just got towed... potential damage?
 

Hi all, long story short - parking in a spot I shouldn't have, and got towed.
Now because I keep my handbrake on whenever parked, I KNOW they have to disengage it before towing (else damage to the rear brakes)

MY question is... when they do that door prying shit, how much damage does it actually inflict on the car door? Keep in mind that my car has a HUGE central lock button, so all they would have needed was to shove a wire in and hit the button.

THANKS!

Edit:looked on google wto no avail... some forums/webpages say yes there could be damage, others say you need wayyyy more force to damage a car door

BTW it was Buster's towing if it makes any difference

What!? Who the hel dared to tow the Enterprise!?

Well when they towed my jetta they used a jimmy to get the lock. .... I believe's it's the same for most cars
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They could have just put the rear wheel up on dollys and towed it without any wheels touching the ground.

this

But looking at themmultitude of the cars I saw being towed into their lot, I doubt it
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Hope your TL survives

^lolwut
thanks? I got it back within 10 minutes of it being towed
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Sorry, I mean, I hope nothing is damaged haha.

you got towed and u got ur car back in 10mins?

your posts are at least 2.5hrs apart..im confused?

He had his car back before he started this thread.

the drivers know what they are doing for the most part

Yeah I got it before i started the thread. Went home right away to do a water test on the doors.

Basically this is what happened.
- Helped friend move some stuff into downtown

- After unloading all the stuff in front of his building's rear entrance, I really needed to pee so I parked in the visitor's parking in his building gated, underground parking lot.

- I went up to his unit to take a piss - hell I was in such a hurry that my wallet was still in the car.

- Came back down after about 10 minutes, and my car was gone. I checked the sheets of paper taped on the parking spots once again and found out that visitor spots 1-6 are actually for a certain store nearby ONLY, and that the regular building visitors are to only use the other 5 or so spots.
(keep in mind that all the spots have the "VISITOR" wording on the wall)

- Good thing I had another friend with me, who parked in a "proper" visitor's spot (deadsmack right next to me), rushed right down to buster's on East 1st near science world within 10 or so minutes and retrieved my car.


I got some pretty shitty customer service, with nobody being able to explain to me what kind of towing method was used (whether I had the rear dolly, front wheels lifted, rear wheels lifted etc...) or whether entry was required. Reception told me to talk to the tow truck driver, but wouldn't help me find the tow truck number on the invoice/record. I did a bit of reading and talked to the tow truck driver outside, who basically told me to get lost and not talk to him.

It's bullshit. I filed a complaint directly with the BBB, and BC ASA regarding the lack of due respect towards a customer and mistreatment. I notified management of my actions. I shall be expecting a call from them on Monday. To add to my negative experience, when I asked for a name of the receptionist as a reference, she cited "company policy" to not give it out, and when i asked for a "potential damage claims form", she even refused to lend me a writing tool to write with, again citing policy. I bit the bullet, treated her politely throughout and this is the BS I get. I just said it's OK, uttered a complaint would be filed, and then left.

tow truck drivers along with the dumbass bitchy reception are truly assholes, no joke

I guess being an asshole comes with the job.

Wow what shitty service.. Some people just have zero respect for others
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I can pretty much guarantee you no dollies were used. If you're saying it was 10 minutes and your car was gone, dollies take that long just to setup. If your car was parked front first, then he probably grabbed it from the back and put the car in neutral. If it was back first, he grabbed it from the front and (hopefully) disengaged the e-brake. Most drivers would do that, but not guaranteed.

Secret tip. If you want to reduce your chance of being towed, purchase a car that is AWD. Tow truck driver pulls up, sees your car, and often drives away because he doesn't want to bother with the dollies. Might be 3 or 4 trucks showing up before one eventually decides to tow you.

Not quite. I had a AWD talon before, I was parked in Visitor spot, not knowing it's only up to midnight, my compustar alerted me at about 12:01, rushed to the window, saw the tow truck messing with my car. When we got down, the tow truck jacked me up, driver is in the truck not driving away yet, no dollies, and just says pay now or tow, I paid to get the car off instead of wasting time and money to go to them to get the car back and risk of damage to my car's drivetrain. It was $75, doors still locked.

Well I said "reduce" not eliminate ;)

or you can just do this with your AWD vehicle :D

Dude, you're not the customer. The store who rents the lot you parked in is the customer.

good job :thumbsup: hate it when i get bullshit like that

won't the rear wheels start spinning if u hav awd? i think that only works with fwd and the tower has to hav towed it the wrong way

haha w/e that video is still funny..


Regardless, I just gave the busters a call today (they didn't return the VM i left on Sunday). Receptionist told me "he will be in a meeting for the entire day". I just called bullshit and said "I work as a receptionist myself, I know exactly what is going on here, now patch me through".... FML she put me to VM.

I will call tomorrow again, and call them time and time again until they
a) pick up
b) return my calls
c) blacklist my number

^^I think they will pick C

from the sounds of it, if they didn't help you out in the first place, they won't ever help you even if you continue to keep calling.

was your car damaged or are you just concerned it was?
I hate to say it but to me it seems as tho your just bitchy you got towed.

Now when they tow a car in a hurry like in your case they will just pick it up from the driving wheels and drag it around the corner where they have some distance from the RO and then proceed to open the door and release the park brake or dolly the vehicle. If it was dollied they charge more for that. If they need to open the door they slim jim or use an air bladder to gently wedge the door open to reach the unlock button. All of which if done by a pro does no damage. I'd assume it was an experienced driver based on the fact he was in and out in the time it took you to piss.
Now they might give you grief when you call up asking for a potential damage claim form cus in their eyes thats just a pissed off guys way of saying I'm gonna fuck with you next year when my ebrake is worn out. Cus thats what pissed off bitter people do and they deal with it daily.