Having your car towed

[Slider]

So how do they get your car onto their flatbed? I know they lift one end and pull it on there. But what if you have a 4WD car and it's in gear, or you have a FWD car with the handbrake up. I heard some horror stories where they towed the car with the drive wheels down and the cars transmission got messed up. Aren't tow truck drivers supposed to know how to tow each vehicle? Isn't it also a law that the towing company can't tow the car if there's a person in there. So if I saw my car getting towed and I got in my car, I guess they can't tow it legally. I don't park anywhere where my car would get towed, but I'm just curious about these things.

[Axel Grungy]

to get it on a flatbed, they just hook two cables to your front suspension somewhere, lower the bed down to ground and pull the car onto it. simple. im sure they are some moronic tow truck drivers that have screwed ppls cars up, but i wouldnt worry about it. they would be liable for it.

[GEO]

Wow, random.

[SmithSR]

A tow dolly is not uncommon. Also, tow truck drivers are very efficient entry experts. If a car is in gear, or has the parking brake engaged, it's simple for a hook operator to enter your car and release the brake or gear lever.

If for some reason the guy has to drag your car onto the flatbed, he can do that too. The tires will give way and slide, and no real damage will be done, unless the tow truck driver decides to butcher the job and hook up to your steering linkage.

[SmithSR]

About towing/hooking your car with you in it. The tow companies work day in day out with the cops to clear accidents. Don't think they can't or won't call the PD if they were called to tow your car, and you won't let them.

[C-Kwik]

Yeah, but the tow company better have a really good and legitimate reason to tow it.

[SmithSR]

Um, according to who? Tow truck companies don't just drive around seeing who's car they can take for no reason.

Chances are, if your car is getting towed, it's because you didn't see the "all vehicles will be towed at owner's expense" sign. That's the most common.

[SmithSR]

BTW, just because you show up and dispute the fact that your car should be towed, doesn't mean he doesn't have a good reason to tow.

If you think about it, Kwik, you could probably come up with an excuse for every scenario in which you would be in the wrong(penalty: to be towed) and you could still justify why you shouldn't be towed.

They(towing company) don't need to explain to you and debate whether the tow job is legit or not, they just need to point to the sign that you(we) didn't notice. It's happened to me too!

[C-Kwik]

Which is why I said legitimate. I will say most tows are initialted by the owner of the car for a breakdown, or under an agreement with a property, or by the police. But you occassionally get some that tow companies tow just to hold hostage for storage and tow fees. In these cases, it's usually a questionable situation that could be seen either way.