Jun 25 2008
Tow-away zone
According to KYW-AM, the cost to get your car towed by the Philadelphia Parking Authority will be going up. Citing “rising fuel costs”, the fee will be raised to $150 for most vehicles that are confiscated. Getting towed is bad enough; I have had my car towed once and it was not a fun experience. I left it overnight in a parking lot because it had broken down and I would take care of it the next morning, only to find that it was in a no-parking zone and had been towed away (not by the PPA). Now it is 7AM on a Sunday morning and I had to get dropped off somewhere in Manayunk to wait for the place to open. Only it never did. I happened to talk to a guy in a diner next door and learn that the owner was at some NASCAR race for the weekend and couldn’t open the lot. Someone else shows up after I’d been waiting for 4 hours when I discover I don’t have enough cash. I go and get cash, pay, and then also pay to have it towed FROM the tow place to a mechanic miles away only to learn that the engine is damaged beyond repair and I should have just let them keep the car.
As fun as all of that was, if I had heard at that point some sob story about the tow trucks jacking up their price since they are losing money because of gas prices (like I’m not??) I probably would have had some kind of meltdown on the spot. Note to self: don’t get towed ever again.
I would just like to add I love that show Parking Wars, which also happens to take place in Philly (PPA). Ever seen it? Sorry, but some of the people that come in to pick up their cars are hilarious! And stupid! Most of them are missing documentation of some sort and it ends up being an all day excursion. By the way I am no angel, the DC Parking Police have gotten me several times - even when I had a parking sticker! They’ll ticket you for having your license plate in your windshield even if you have no place to mount it to the front of your car. Think that was a $50 ticket! Luckily in PA you don’t have to deal with that.
Yes, Parking Wars is a great show. Even though in real life I cannot stand the Phila. Parking Authority, this show is pretty funny. I like watching people trying to get out of tickets and paying at the impound lot.
I haven’t seen the Parking Wars, every show about Philly. My hubby used to live there when he went to Drexel. When we got married we were only living in the city one year. My car got towed once. The geniuses told me how I kept parking my rear-wheel drive the wrong way and they couldn’t tow it for a while….yeah, I thought that was so funny, especially since it was towed from the spot I’d been paying $40 a month to park at our apartment…needless to say somebody straightened it out at the office. After reimbursing us for paying to retrieve it from some bad part of Philly. You’d probably know the name of the company if I told you. LOL. jerks.