Chuck W.

Eric... You never cease to amaze me. Steve.... print this out and back to the shop. The clock is running.

Steve 96C4S

Yes, Eric, you're right. I've felt nervous all weekend that the car wasn't really fully check out properly. I will contact this tech and bring it back... pronto.

I called my independent shop by the way, just yesterday, and asked them for a second opinion on the situation and what was done. They said that they'd have to get back to me, that they didn't have a quick answer on how to check that the viscous coupling was messed up or not. I find this mindblowing that you guys seem to know more than my shops!

Steve R

csertich

Just saw this. Good luck Steve. At least the initial test turned out OK.
chuck

AOW162435

I don't. Sadly.

Let us know what you find out.


Andreas

Quadcammer

man, id consider parking there, walking behind the building, and waiting for mr. tow truck driver, and as soon as he pulls up, having a chat with him with a 12 gauge.

I hate that crap.

Steve 96C4S

Here's the address... please let me know how your chat went
Westmont Shopping Center
3233 Columbia Pike.
Date Built: 1940
Retail: 31,866 sq.ft.


Just found this article on the web about the nice folks that towed my car...

"Advanced Towing Is Unethical or Towing Companies Suc* Coc*"

I will begin this sorry tale by saying: “It was my fault I got towed, I parked in the lot.”

Tiff and I are regulars at Boulevard Woodgrill down on Wilson Blvd in Clarendon, we usually go once a week or so for a nice dinner, but parking is always an issue. With very few street spaces, exorbitant garages and lots patrolled by evil evil towing companies, it’s not exactly a pleasure. Usually, though, we have taken advantage of the lot next to Hunan Number One, because it is convenient, and rarely towed. In fact, before tonight, I’ve been parking there for two years without a trouble.

What changed tonight?

The car you see above and to the right, VA plates JTN-1568. Occupied by two kids from the local high school who had neither the image nor the drug test results to work at such an august organization as McDonald’s or Wal*Mart, the Towing Company was alerted to my presence shortly after we departed the car. Of course, they’re on the take from Advanced Towing who is to patrol the lot, but most likely under the table. As we arrived at their Ballston lot to pick up the car, I asked the two girls who were working there how much they paid the kids. The one who took my $100 and provided no change (the tow was $95), denied it, but her white trash coworker said “Oh they get paid enough.”

We returned to the lot to snap this picture and trade barbs with the two stoners in the parking lot. Watch out for this license plate. Watch out for two kids in a beat up grey Hyundai with nothing better to do that call in tows.

What I want to know is…

Whose parking space was I taking tonight? Big Belly Deli? I’m sorry, I didn’t realize they were open that late. Hunan One? I have never seen more than six people inside that restaurant. But yet, they towed me. What does this mean? I’ll never go to either of those places, and I’ll be much less likely to go to Clarendon for dinner anymore. At least in Courthouse, they don’t tow your car.

What burns me up is this:

1. The towing companies pay these kids to call in their tows.
2. This only hurts business in the area.

Unethical, I say. Unethical.

Advanced towing works with people that prey on visitors. That is, once someone parks in a location, they hire commissioned look-outs to call in for a tow truck to steal a person's car, and subsequently empty your wallet with charges. It's a scam. I parked in a Wachovia bank lot at nearly 12am after traveling to see a live music show at the IOTA club (nowhere near bank operating hours) simply to have a coffee and late snack with my girlfriend at the silver diner before my 90 minute commute back to Baltimore, only to come out and my car was missing. There was no posting or warning of impending towing. I had to take a cab and pay $100 to get it out. I was told by the cabbie that this is a serious problem in the area. Not Baltimore, New York, Atlanta, Charlotte - BUT ARLINGTON!? Are you SERIOUS!????
I traveled from Baltimore, dump money into the community, only to be treated in such an underhanded manner. I assure you I will never return and subject myself to the same again. I have never seen anything like it. I was hurting no one! I suppose it is customary to treat out of town guests that bring revenue and spread their experiences to friends, family, and the internet in such a way. I may have been inconvenienced and lost $100, but you have lost any of my money and that of everyone that I can warn about your insidious behavior. I have written the legislature and media. The truth needs to be told and those uninformed, like i was, need to made aware!

Pete
Baltimore, Maryland
U.S.A


Chris (unregistered) December 13th, 2005 11:17 pm
My wife’s car got towed today by Advanced Towing. After the cabby that took her to the towing company lot said he took several people there a week and knew right where it was and hearing it cost $120 to get the car back I got suspicious and started doing some research. In Arlington County the most you can be charged is $85 if you pick it up during normal business hours within 24hrs. I called Advanced towing and read them the law and was promptly hung up on. Luckily I don’t have a lot to do at work right now and I have a lot of friends who are lawyers and my new goal in life is run these criminals out of business. PLease contact me with any incidents like mine you have had with Advanced Towing. FYI: If you catch them taking you car the most they can charge is $25 and they have to put your car down. If they don’t call the police. Also, each county has different rules. In fairfax the most they can charge on weekdays, regular working hours mon-fri is $75.

Christie (unregistered) December 19th, 2005 10:23 am
Chris, I commend you on your spirit - Advanced Towing is a huge scam as I found out at the Exxon Mobil parking lot by the Arlington DMV. Got out of my car (which I parked in the back of the store), went to buy crackers and a gatorade and when I came out my car was gone. They said I went into the DMV and there was nothing I could do to prove otherwise (except show them my crackers, which went over REAL well). Makes me wish I had kept the receipt, like it would have helped… probably not. It’s a huge scam and could easily be called auto-theft. If they don’t witness you walking into the DMV, then they shouldn’t have a right to take your car; in my case, I’m $100 poorer and I’m angry. Even angrier now that I know there are laws that say what they are doing is wrong and no one has taken the time to stop it!

Towed from DMV (unregistered) December 21st, 2005 3:49 pm
I was towed by Advanced Towing from a lot so close to the DMV that it was mistakenly used by people the whole time I was there waiting for a cab to the impound lot. They ran a serious racket that day, I witnessed about 8 cars towed after mine, I warned a few people that were in the process of parking- they promptly moved. Unfortunately there’s not much parking at the DMV on 4 Mile Run so all those people could do was put their car in line waiting for a spot to open up. I was charged $100 to get my car back, I did some research when I got home and found that they over charged me. I called them, they told me that the info on the County site “was wrong”. I wrote Arlington County. They were on it like white on rice! I seriously had no idea how bad they want to nail these guys. Send an email to Shontina at Sverastegui@arlingtonva.us w/ the facts about what happened if you get towed and overcharged. She’s very responsive and sympathetic to your cause. She’ll ask you to send in copies of the receipt from Advanced Towing showing how much they charged you. She’ll also request a write-up of what happened. After a few weeks I got a check from Advanced for the difference of what they towed me and what they’re allowed to tow me. The County sent me a letter they received from Advanced where they said they did nothing wrong but decided to pay me the difference anyway. They are predators and will soon be going the way of Frank’s Towing = tax evasion for not disclosing the full amounts of their fees.

Brad (unregistered) January 27th, 2006 2:06 pm
I didn’t get a chance to read this whole blog. But I was towed by the mentioned towing company from Shrlington Village. I know why I was towed and was ok with paying for it. But they stole my after market speakers and went through everything in my car and moved everything around, bascially the equivlent to a house being ransacked. Also the kids working there all seemed to be white trash as someone else mentioned (I grew up in Fredericksburg so I know it when I see it) and they should be put out of business for doing things like that. It’s a shady white trash business.

AOW162435

Steve,
Did you follow-up with the dealership regarding the procedure that someone posted here?


Andreas

Steve 96C4S

Andreas,

My local shop (ASG) can't even do this chassis dyno test! They referred me to yet another shop, but in the meantime, I called and finally reached the owner of the towing company and he was actually a very reasonable, knowledgeable, smart person. He said that ALL his trucks were equipped with the correct tow bar and that all wheels are lifted up when towing. He said they tow these type cars all the time and know the AWD mechanics behind them well. They also tow for the Porsche dealer in that area. He was 100% confident that it was towed correctly and reassured me completely.

I'm done at this point. The car rides fine and this guy's people know how to tow my car. I just don't have the time or inclination to go for some 50 minute drive in rush hour traffic for an additional torque test when the car is right as rain and had been checked out by Porsche. Besides, even if there was a problem, I'm sure the guy's liability is limited to ... nothing! It probably says on that sign at the shoppping center entrance something to the effect of "Damage done while we tow your car is not our responsibility". That's what my lawyer said when I saw him yesterday.

All is good with the world. Bigger fish to fry out there...

Steve R

Bearclaw

I've followed this thread with keen interest, since predatory towing is almost a sport out here. I can understand the hand-wringing (if it were my car, I'd be ape-****), but I would have bet money (and still would) that it was dolley-ed up and towed correctly. Even the most obtuse tow-truck driver knows if he damages a valuable car in an obvious way, at the very least he's gonna be looking for a new job the next day. Honestly, even with a 2WD car, they can often do more damage trying to drag it up on a flatbed than raising it up and pulling it. Most of these guys I've encountered are actually focused on doing a correct job, no matter what low-life outfit they work for. I used to hang out at a tow yard that a buddy worked at in high school. A lot of these guys repo on the side, and they're surprisingly careful there, too - don't want to damage the merchandise. Amazing how these guys can hook up with one hand, with the other hand on a weapon.
Rest easy, I'm sure your car is fine.

Steve 96C4S

Barry,

Thanks for the kind and knowledgable post...

I got off easy at $100 so it seems. Taught me a lesson, pay more attention to where I park and if there's ANY doubt at all, just look for a meter!

Steve

Slow Guy

Steve, I've been following this thread but not because of the AWD issues but because why aren't more people raising holy hell with the BBB and Chamber of Commerce over operations like this? I'd be telling them I'm never doing business in that area of town again and force the business owners to get involved, the towing company is doing it in their name in the first place.

Steve 96C4S

Bill W: The amazing thing is what the owner of the tow place told me. He asked me what the weather was like the day I was towed. I told him it was sunny and perfect. He said, "I thought so. The shopping center has found that people are parking there due to lack of parking in the area and walking off to do other parts of the area. On nice sunny days, they have "lookouts" posted in the shopping center and when someone walks off ever for a second, they contact the waiting tow truck and this person (me) is towed immediately." He also told me that Thai Square, the restaurant we went to was asked to participate be part of the parking situation of this shopping center (they're literally next to it but not actually in it) but they opted out.

The guy sounded like a straight up businessman and wasn't trying to hide anything. It's a crummy situation all around though, as you suggest.

Steve R