WATCH: Jeep escapes from tow truck

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It’s illegal to tow a car with someone in it. If you see your car getting towed, instead of making an impassioned plea to the tow truck driver, just hop in the car if you can safely. Then it’s just a waiting game or a war of attrition.

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It’s also an insurance claim waiting to happen, to tow a Jeep on two wheels.

I’m on team Jeep Guy, but good chance he will get a summons no matter what I think.

Oh Chicago, how I miss thee.
In my experience, it’s like the wild west if you’re actually driving:
20 mph in left lane on the Stevenson: no problem!
U-turn anywhere there isn’t a sign (including across multiple lanes): no problem!
100mph motorcycle wheelies on LSD at 11pm: no problem!
Road head…in rush hour: seen it! (ugh, old people too. his viagra window must have been closing)

But heaven help you if you park in the wrong spot!
I’m happy to see this person play the crease and escape (for now).

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This lady does the same thing…and takes the tow truck with her!

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I’d think it would depend if it was a private lot or a public road. Private lots with private security and towing don’t have authority to issue/enforce summons unless the car in question was doing something like blocking a fire hydrant, then I suspect they would have to call a patrol car to do it. Private lots tow for reasons which can seem pretty dick.

If you get a ticket from a private lot, just tell them you deny it and have them take you to small claims court for the fine. They’ll never bother. (IAAL)

The problem when I was in New York is that you wouldn’t just get ticketed. They’d swoop in, slap a boot on your wheel immediately, then hold your car for ransom until they got the ticket fee. And the signage on the lot always seemed intentionally vague. It was a racket. And I have no idea if it was legal. But again, it was New York.

Well, is the video a private lot or a public road? I think it is fairly clear which it is, which do you think?

Except the associated comment mentions seeing cars get towed from the Walgreens lot… So it’s possible this guy ran up and got in his car after the tow truck pulled out of the lot, or he was already in it when it got towed out. Or it could have been originally on the street either. We don’t really have enough context.

Perhaps you do not have enough context. Please, let me offer you some.

  1. Were the tow driver to have already moved the car, there would be straps affixed over the rear wheels, holding them to the bar for when he drives off of with the car attached. Else the car can fall off. Had he moved the jeep out of the lot without those straps, the jeep would likely have slipped off in the turn. I do not assume the tow driver is non-competent, and operating without the straps would be non-competence.

  2. Straps of the sort I mentioned are standard, and are seen in the video linked above by @elguapo22222 on another car hooked using the same sort of truck. There are also axle straps, but those would have immobilized even a jeep in 4Low.

I hope I have added some information to your understanding of how tow trucks work. I’ve operated tow trucks and driven Jeeps. Maybe I have some context and you could try accepting? Just asking.

Maybe it’s not “we” that lacked the context, but rather “you”.

“Mind like parachute…”

Thanks! As I do not, indeed, know anything about tow trucks, that was quite informative. Of course, a simple “Hey, that’s not how tow trucks work, here’s how they work” would have sufficed as well, but I’ve been here long enough to know that that’s not how you roll :wink:

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