How to avoid paying a tow truck driver

My town has a fair every year. I parked my car on the street because I am literally not allowed to drive to my own house. Over the night, some people put up no parking signs where I was parked (paper signs, not official ones). I went to get my car this morning and there was a tow truck driver there. I ran up and told him it was my car. He had not hooked my car up yet, it was untouched.

He said he wanted $50 for driving out there. I asked him to show some mercy; he said that was being merciful. Since the police were right around the corner at the road block, I decided to pay him to get him out of my hair. I used my debit card and he used an old-fashioned carbon copy/receipt to make the transaction.

However, I don't think I should have to pay for ****. There were no signs when I parked there, he didn't do anything, and the signs they put up while I was gone were not official state/county/town signs, just pieces of paper on tongue depressors.

So right when I got home I cancelled my card. The charge hadn't shown up yet and won't until the end of the day. Will this work? What is going to happen?

Don't cancel the card, call and dispute the charge. They will not pay it out. I've done this before once after checking into a motel room that was filthy and smelled of cigarettes.

I tried to tell the lady at the front desk about it and she said they could have someone up to clean it wouldn't be for several hours and she didn't have another room. I said I wanted a refund, and she declined. So we just packed it up and left.

I called Chase and told then to dispute the charge, and they did. Didn't get the charge, never got any backlash from it.

rexbanner said:

So right when I got home I cancelled my card. The charge hadn't shown up yet and won't until the end of the day. Will this work? What is going to happen?

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I would imagine that it will still show up on your last bill. Unless you dispute it through your card company you are still liable for it.

OK, I will dispute it then. I don't want to draw this out into a battle, but I really don't feel like shelling out $50 for nothing. I am poor as ****.

I wouldn't pay it if I was a rich man. If anything the city should have to pick up the tab, if you are literally blocked from your residence.

I wouldn't have even paid it to begin with. Let them bring the cops over, it wasn't legal for them to do it.

dataz722 said:

I wouldn't have even paid it to begin with. Let them bring the cops over, it wasn't legal for them to do it.

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X2 I would have told the guy to get bent and to take up the 50 bucks with who ever called him.

Was the tow truck blocking your exit? If not, just say that the card is in your glove box. Get in the car and take off. Roll down the window and yell obscenities while driving away for effect.

If he just made a copy of the card number and did not actually swipe the card, you're fine. He'll try to process it later and the account number will no longer be valid. Might want to keep that canceled card around for just this type of occasion.

Here's a good story, once I parked at my buddies apt that had special parking that required a guest placard to be displayed to park there and I was real good about displaying it when I did park there. Well one night I forgot to put it on the dash and it never even crossed my mind.

Then the next morning after a night on the town, I go out and try to find my car and it's no where. This tow company literally patrols the parking lot every night looking for violators...and I happen to be the lucky one this evening. I call the police and say that my car has been stolen, and they tell me it has been towed and gave me the tow yards number. I call the row yard and they say they have my car and it will cost $320 to get my car out and they gave me the address. It's a Sunday and I show up at the tow yard with my buddies and the gate is open so I walk in and go to the office, it was locked so I go walk around looking for someone and I don't see anyone. As I wander in further I see my blue suby sitting there, I look at my buddies and say "**** it I'm taking it" I run over start it up and as I'm starting it a guy comes running from the back of the lot, and I tear the hell out of there as fast as I can, lol. My heart is racing after and I start to feel like I broke the law. The guy who comes running up sees my buddies and yells at them "is that your buddy?" they just say no, and walk away.

Fast forward to a year later, I go to pay my registration at the DMV and they say, there is supposed to be a lien sale on my car and they asked if I had possetion of the vehicle..I told them its right outside. The lady says, well this must be a mistake and says she will remove it, lol. Score one for the regular folks!

Definitely file a dispute with your card. File a dispute with the city, the police dept, the tow company and the fair too. And find out who put up those signs. The whole thing may have been illegal.

There was a big dust up around here a while ago about shady towing. A bunch of folks got various charges reversed.

FYI a "person" can't just put up a sign that says no parking and make it an enforceable law. There is something called right of way, which alllows people to walk on the sidewalk and park on the road. If that tow truck driver wants his $50 he should get it from the person who called him.

Next time you might want to ask the city where you are allowed to park since they block off your street every year.

Homercidal said:

FYI a "person" can't just put up a sign that says no parking and make it an enforceable law. There is something called right of way, which alllows people to walk on the sidewalk and park on the road. If that tow truck driver wants his $50 he should get it from the person who called him.

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X2

A paper sign is completely unenforceable.

MC

Paper sign is definitely unenforceable. Even if the signs were put up by the city, and it sounds like they were not, they typically cannot be enforced without meeting the city's code for no-parking signs. I'm pretty sure paper signs would not meet the requirements. If the city wanted to temporarily block parking there they would have most likely posted an officer over there or put down traffic cones/taped it off and put up a more official temporary sign.

First of all, +1 to the idea of disputing the charge. Don't cancel your card.

I don't know if you actually live in DC or near DC, and I don't know if DC is like Philly, but I noticed most of the people posting don't live in a big city. It's been my experience that the way things work has very little to do with the law.

I live on a street with a yearly event that blocks off my entire street to traffic for 48 hours. I don't drive much, plus I have a garage, so I usually choose to keep my car in my garage and just take public transit for those two days. Virtually every year, they put up the signs about one hour before they go into effect, or sometimes after they go into effect. That is certainly not legal, but they ticket people anyway, and good luck trying to fight it. They only actually tow people during the last 24 hours of the event. I assume it's a source of revenue and/or the guy putting the signs up was too hung over to do it on time.

A few years ago they had an unrelated event on my street, and said there would be no street parking for a week (!). I called everyone I could find to figure out if they were going to block my garage. After days of calling, I got in contact with someone who said they would not block it except for one 12 hour time slot. At the beginning of the week, they dumped a pile of building materials in my driveway, and left it there for the whole week. The guy I had talked to before stopped answering his phone. The cops told me to call the parking authority. The parking authority told me (basically) to go f myself.

I already cancelled my card. I got a call from the tow company today asking if I had another form of payment. I said that I didn't. The guy accused me of blowing him off, to which I replied: "I don't think I owe you anything, you didn't do anything. Gotta run." Then I hung up. We will see if I get the police knocking on my door any time soon.

I feel a little bit bad because the next time the driver probably won't give a person a break if he hasn't hooked up the car yet. The guy was trying to be nice, even if in my opinion his logic was misguided.

rexbanner said:

I already cancelled my card. I got a call from the tow company today asking if I had another form of payment. I said that I didn't. The guy accused me of blowing him off, to which I replied: "I don't think I owe you anything, you didn't do anything. Gotta run." Then I hung up. We will see if I get the police knocking on my door any time soon.

I feel a little bit bad because the next time the driver probably won't give a person a break if he hasn't hooked up the car yet. The guy was trying to be nice, even if in my opinion his logic was misguided.

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It was a little passive aggressive. You should have explained that you gave him the card in the heat of the moment, but that after researching you found that there was no grounds on which you should have been towed and so you have no intention of paying. Tell him to take up the matter with the city. Hanging up put you in the wrong. It's never a good idea to hang up on people if you can help it. It sounds like a small town as well.

I'm questioning how legal it is to charge someone 50 bucks to not tow their car.

Did you get a ticket from some actual government agency? I once bribed a tow driver to let my car down after he had it. 50 bucks, at that. And it was the cop who wrote the parking ticket who suggested I could find the driver around the corner and "work something out". No foolin. Well the tow driver tore up his paper on my car and I figured that was it. I later found out the cop turned in his ticket and I was wanted on it. Point is, be sure you don't have a parking ticket.

Watch the tow yard doesn't turn you into collections either.

Yes.. Don't stick your head in the sand on this. Call the driver, call the police, get it straightened out. Things like this can really come around to bite you, years down the road even. It may go to collections, or you may get a warrant issued as an extreme. You'll have a much better bargaining position if the incident is fresh and it's you taking the initiative.

I don't understand why you feel bad. A random citizen put up unenforceable no parking signs. A tow truck driver tried to make $50 off you, even though you were parked legally. What am I missing? Also, how did they get your phone number?

LeverTime said:

I don't understand why you feel bad. A random citizen put up unenforceable no parking signs. A tow truck driver tried to make $50 off you, even though you were parked legally. What am I missing? Also, how did they get your phone number?

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He feels bad because he thinks this will damage the chances of the next guy who may have gotten a break... And indeed it may. But personally I would rather me not get a ticket I didn't earn than someone else get out of one that they did.

Why stiff the wrecker driver? He is just doing his job according to what his boss says. You wouldn't work at you job and not expect to get paid. Tow drivers are just regular folks who get up and go all hours of the day and night to clean up wrecks, sweep up glass and assist ambulance drivers to extract injured drivers and dead bodies. If you were wrong, you should be willing to pay the consequences. If the no parking signs wer not legal, pursue them to get your money back from them. It's just poor form to stiff a working man or woman because you are unwilling to accept responsibility for you and your vehicle.
Wheelchair Bob

Rbeckett said:

Why stiff the wrecker driver? He is just doing his job according to what his boss says. You wouldn't work at you job and not expect to get paid. Tow drivers are just regular folks who get up and go all hours of the day and night to clean up wrecks, sweep up glass and assist ambulance drivers to extract injured drivers and dead bodies. If you were wrong, you should be willing to pay the consequences. If the no parking signs wer not legal, pursue them to get your money back from them. It's just poor form to stiff a working man or woman because you are unwilling to accept responsibility for you and your vehicle.
Wheelchair Bob

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That's crazy talk. Some random person called a tow truck to haul a car away from in front of their house. A car that wasn't parked illegally (to the best of anyone's knowledge) and the DRIVER tries to extort money from the car's owner because he KNOWS the person has no legal obligation to pay.

Unless the car is TICKETED, he is SOL on the deal and he knows it. If he wants his money for the tow run, he should have gotten the caller's information and go to THEM to get his money.

And FYI I once called a wrecker to unlock my car with an alarm and the keys locked inside. I waited for the tow truck to arrive and paid them $25 even after I realized that I could open the car after all, so I'm not just against tow truck drivers or believe I should get away with something just because I can.

The fact is, the tow truck driver ought to know when he is in the right. And in this case, unless there is a ticket for illegal parking, or he has a police order for the tow, he cannot expect to get reimbursed for NOT TOWING a car.

Rbeckett said:

Why stiff the wrecker driver? He is just doing his job according to what his boss says. You wouldn't work at you job and not expect to get paid. Tow drivers are just regular folks who get up and go all hours of the day and night to clean up wrecks, sweep up glass and assist ambulance drivers to extract injured drivers and dead bodies. If you were wrong, you should be willing to pay the consequences. If the no parking signs wer not legal, pursue them to get your money back from them. It's just poor form to stiff a working man or woman because you are unwilling to accept responsibility for you and your vehicle.
Wheelchair Bob

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Not to hijack, but...

Things must be quite a bit different where you live. Here, if we (Fire Department, NOT ambulance - but a lot of bigger cities they're combined) are working extraction, the tow driver is standing on the road next to his truck unless we specifically need him to do something. Heck, the ambulance crew isn't even around the car unless the victim needs immediate medical attention (and honestly, one of our firefighters has more EMS/Paramedic training than most of the EMT's, so they just let him handle it)

Rbeckett said:

Why stiff the wrecker driver? He is just doing his job according to what his boss says. You wouldn't work at you job and not expect to get paid. Tow drivers are just regular folks who get up and go all hours of the day and night to clean up wrecks, sweep up glass and assist ambulance drivers to extract injured drivers and dead bodies. If you were wrong, you should be willing to pay the consequences. If the no parking signs wer not legal, pursue them to get your money back from them. It's just poor form to stiff a working man or woman because you are unwilling to accept responsibility for you and your vehicle.
Wheelchair Bob

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Wrong. Tow truck drivers are corrupt by nature. Same goes for bail bonds. Regular folks who get up every morning, drink a cup of coffee, and then go about their business of extorting the public.

seabass07 said:

Wrong. Tow truck drivers are corrupt by nature. Same goes for bail bonds. Regular folks who get up every morning, drink a cup of coffee, and then go about their business of extorting the public.

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Bet you think all police officers are just bullies on a power trip, too, don't you?

dkwolf said:

Not to hijack, but...

Things must be quite a bit different where you live. Here, if we (Fire Department, NOT ambulance - but a lot of bigger cities they're combined) are working extraction, the tow driver is standing on the road next to his truck unless we specifically need him to do something. Heck, the ambulance crew isn't even around the car unless the victim needs immediate medical attention (and honestly, one of our firefighters has more EMS/Paramedic training than most of the EMT's, so they just let him handle it)

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I think you're right in most cases. However I had a buddy who was a tow driver who got called in on an incident where a someone had driven over the edge of an embankment and had been pronounced dead. He had to go down and get the car into neutral and hook up the tow cable while the body was still in the car in a mutilated state. I remember having beers with him after that one, he was pretty traumatized.

dkwolf said:

Bet you think all police officers are just bullies on a power trip, too, don't you?

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Nope. I've dealt with good and bad cops.

With tow truck drivers, it depends on why they're there. If you call one for help, they are the nicest, most helpful people you'll meet. If they are trying to tow your car against your will, they are looking to screw you over in any way they can. Hence charging you several hundred dollars for "storing" your car overnight.

Rbeckett said:

Why stiff the wrecker driver? He is just doing his job according to what his boss says. You wouldn't work at you job and not expect to get paid. Tow drivers are just regular folks who get up and go all hours of the day and night to clean up wrecks, sweep up glass and assist ambulance drivers to extract injured drivers and dead bodies. If you were wrong, you should be willing to pay the consequences. If the no parking signs wer not legal, pursue them to get your money back from them. It's just poor form to stiff a working man or woman because you are unwilling to accept responsibility for you and your vehicle.
Wheelchair Bob

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This is rediculous, if the pizza guy shows up at your house with pizzas you clearly didn't even order do you pay the pizza guy cause he is some hard working Joe? I Doubt it.

seabass07 said:

Wrong. Tow truck drivers are corrupt by nature. Same goes for bail bonds. Regular folks who get up every morning, drink a cup of coffee, and then go about their business of extorting the public.

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What's your beef with bail bondsmen?

bottlebomber said:

It was a little passive aggressive. You should have explained that you gave him the card in the heat of the moment, but that after researching you found that there was no grounds on which you should have been towed and so you have no intention of paying. Tell him to take up the matter with the city. Hanging up put you in the wrong. It's never a good idea to hang up on people if you can help it. It sounds like a small town as well.

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I know that from time to time cars need to be towed. I work at a farmers' market and pretty much every day someone gets towed because they forget to read the city signs. The thing is, the city of DC subsidizes the tow and you only have to pay $25 bucks. The cars must be towed to make room for vendors and the fee is really not a big deal. I've never seen anyone get angry over it.

In my case, it was totally unnecessary to tow my car. I wasn't in anyone's way. That to me is predation. I think it is wrong to profit from unnecessarily hurting your fellow man.

I felt a twinge of guilt for my passive aggressive behavior when talking to them on the phone. When they called again today, I was very polite and explained my viewpoint. They told me that I had until the end of the day to pay them or they were turning me over to the police, who would come impound my car.

I said I would call them back. I talked to two deputies and explained my story. One of them laughed and said "no way" and the other said the tow company was lying.

Now I don't feel so guilty about being rude. Not that two wrongs make a right, but anyone who tries to trick and cheat others as part of their job needs to take a good hard look in the mirror. I called them back and said "I'm not going to pay unless the cops tell me I have to. You do what you want." We'll see what happens.

See, now you're solid. Just make sure you got those deputies names, and note the time of the conversation and you're golden.

Man I really want ot hear how this one turns out. First I was thinking "damn, he should have paid but at least he realised that he should fight it after the fact", then it was "man he isn't doing himself any favours acting like this", then "hahaha, stupid towing company! I hope they do call the cops and get laughed at!"
One final note, you should make sure you call them to find out what the story is (assuming they do call the cops and get laughed at / already know they will get laughed at so want even bother calling the cops). Then once they say they will not be persuing it file a complaint with the cops / BBB for the fact they were trying to extort money from you with threats of police prosecution!

bottlebomber said:

See, now you're solid. Just make sure you got those deputies names, and note the time of the conversation and you're golden.

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Internet legal advice worth exactly what you paid for it.

rexbanner said:

...I called them back and said "I'm not going to pay unless the cops tell me I have to. You do what you want." We'll see what happens.

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What was their reply to that?

ReverseApacheMaster said:

Internet legal advice worth exactly what you paid for it.

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That's something I've learned through my own legal struggles (though not through any derogatory behavior of my own). Write down EVERYTHING.

dkwolf said:

Bet you think all police officers are just bullies on a power trip, too, don't you?

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Based upon all the ones I've met in person. Yes. The only one who wasn't just wanted to bust kids w/ weed so he could smoke it. Even he was pretty corrupt.

Most of the wrecker drivers I know are pretty cool guys.

This is probably a dumb question, but can you even dispute a charge on a debit card? Seems like that wouldn't go far, especially if the guy has an imprint of your card. I say that guy was trying to extort money from you and good call on canceling the card.

bottlebomber said:

That's something I've learned through my own legal struggles (though not through any derogatory behavior of my own). Write down EVERYTHING.

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What I meant was saying barney fife said they couldn't do anything to you will do little, if anything if that information was incorrect.

ReverseApacheMaster said:

What I meant was saying barney fife said they couldn't do anything to you will do little, if anything if that information was incorrect.

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One more time, for me. I'm slow tonight lol

landshark said:

Based upon all the ones I've met in person. Yes. The only one who wasn't just wanted to bust kids w/ weed so he could smoke it. Even he was pretty corrupt.

Most of the wrecker drivers I know are pretty cool guys.

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Your mileage may vary, I guess. One of my best friends in high school's dad was a reserve officer, shortly after college I dated a 911 dispatcher for a couple years, and after that I dated the secretary for a different department. Plus, on my fire department, we have an active Sheriff's deputy, a retired deputy, and a former reserve officer. You could say I know a *lot* of members of law enforcement. There's always a couple bad eggs, but the guys I know are all decent guys - both on and off duty.