Failed Towaway

http://cgi.fark.com/cgi/fark/vidplayer.pl?IDLink=4073255

I would say that the tow truck driver wrongly hooked up to her vehicle. This Cevy Captiva has an on demand all wheel drive system (like a Honda CRV) and should typically be towed with the front wheels lifted. A tow in the wrond direction could have caused trans damage.

Towing a tow truck like that probably isn't good for the tranny either!

Okay I'm pretty sure it's a viral ad...It might have really been done as was shown, but any driver with sense would have tried to jump in the truck, and the woman would have realized that she can't keep driving around hauling a tow truck.

it may be staged, but it is still cool

that is sweet I'd try to do that if my car ever got towed.

It could be worse

Wilsonville assault victim made to pay tow truck 'drop fee'

by Rick Bella, The Oregonian Tuesday December 09, 2008, 8:33 PM

First, the young woman bolted from her Wilsonville apartment, blood streaming down her face.

Next, she frantically drove across the parking lot, got out of her car and ran into her grandmother's apartment, where she called 9-1-1 and reported that she had just been assaulted by her boyfriend. After providing a statement to a Clackamas County sheriff's deputy, she went outside to find a tow truck preparing to haul away her car.

Not even the deputy could persuade the tow driver to leave the car without making the woman pay a "drop fee."

"I explained to the tow driver that the woman was the victim of domestic violence," said Clackamas County sheriff's Deputy Wes Hall. "I told him there was no place to park, so she left the car with its four-way flashers going, because she was trying to get away. And I told him that she couldn't move the car because I had her keys. But that didn't seem to matter."

Hall estimated that the car was parked unattended "for 10 to 15 minutes."

Charging a drop fee, in effect, victimized the woman twice, he said.

The deputy didn't know how much the woman paid, but Charles White, general operations manager for Retriever Towing, said it could have been up to $160.

White insisted that the driver, who works on commissions, was fully within his rights to tow the car or charge a "drop fee" to leave the vehicle. He said Retriever is under contract to patrol the parking lots at the Berkshire Court Apartments to make sure fire lanes and emergency-access routes remain unobstructed in the 266-unit complex.

"He followed all of the rules," White said, adding that the tow driver couldn't see police activity from where the car was parked.

"The deputy has no right to tell him to drop the car without charging a fee."

According to sheriff's office reports, a 25-year-old woman called police at 8:54 p.m. Monday. "She had a lot of blood on the side of her face," Hall said. "It was obvious that she had been assaulted -- or else she had run headfirst into a two-by-four."

The woman declined to be interviewed.

After questioning, deputies arrested Patrick James Apodaca, 25, on an accusation of fourth-degree assault.

Apodaca, who is on probation for a 2006 federal conviction for conspiracy to possess and distribute oxycodone, was booked into the Clackamas County Jail. He was released Tuesday while county prosecutors review possible charges.

-- Rick Bella; rickbella@news.oregonian.com

Sounds like a whole box of barely functional meat popsicles....

Wow I would have come unglued on that tow truck driver, talk about a prick, but then most tow truck drivers are. There are a few good ones out there but there are alot more out there looking to stick it to someone anyway they can. That tow truck driver and the owner of the company should have someone pull that crap on someone they love when they are in trouble and then lets see what their reaction is when someone demands a "drop fee"

I am trying to figure how the power is going to just the front wheels. Or is it one that is FWD first and then the rear ?

They're legalized thieves. When I'm King Of The World you won't be tried, convicted, and punished on the side of the road by anyone.

It is my understanding that a tow company signs a contract with a city, and in many of those contracts they are allowed to tow any vehicle that is not permitted for certain spots.

What happens, is that a police officer or zoning official calls up a truck to have a vehicle removed, and at that point, no-one except the city officials or zoning officers can stop them. The contracts allow them to "tow until otherwise noted" or things to that extent.

I've even heard of police officers calling city officials to keep tow trucks from hauling away "innocent vehicles".

The towing companies know that they've got every right to follow through with towing a vehicle once its been listed for removal, because they are protected by their contracts.

I'm surprised more tow truck drivers aren't shot. God they can be dicks.

DILYSI Dave wrote: I'm surprised more tow truck drivers aren't shot. God they can be dicks.

That's because most people leave their gun in the car, atleast here. Besides, alot of us were dicks anyway, the towtruck just made it profitable.

I imagine that towing cars is like getting a free shot of adrenaline on a daily basis. Cheaper than cocaine.

Most of the time it's not that exciting. When I did it I would guess maybe 5% of the people came out while you were there, but most of the ones I did were people who parked in shopping centers and took the train into Manhattan.

You should see Gainesville's towing industry... it's quite thriving for a small town in BFE. The norm is huge apartment complexes with abundant parking, but only 20 visitor spaces in the whole damn lot. No visitor spots open? Cross your fingers or go party somewhere else. As one of the Hongs put it at the last challenge, "I've been towed twice in my life, and both times in Gainesville."

we did a few of those, but noone that had abundant parking, usually an assigned space type of system, and one that had a guard and a gate which I could never figure out.

I had a wrecked Civic towed by a company that "pretended" not to know how my car acquired a red streak down the driver's side ("coincidentally" there was a red car parked near it at the impound lot). And a 280Z I owned was towed...the fees almost kept me from getting it back....impound lots are as bad or WORSE than payday loan places for finding ways to compound fees.

I must have good luck. Had to have the Volvo towed to the dealer recently, and the guy they sent was super-courteous, helpful, and patient while I got it sorted out with the dealer. And this was at 5:00 on a Friday!

That's because your car wasn't towed to a seedy dirt lot in a bad part of town. Cash only, but there's an ATM with a direct line to your favorite Nigerian bank and a $5 fee.

Yep, just like the poor lady above, there are usually two faces to a towing company it seems (at least around here) The nice, friendly side that takes all of the AAA calls and the like and the seedy, unfriendly side that "steals" cars for profit.