Over the weekend, Roadguy received this e-mail from his colleague Emma Jaye:

Beware the parking-lot tow! On Thursday night, I parked in a girlfriend’s spot at her apartment building lot near Loring Park while she drove us to an event. When we returned about 2 1/2 hours later, my car was gone. After a brief panic in which I feared car theft, she called the towing company listed on the sign at the entrance (which we hadn’t noticed before), and the guy there confirmed that he had my car.

Despite her argument that she had told me it was OK to park in her spot and that she was paying for that spot, the towing guy was unmoved. He said he needed $280 in cash (and a valid driver’s license) so I could retrieve my poor car. When we got to the lot, the fee actually was $280.40, the 40 cents being the tax for the new Twins stadium. The guy said the apartment management company has a security guy who drives around four or five lots all night, looking for cars without parking stickers. He said they tow 10-15 cars a night! That was one pricey mistake.

It’s nice to know that unfortunate towing incidents aren’t always weather-related — the fun could really take place year-round. And Roadguy is officially adding tow-truck operator to his list of possible post-journalism careers — the profit margins must be amazing.

If you have a towing story or other thoughts (kind ones, please — Emma Jaye’s still smarting, and she can’t afford lunch), feel free to do so below.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 6:05 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.