They Weren’t Kidding

by Cubby on October 22, 2012 · 13 comments

When my husband Greg and I moved into our deluxe apartment in the sky here in Alexandria, they told us that they have a company come through the parking lot at night and tow the cars that don’t have their parking pass displayed. I figured while there may be some truth to it, it’s probably mostly a scare tactic.

We have our parking pass in the back window of our car. No problems there. However…

This weekend past, Greg and I rented a car and drove to Ohio and back. We rented because we don’t trust our old car can make a thousand mile round trip without breaking down (being honest here). It’s a beater with a long history of waiting until we are a hundred miles from anywhere before breaking down on us.

We got back from Ohio Sunday night and went straight up to our apartment to unpack and get comfortable. I made my plans for where to fill up the tank in the morning and how to get the car back to the rental agency during Monday morning rush hour. A major bitch to be sure. I was going to drop the car off at Raygun National Airport then get on a train and take it to work. Sounds reasonable, right?

I think you can guess what I didn’t find this morning when I went out to the parking lot.

Yep. They towed it.

I forgot to get a visitor’s parking pass for the rental car, and the towing company found the car sans pass and towed it sometime during the night.

I had the privilege of going down to a seedy part of town and paying $100 to get the car released from the auto jail. And not only did I lighten up my wallet, I was an hour late to work.

I won’t be repeating this mistake anytime soon.

They towed my rented Maserati GranTurismo! Those bastards!

P.S. I didn’t really rent a Maserati GranTurismo. If that is even possible. I just saw the pic when I was searching for images of towtrucks to use. No, I rented a Mitsubishi that was worth 1/10 as much money, and had 1/10 as much horsepower.

Jay M. October 22, 2012 at 9:17 pm

I feel your pain because I had that happen once. I went out to Virginia Tech to pick up a friend, and arrived about 12AM. Parked just below Lane Stadium in a wide open parking lot, walked up to his dorm, we got drunk, passed out, and woke up at 6AM to leave. At 6:15AM, I was standing in a parking lot surrounded with signs saying “Game Day Parking – NO PARKING AFTER 3AM” and no truck. Well fucketh me. No signs at 12AM, towed at 3AM. Cost me $65 and a damaged seal on my window where they slim-jimmed it to take it out of gear. Oh, and it took two hours to figure out what had happened and where the truck was (mid-way through a stolen truck report at the police station). Truly pissed me off. It wasn’t a Maserati, it was a Nissan pick’m up truck. The VT Police forgave the fine (I wouldn’t have paid it anyway), but the f****s at the tow place wouldn’t forgive that damn $65.
Peace <3
Jay

Frank October 22, 2012 at 9:57 pm

What I can’t believe is that you were only ONE hour late. I’d have taken half a day.

anne marie in philly October 22, 2012 at 10:25 pm

jeebus! hope your trip was better than this! smooches!

Truthspew October 22, 2012 at 10:57 pm

I used to drive a tow truck. I can tell you beyond a shadow of doubt that tow operators are scum.

If it’s your own personal vehicle, equip it with a cell based alarm that calls or texts you when someone is fucking with it. And get a shotgun. Greet tow driver with said shotgun.