How Low Can a Towing Company Go? Incident at the S. Congress DPS Office

 

Going to the DPS office has never been fun, but today it reached a new low. I went to the Austin South Congress DPS office to renew my driver's license. After an hour in the office, I came out to find my car had been towed. But that's not what really made me mad.

My Trip to the DPS Office

Before going to the office, I made sure to get the address from the Texas DPS's website. Not being familiar with this area, I checked the South Congress location at Google Maps. I came from the north and saw the building with the street address that was listed at the website. I parked in front of the building making sure to avoid the handicap spot. I saw a police car parked near the fence so I thought this was the correct spot. The door was locked so I thought the DPS office entrance must be on the other side. The time in the office was long but not too bad. I got there at 10:13am and left just after 11:00am.

Car Towed!

When I returned to the north parking lot, I found that my car was gone. I then started to notice a couple of signs that did warn against parking there with the risk of towed. Of course I wish I had been more observant, but the no-parking sign wasn't in front of where I parked. The parking lot was for the building with the DPS address. The address was clearly on the building.

The car was indeed towed, and while I was waiting for my friend to pick me up, the towers were driving around getting ready to tow others. I met one other guy who also had his car towed. I was mad, but the next thing that happened got my blood burning.

What Made Me Really Mad

A handicap person had parked in a handicap spot next to where I had parked. I checked and confirmed that the car had a legal handicap tag on the rear view mirror. The company was in the process of towing this car. I pleaded with the guys to give this handicap person a break, but they said they didn't care. I then went into the DPS office to try to notify this person. When that failed, I returned, and fortunately, the owner of the car had made it back before the car was towed.

The towers were very mad and threatened to have me arrested for trespassing. They were also mad that I had been informing people who had been parking there that they were at risk of being towed. I informed at least two other people while waiting for my friend to pick me up.

The towing company charged me almost $200. I felt I was forced to pay. Luckily, I had my debit card and had enough money in my account (Note, they don't take credit cards.) The other person who had his car towed was also there. I fear that he may have had trouble paying this $200 charge.

Scam?

This towing company must be making a ton of money, and I wonder if the person leasing this office area is making some of this. They probably do have enough signs around the parking lot to be legal in their actions. I doubt they care, however, about the morality of their actions.

So if you do have to go to the South Congress DPS office, be sure not to park in the north parking lot. Hopefully, the tow company won't threaten me again for providing this warning.

I should note that the DPS workers were very helpful in assisting me. They did have a small sign warning about this. Hopefully, this sign will be made much bigger.

posted by Ken on 1:25 PM permalink and comments  

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Comments:

According to my students at Texas State, Southwest Towing in San Marcos is the worst. One student even had her car towed from being legally parked in her apartment complex. One of my students started a viral PR campaign against them, but as she was graduating, it was short-lived.

# posted by  dquack : 2:39 PM, January 04, 2007

 

Yea, having your car towed from your own apartment complex doesn't get much worse. Seems like the towing company has to be contracted by the property owner/leaser. Wonder why the apartment complex hired the towers.

# posted by  Ken : 5:19 PM, January 04, 2007

 

This post is included in austinist's best of the blogs this week.

# posted by  Anonymous : 11:31 AM, January 05, 2007

 

Yeah, it's the building owner. And they must be in cahoots. Supposedly it's because people from Hill's Cafe park there. Which is a bit ludicrous since I've never seen the Hill's parking lot full.

# posted by  Tim : 12:28 PM, January 05, 2007

 

what is the name of the towing company ?

# posted by  Anonymous : 2:14 PM, January 05, 2007

 

It's J&J Towing. I just found some other info which may be useful to others:

Rip-Off Report on J&J Towing

Texas Towing Compliance

# posted by  Ken : 3:58 PM, January 05, 2007

 

First of all, that parking lot next to the DPS office is illegal to tow from, we already won a case there. Secondly, everyone towed from private parking lots in Austin should call 311 and file an offense report for an illegal tow and file criminal charges. Thirdly, those towed from a handicap space bearing a hangtag or disabled license plates have a sure win case. If you need help going after the person who authorized the vehicle to be towed, visit www.texastowingcompliance.com to recover 3 times plus $300 what you paid to retreive your vehicle.

# posted by  Anonymous : 1:16 PM, January 06, 2007

 

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