My G35S was recently towed from a friends condo complex while I was a snowboarding trip. When I retreive the car, I knew the car was towed with the front wheels up on t-bars with the rears on the ground. The rear tires are close to bald (they had 5/32 tread depth just 3500 miles ago) and so I knew they drag on the ground. I parked the car in 1st with the hand brakes up. I had the dealer check out the car, and they didn't find any damages other than the tire wear.

My questions are what are other potential damages that the dealer may have overlooked...differential, tranny, engine, etc. Also, how do I check for these damages? I want to be sure there are no additional damages before I file my claim against the tow company.

Thanks,
jeweltone

 

I'd never tow my car on anything other than a reclining hydraulic flat bed tow truck. As long as the trans was in neutral, I'd assume there wouldn't be any damage. I'm actually surprised there was tire wear.

 

his car got towed while he was on a snow boarding trip, most likely towed by a wrecker. This is a type of truck that lifts up your one and and drags your other end on the ground. Proper towing techniques in such situation is to drag none drive side on the ground (FWD you drag the rear, RWD you drag the front) or to place dragging side on a dolly (that's how my Coupe was towed by a wrecker)

The reason he got his tires worn out cuz dumb a$$ tow truck dragged his rears assuming it's a front wheels drive car and failing to take a look underneath to see if there is a drive line or not.

Obvious damages would be tires and brake pads. So sue them for cost of parts and labor for those two things and put another 2k on top for hidden damages to a transmission and rear diff. Also it would help if you have some kind of witness from the complex. Make some kid of flyers with pictures of a car and date when it was towed and distribute around in buildings in the complex offering a small reward upon successful completion of the case. It will dramatically help your case if you get a witness who saw them tow your car away.

 

I was under the assumption they used a dolly, doh!
in that case i'd definitely sue them.

 

I'm surprised the rears stayed locked, my ebrake would not hold the tires locked for sure.

My questions is, if the rears are rolling in 1st, does that mean your engine and transmission are spinning at screaming RPM? Towing at just 35mph would be redline. The reason why I'd be concerned about this is because I gotta assume that ebrake didnt stay locked the entire time.

I have a little beater and I was wondering how the tires were flat spotted when it had ABS, it never occurred to me but now I realize it was probably towed/dragged at some point in its life before I bought it.

 

In forward moving direction, the rear brakes will actually hold quite well.
Moving in reverse however, the brakes are more likely to slip.

I'm not sure if the tow truck driver was a moron, or more likely, just a D-Bag who felt you got what you deserved for having your car where it doesn't belong.
They use no care and treat cars like ****.
I agree with Joker... go after them for damages. They should be towing (moving) your car... not damaging it.

 

I don't see how they could have towed your car with the rear wheels on the ground while it was in Park. Are you sure they didn't use a dolly?

 

To be honest, when my transmission gave out...okay the clutch or whatever (the recall - I'm blanking right now), I called for a tow and he initially put my car up without a dolly and when he started to walk to the driver seat, I had to remind him to dolly the rear.

So, not a completely uncommon mistake.

 

This reminds me of seeing a tow truck with a malibu on it the other day being towed and it was almost sideways up on the wrecker. I was like wtf are these drivers thinking. I guess you dont really need an education for it.

Can they claim the damages are your fault since it was parked illegally? I would think you need to look up the state regs on towing and locality regs you were in.

 

Ha, what about when they tow a car with front wheels dragging and the wheels are turned, so the car is being dragged half way in the other lane, I've seen that more than a few times.

I think claiming any damage is an uphill battle, not because it was towed out of an illegal spot, but because the tow companies that patrol parking are usually sleazy scumbags, you are at their mercy and they force you to pay and sign a waiver before you even get to see your car. Even if you take them to small claims I doubt they'd show up.

 

Throw in a couple hundred for a detail to as he probably had those brake light things sitting on your hood scratching the hell out of it. Then he probably leaned all over your car as he was hooking it up without a care in the world.

Makes me blood boil just thinking about it. If my car was ever towed, i'd probably go ballistic.


^lights on the trunk