force you to move your car. In my view, a quick trip to an ATM to get money to pay for the main trip, with the car towed in the interim, is a “gotcha” measure that most people would see as immoral. If, conversely, you want to park your car at the CVS to go see a music show, and after the music show you pop into the CVS to grab a pack of gum to justify using the parking space (not that this writer has ever done such a thing in real life!), there is an argument that towing is justified — especially if the lot is generally full.
I have never had a car towed, so it’s not personal for me. But this “gotcha” stuff strikes me as unreasonable. YMMV.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:25 pmWe’re on the same page, Thresherman.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:26 pm@ Patterico,
So does the city and the private businesses that contract them for their services. Are they equally immoral in providing them a livelihood through hiring them?
But, the fact remains that they are in business to make money. They have a corner of the market, for better or worse, and for all appearances is very successful. Perhaps that is why the city and private businesses hired them in the first place. Why go to a less effective company? And, if we’re supportive of the free market, isn’t that a good thing? What is the threshold of necessary complaints made before a business becomes immoral?
Dana (86e864) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:27 pmcars are freedom
let’s give cars the benefit of the doubt
cause that’s somebody’s way home
way out
way to the next place
…and him or her
they’re using that car to get there (the way home the way out the next place) all on their own! – no assistance from the state required
(!)
it’s actually kind of exciting if you think about it
happyfeet (831175) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:31 pmThere is a news story out that says that the front door of the place that this women was at had a warning notice saying that if you left the your car in the lot after the 2 AM closing time, then it would be towed. This reporter left the restaurant with someone else leaving her vehicle in the parking lot. When she returned the next morning, it was gone.
So if if the towing company has been guilty of bad behavior in other cases it seems that they were justified in this one case.
In response to the question about what authority these companies act under, they sign an agreement with the property owner giving them the right to tow improperly parked vehicles on that owners property. Some cash changes hands when this agreement is signed.
agesilaus (320c85) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:32 pmMy question is, while their behavior may or may not be immoral, is it illegal? In McHenry’s case, it wouldn’t appear to be.
Dana (86e864) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:34 pmI agree with you about the ATM and the CVS examples. I think the area in between is the issue. My suspicion is this is an area with a high demand for parking and not much available, especially if there is so little parking that merchants only have County property for parking. It may be a dense area of restaurants, bars, etc., and limited parking. It reminds me of the campus area in Austin where students who had cars had trouble finding space to park. Areas like that make people want to bend the rules, and make lot owners want to enforce them more. But I could certainly be wrong.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:35 pmThe towing company probably will regret releasing this video, but the company’s statement suggests they wanted to show how rude people can be. They probably never imagined that when McHenry said she is well-known that she actually was. Lots of people probably say something like that.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:40 pmI’m not sure what you mean, Dana. What things do you think might be illegal?
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:42 pmTow Wars!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXQF9PJE3J8
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:47 pmThis ain’t the free market.
The only reason the towing company can do this is because of laws.
I wouldn’t set up laws against this, though. Ultimately, it’s an issue of property rights, which the law should enforce. But, just as I can say a mechanic should have the right to refuse service to anyone, but may be a jackass and even immoral if he does so on the basis of racial prejudice, I would support the right of property owners (and the services they hire) to be draconian about their parking spaces, but criticize them as engaging in jackassery and perhaps even immorality if they are utterly unreasonable about it.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:56 pmProbably not. It may not even be immoral in this specific case, depending on the facts. But it seems to me that the towing company does act immorally on a regular basis.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:58 pmAbsolutely. Everyone in this story deserves some shaming and blaming.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 6:58 pmMaybe I should clarify that statement. I don’t think we can call the towing company’s act predatory or immoral at this point, although they may be. I also don’t think we can say McHenry’s anger at being towed was immoral either, without knowing the details of how/when she parked. But I think we can say McHenry was wrong to attack the dispatcher’s appearance, intelligence, and occupation simply because she was angry at getting towed. Similarly, the dispatcher was wrong to make a personal attack on McHenry (if I heard the tape correctly) and try to hurt McHenry back.
Finally, I think the towing company was wrong to release the tape in an effort to hurt McHenry. It should have only released a tape with her face digitalized so she couldn’t be identified … but how often do they get such pretty customers acting so rudely? That may have been part of the appeal. If so, I’m glad it backfired. It appears to me this was several people all trying to hurt each other, and for that they should be shamed and blamed.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:19 pmhas been accused by many of “predatory towing”
Private-sector version of the IRS or a variation of ambulance-chasing lawyers, meaning a more refined form of mobster-type extortion.
There was a court case several years ago involving a real-estate management-development company in the LA area that had been harassing (ie, continuously suing) a developer planning a large apartment complex near USC. The litigious company, which had been hauling into court a rival company it had wanted to eliminate as competition, was itself finally hauled into court and found guilty of trying to shut down another business.
As for the IRS…
Mark (6c31df) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:19 pmAnd there’s a reason for that. I’m a business owner, and this is bad for business. It’s one thing if you park in front of my restaurant, go across the street to the ATM, then come back and eat. It’s another if you park in front of my restaurant and go across the street, then stay there five hours.
Thing is, the towing companies I’ve worked with were careful to ask if I wanted a car towed. Because I don’t want to PO a legit customer who may have gone off for a drink after dinner. H3ll, if the waiting area is too crowded I put their names on the list and tell them to go somewhere for a drink. Just give me a cell number.
The towing company knows not to tow my customers’ cars. They will tow cars that aren’t my customers. But it has to be flagrantly obvious. I need to stay in business if they’re going to stay in business. So they don’t want to put me out of business by pissing people off.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:20 pmEveryone in this story deserves some shaming and blaming.
That best sums it up.
Mark (6c31df) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:20 pmAnd to bring it full circle to Dana’s post, I don’t think it’s surprising that the people who were trying to hurt each other all seem to be women.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:21 pmA lot of cars that should get towed go untowed. I’d rather let a non-customer use my lot than anger a customer so there’s no repeat business. I’m not familiar with this Boston Market “I just dashed off for an instant and the predators took my car” story.
Not saying it didn’t happen. It’s not my world.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:27 pmBut it seems to me that the towing company does act immorally on a regular basis.
Perhaps. But wouldn’t you have to charge the businesses and city equally immoral for hiring them – perhaps even more so?
I understand that there is every possibility that the towing company is owned by the mayor’s second cousin and they run a tidy scheme, but aside from that possibility, the whole enterprise reeks of legalized extortion to a certain extent. Why should it cost several hundred dollars to retrieve one’s car?
Dana (86e864) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:32 pmI thought you were our moral superiors. Men, I mean. If you let us alone you’d come back and find after a brief fight we’re all cooking up some brats and drinking beer and watching some Olympic women’s beach volleyball.
Making a complete mess of things. Then what would happen?
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:34 pmSteve57,
It sound like you own your lot and contract with the towing company directly. Perhaps part of the problem here is it appears the lot is owned by the County, and merchants probably pay a fee to let their customers use it. Maybe the County wants to maximize fees and has instructed the towing company to be aggressive in towing, but I think it’s also possible that merchants who pay the fee have complained when patrons of non-paying merchants use the lot. It may be all about money but it could also be about parking in an area where parking is hard to come by.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:35 pmSteve57,
It’s cute when men think they understand women.
Dana (86e864) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:36 pmall seem to be women.
Beyond that, since the two sides may be (or are) cavalier about what’s right or wrong (including whether the ethos of self-entitlement is good or bad), or ethical or not, wouldn’t it be interesting if both the ESPN reporter and the clerk working for what looks like a slime-ball towing company are ideologically very untethered — if not of the left — perhaps the types more likely to proclaim “Hillary will make a fine president!”
Mark (6c31df) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:36 pm“It’s cute when men think they understand women.”
Dana – Nobody understands women, I said while ducking and wondering why my sammich was late. 🙂
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:41 pmI agree with DRJ’s point in #32.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:42 pmThis ain’t the free market. The only reason the towing company can do this is because of laws.
You’re right, it isn’t. Poorly worded on my part. What I mean to say is if this business can make a profit by being hired due to their ‘successful’ track record, and they have this ‘successful’ record because of the laws in place, at what point do you believe the laws should be changed, if ever? Is there a tipping point?
Dana (86e864) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:44 pmI am nothing if not cute, Dana. You should see me in my physical Koala Bear-like glory.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:46 pmWhile I’m being sexist, any bets on whether a male dispatcher would have waived the towing fee and asked for McHenry’s phone number?
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:47 pmWhile I’m being sexist, any bets on whether a male dispatcher would have waived the towing fee and asked for McHenry’s phone number?
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:47 pmYikes, a double-post. Good thing I have an excuse. I’m blonde.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:48 pmBlondes don’t have more fun, they just get dirty quicker!
Gazzer (8d02a8) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:51 pmWith that, DRJ, would McHenry have attempted to flirt her way out of payment???
Dana (86e864) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:53 pmDRJ @36, I don’t own the lot. There are several other businesses that lease space in the building. A building owned by someone else. None of whom want to deal with angry customers. Especially the building owner, who would just like to collect the rent, thank you very much.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/18/2015 @ 7:53 pmDana, I could see almost any cute girl doing that.
Steve57, I visualize this as several businesses near one lot, but not all the merchants pay to let their customers use the lot. If there are consistently too many patrons for too few spaces, Then perhaps the merchants pressure the lot owners to keep that from happening.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 8:00 pmNot us, DRJ!
Dana (86e864) — 4/18/2015 @ 8:04 pmVisualize a strip mall. Seven businesses. Maybe 15 spaces. I lost track after the transformer blew up.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/18/2015 @ 8:21 pmThe shrapnel destroyed a C class Mercedes. Depending on how you look at it, fortunately she was already in the hospital. And, no, it had nothing to do with our food.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/18/2015 @ 8:24 pmIf I go to business A, parking in their lot, then go across the street to business B and get towed, I will make a point of contacting the owner of business A and tell them why I will not be using them again. Further, they should expect poor reviews on Yelp, Angie’s List and by word of mouth (“Oh, that’s one of those businesses that tows people for sport”).
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/18/2015 @ 8:35 pmThe reports say McHenry was at Hunan One restaurant in the Clarendon section of Arlington VA. This This location may be that restaurant on the first floor of the multi-story gray building. If so, it seems to be a fairly populated and busy area. There is a lot adjacent to the restaurant and building with about 20 visible spaces. It is posted for towing but I can’t read the fine print to see who the towing company is.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 8:40 pmThe only thing is, it can be the landlord and not the business who is behind it. I called up Boston Market ready to chew them out, and the manager expressed frustration and said they had complained to the landlord and towing company to no avail. He seemed sincere.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/18/2015 @ 8:45 pmDana, are you saying you have never used your feminine charms (and having met Dana, I know she has them in abundance) to try to get out of a ticket? Really?
Come on.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/18/2015 @ 8:47 pmI’m sort of in the mood for a live chat. Would anyone join me on a Saturday night? We used to do this sometimes.
Thing is, I have no idea what software to use. I’ll try to figure it out if five people express interest.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/18/2015 @ 8:57 pmThis happens all over. I know of it in LA County. The tow companies pay off the local politicians to get the necessary jurisdiction to legally do it.
But that doesn’t mean that ESPN lady can pick on a minimum wage person in the booth.
AZ Bob (34bb80) — 4/18/2015 @ 9:00 pmNope. And as soon as they release the whole video, I will know whether that’s what was really happening, or whether McHenry was responding inappropriately to abuse that she was suffering.
Until then, towing company gets no sympathy, just the contempt that is richly deserved by people who try to present a one-sided account of something.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/18/2015 @ 9:03 pmI’d like to participate in a live chat.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/18/2015 @ 9:10 pmGo to the main page, it’s up.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/18/2015 @ 9:12 pmHeh. Well, I have received two tickets in my driving career: the first for going 14 miles over the speed limit and I started crying when the officer asked to see my ID. I’m not sure why I cried other than I was so thrown off by having red lights behind me only to see they followed me to the side of the rode when I pulled over to let them pass. Such a sense of shame when I realized they were after me!
The second ticket I received was about four years later. It was, as I was later informed, a notorious speed trap. I was flagged for going less than ten miles over the speed limit. Being a repeat offender, I was less discombobulated by the situation and more annoyed. The area I was in had high crime rates, thus I as I showed the officer my I.D. and proof of insurance, I proceeded to um, passionately ask/lecture him about taking valuable time away from serious crime fighting to ticket me (while periodically pausing to apologize if I appeared rude and agreeing that yes, I had been going over the limit…). I don’t think he took me seriously, though, because he just kept writing the ticket, asked me to sign, grinned and left me with a nod and “have a good day.”
So, judging from past behavior, no, I wouldn’t flirt to get out of a ticket.
Of course, there are other situations in life that may require some, um, careful finessing …
Dana (86e864) — 4/18/2015 @ 9:16 pmBack in 84 I drove from Toronto to Indy for the big race. Back then speedos only went up to 85 and I had been doing over 100mph for quite a while. Anyhow, as I passed into another county I slowed somewhat to change a cassette, which is when I got lit up. I got done for 75 in a 60 or something and as he handed me the ticket, he said, ” Wanna know how to avoid this ticket?” To which I replied, “Why, yes…” To which he simply drawled, “Don’t shpeed…” and walked off.
Gazzer (8d02a8) — 4/18/2015 @ 9:24 pmHa Ha Ha! Chicago’s famous bad boy towing company, Lincoln Towing, has its own Wikipedia entry and a song written about them.
They’re still in business and I guarantee you that people pay attention when they see a Lincoln Towing sign in a lot.
elissa (9fbcc7) — 4/18/2015 @ 9:31 pmCar was stolen from our driveway. Thieves crashed it into a tree (spilling about a kilo of cocaine throughout the car doing so.) Ambulance took thieves away. Towing company took car. Police took car from towing company’s lot to examine for evidence. Police notified us car had been recovered, was being held for evidence. Police returned car to towing company’s lot (without informing us.) Sixty days later, I’m in small claims court being sued by the towing company for storage fees since the theft!
Had a good lawyer so I only had to pay for the initial tow.
Dogs alerted to that car until we donated it to a community college rebuild shop.
Legalized theft, in many ways.
htom (4ca1fa) — 4/18/2015 @ 10:05 pmThis does not make it appropriate to criticize someone’s appearance, even if they criticize yours first (which may well have happened; one commenter of mine thinks she hears the tow truck employee accuse Britt McHenry of having dark roots). But it does provide a little more context that might help explain why McHenry was upset. It might not just be the inconvenience of having her car towed. It might also be that she was dealing with a company engaged in behavior that most people would consider unreasonable, and on top of that ran into a rude employee.
Sorry, but like with leftoids who call us terrorists and racists and all the other ‘ists, and then demand civility, I’m not ‘highbrow’ enough to ignore the slights nor interested in being civil any longer. i.e. don’t yell at me then demand I not yell back. Ms. ex-espn’s mistake was letting these folks know she was someone they could do damage to by releasing this, otherwise it was what they normally would call a Tuesday (or what ever day of the week this was). I’m betting they have far worse in their files than this tirade. They just belong to some unknown ordinary persons.
JP Kalishek (b3930f) — 4/18/2015 @ 10:35 pmThe only thing is, it can be the landlord and not the business who is behind it. I called up Boston Market ready to chew them out, and the manager expressed frustration and said they had complained to the landlord and towing company to no avail. He seemed sincere.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/18/2015 @ 8:45 pm
In New Orleans for a time (may still go on, I’ve moved) they would Boot your car. The city and the landlords would do it.
JP Kalishek (b3930f) — 4/18/2015 @ 10:46 pmUm, it really doesn’t work to do that to a welding truck. He left a bunch of 3 inch metal slices of a former boot. I laughed (not that I support destruction of City of N.O.La property)
The only thing is, it can be the landlord and not the business who is behind it. I called up Boston Market ready to chew them out, and the manager expressed frustration and said they had complained to the landlord and towing company to no avail. He seemed sincere.
I don’t care. I really don’t. If the trouble needs to run downhill, so be it. I don’t understand, though, why a landlord would take this upon himself — he gains nothing by it, and may cause zoning people to think he needs more parking or fewer stores next time a conditional use permit comes around.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/19/2015 @ 12:19 amHere’s a fact: if my car gets towed from a business’s parking lot, I’m never doing business with them again, regardless of who authorized the towing. I may be punishing the wrong party (towing company, landlord, etc.) but them’s the breaks.
Pious Agnostic (4e1a81) — 4/19/2015 @ 5:59 amElissa #64’s comment about the Lincoln Park Pirates is spot-on. In the 70s – 80s, when I lived in Chicago, the Lincoln Towing Company was notorious for grabbing cars and holding them for ransom. It was a very lucrative racket. They were the lowest of the low, worse than repo men.
Here is a link to the late Steve Goodman singing “The Ballad of the Lincoln Park Pirates”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=389Rk1jzPMk
If you read the comments at Youtube, about cars being hooked with the driver/children/family pets still inside, it seems that they not mellowed with age.
Darwin Akbar (816db8) — 4/19/2015 @ 6:47 amthere was a scandal in a local burg, called sweetwater, where the mayor and much of the city counsel, missapropriated state funds, confiscated towed vehicles from connected towing companies, he went to jail for a spell, but he’ll likely soon be out,
narciso (ee1f88) — 4/19/2015 @ 6:49 amCar was stolen from our driveway. Thieves crashed it into a tree (spilling about a kilo of cocaine throughout the car doing so.) Ambulance took thieves away. Towing company took car. Police took car from towing company’s lot to examine for evidence.
You forgot the First Rule of Thumb, htom: always double-wrap the product and if you have no Bolivian Marching Powder Safety Seat to secure it in, secure it in the car’s boot or under a seat.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/19/2015 @ 7:09 am“It may be a dense area of restaurants, bars, etc., and limited parking.”
Many of the abuses are in apartment complexes where residents may stop to unload a car and the towing company swoops in and tows the car. For example.
The line of tow trucks you will see if you drive down Warner Avenue, west of Beach Blvd., past a well-known apartment complex is a nightly occurrence. These scavengers are waiting for the clock to strike ten. Unfortunately, no fairy tales or happy endings are found in this story. These vultures are eagerly waiting for the hour they can scour the apartment parking lot looking for innocent victims. Though there is not a shortage of spaces, nor have they received a call or complaint, these towing companies will tow residents who may be missing their parking permits.
And
Heres the deal from the lips of the impound yard employee. Ontario Mills Mall employees drive around the parking lot looking for expired tags then report to the Ontario Police that they have on staff right in the mall. The police then call the impound yard and have the vehicle towed. The Ontario Mills and the Ontario Police stranded a woman and 2 children in a dark lot.
There are lots of these stories. That example had current registration and still had to ransom the car.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 4/19/2015 @ 8:00 amThe towing stories remind me of the complaints in Ferguson MO regarding how the local government uses fines and traffic regulations for funding. The burden of that falls most heavily on the poorer minority areas of town because residents have a harder time complying with all the regulations. There are burdens — largely created by government — that come from situations like this. One solution is or people to live in other less populated places, but they can’t or won’t move. I’m not sure what government or anyone can do when too many people want to live in too small an area.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/19/2015 @ 8:07 amHere’s an interesting idea: Solve homelessness by giving homes to the chronically homeless. The article says it worked in Utah.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/19/2015 @ 8:17 amSorry, wrong thread. I meant to put this on the Open Thread.
DRJ (e80d46) — 4/19/2015 @ 8:17 amBack then I went to traffic school with another miscreant, a lady, who somehow convinced a traffic court that once she had pegged her speedo it meant she could no longer know how fast she was going. So giving her a ticket was unfair.
It’s been 30 years and admittedly I couldn’t wrap my mind around the argument then. Something about her speedo had at that point been rendered useless. It was dead to her. It was a real life blonde joke, but it worked. At least insofar as she got traffic school instead of a fine and points.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/19/2015 @ 8:24 am#62… which Dana is this?!?!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/19/2015 @ 8:36 amI owned a 350Z (bright “Daytona Blue”, shiny chrome wheels) and after catching 3 speeding tickets in less than a year, I had to talk my way out of a 4th. I literally begged the female CHP officer to show some mercy (she’d clocked me at 83mph on I-5) as the letters from the DMV – which had initially been politely solicitous – had grown surly, threatening and “drop-the-hammer” in tone. She wrote me up for no displayed front license plate and sent me on my way. Made. My. Day.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/19/2015 @ 8:48 am#78,
Me!
Dana (86e864) — 4/19/2015 @ 8:59 amCoronello, about the same time I was speeding around in my ’68 Ranchero. Which was no ordinary Ranchero, as it had the Sig Erson cam, the Holley/Edelbrock intake, the Doug Thorley headers. Heads. Some work, you get the idea.
I-13. Oakland hills. Dead to rights, this cop turns on his bubble gum machine when he sees me being true to my nature and when I see it in my rear view mirror I’m thinking I’m royally.
But no! This Frito Lay truck I just passed pulls out into the left lane, along side another commercial truck. So I’ve got this roadblock behind me. I see the cop weaving behind these two trucks, trying to get around.
Me? I pull off at the next exit and whip up a few side streets and park.
It was the beginning of a long love affair with the 302 Ford and Frito Lay products.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/19/2015 @ 9:56 amOh, wait. You said 350z?
No, this was much earlier.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/19/2015 @ 10:05 amFrito Lay is a texas company, kind of
happyfeet (831175) — 4/19/2015 @ 10:08 amLOL, Steve. As a lad – at that time, 13 years of age – I remember traveling with my dad in SoCal on a fairly isolated stretch of I-10 and him speeding along when a CHP car appeared, traveling in the opposite direction. My dad looked over and saw the officer giving him the eyeball, so he took the next off-ramp, parked it in a spot that was a little difficult to see from the interstate, opened the hood and started fiddling with the carb and linkage. The CHP officer soon appeared and drove up alongside and asked my dad what he was doing. Dad maintained a straightface as he said the accelerator had been “acting up”, whereupon the officer gave him a dubious smirk, told him to “slow-the-hell down” and proceeded back on to the interstate.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/19/2015 @ 10:14 amShould anyone attempt to accuse me of being antisocial, I’d like to remind them I come from a rather scanty line of maintainers who could eke out an extra 100 ponies from the F4F. You know, Chicago. The one you see at O’Hare. Because they had done it with their flatheads and rakes, lakes, and big and littles.
The pilots liked it, too.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/19/2015 @ 10:15 amThe towing stories remind me of the complaints in Ferguson MO
Me too.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 4/19/2015 @ 10:27 amA couple of years later, coronello, I had moved up to a ’68 Charger with a 440S. Not the magnum. A bit better if you were in NASCAR. About the same on the street; Chrysler rated it 5hp more.
So I’m getting on the freeway one night. Nobody is around, and I’m curious if the work I’ve done on the engine has helped or hurt. 0 to 60 times, that’s what I need. So I stop the car on the ramp, pull off my watch. Then nail it.
I look left as I merge and what do I see? A CHP officer. I should add I was doing quite a bit more than 60 at that point. I remember to this day the look she fixed me with. We locked eyeballs. OK. Cool.
I eased off the throttle and got off on the next exit. One thing I had going for me, if you remember the Carter years, is the cops were ridding their cars of light bars as the drag meant they couldn’t chase anyone down.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/19/2015 @ 10:34 amRound about 91 I was coming home from Bakersfield on a Sunday morning after watching the roundy racing in my freshly restored Sunbeam Tiger. Saw a nice wide open piece of I 5 and decided to see what she would do. Was up around 110 when the I got lit up. To this day, I have no idea where he came from. There was no ramp, no hiding place. Got me bang to rights. However, he loved the car; Had me open the hood and in the end wrote me up as 10 mph over which got me traffic school, insread of instant ban for being over 100mph.
Gazzer (8d02a8) — 4/19/2015 @ 10:45 amBeing LA, I went to school at The Improv, where a very funny comedian took the class. So I took a class with the drummer from Chicago, the director of The Poseiden Adventure and went on a date with a soap actress.
Only in LA.
Roundy racing? Spring cars?
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/19/2015 @ 10:53 amSprint cars
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/19/2015 @ 10:54 amIt was actually open wheel oval type racing. I went because I had just completed a race driver course at Laguna and they invited me to Bakersfield to show me the difference in oval tracks. Principally, the fact that on an oval you accelerate into the turn or you go off, which is so counter-intuitive. It was an eye opener.
Gazzer (8d02a8) — 4/19/2015 @ 11:01 amMopar, Steve! What a skater, Gazzer!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/19/2015 @ 11:03 amhttp://www.foxsports.com/motor/story/cars-ferrari-599-gto-write-off-040815
If you want to torture yourself watch the video. The valet who attempted to park the 670hp Ferrari was treated for shock. I hope the guy who owned it had an insurance company with a sense of humor.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/19/2015 @ 11:04 amIt was the beginning of a long love affair with the 302 Ford and Frito Lay products.
There is nothing more magical than being bailed out by Doritos. Is there anything that chip can’t do?
JVW (a1146f) — 4/19/2015 @ 11:17 amAlas, I have not always remained true to my first love. Even now I have a set of small block Chevy World S/R Torquers in my garage. Enticing me. Begging for the attention of my grinder.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/19/2015 @ 11:17 amThey’re cylinder heads, in case you didn’t know. Which somehow came into my possession. I may trade them for a Subaru. If somebody doesn’t stop me I WILL improve swirl and flow. I’ve got a die grinder, and a will to use it.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/19/2015 @ 11:21 amThere are lots of companies operating like this in Chicago–WLS devoted part of a show to someone who actually drove his vehicle off after it was hooked up–lucky for him he didn’t damage the SUV and was able to prevent the tow.
I think people would be more sympathetic to the reporter had she just been yelling about being towed, without the comments about the woman’s personal appearance, and the elitist “do you know who I am?” crap.
rochf (f3fbb0) — 4/20/2015 @ 2:41 pm