They're giving him a replacement.
Pain in the ass, maybe, but at least they're going to make him whole again.

He said Seargent's Towing realized its mistake and is now going to provide him with a car similar to his, which he'll pick up Thursday.

I'm going to love seeing what they consider "similar." For example - I drive a 2002 Kia Sedona. It has less than 55,000 miles, runs perfectly, and has been meticulously maintained inside and out. It's good for another 10 years, or so my dealer tells me. Now - what do you think I'd get from a tow yard that was "similar"? Probably a 2002 minivan - OK fair enough. But a mint condition extremely-low-mileage minivan still under warranty? I think not.

Benevolent Misanthrope: He said Seargent's Towing realized its mistake and is now going to provide him with a car similar to his, which he'll pick up Thursday.

I'm going to love seeing what they consider "similar." For example - I drive a 2002 Kia Sedona. It has less than 55,000 miles, runs perfectly, and has been meticulously maintained inside and out. It's good for another 10 years, or so my dealer tells me. Now - what do you think I'd get from a tow yard that was "similar"? Probably a 2002 minivan - OK fair enough. But a mint condition extremely-low-mileage minivan still under warranty? I think not.

Oh, it's probably put together from several cars that ran okay before they were totaled ;)

So, what's the equivalent of a Ford Tempo? A bicycle rickshaw with bent wheels?

delsydsoftware: So, what's the equivalent of a Ford Tempo? A bicycle rickshaw with bent wheels?

It's kind of the other way around, but you get the idea ;)

Ah, yes, the tow truck company that used to patrol where I lived. Glad I never left my car anywhere.

Anyway, if they really wanted to make this right, not only should they give him a BETTER car than he had before, they should reimburse him for any bus/MAX fares that he had to buy when this was being taken care of. I mean, it's probably the impound fees for ONE car on their lot, I think they can afford it.

Tow truck companies deserve to be held 100% liable for their mistakes.

"Here are your messages: 'You have thirty minutes to move your car.' 'You have ten minutes to move your car.' 'Your car has been impounded.' 'Your car has been crushed into a cube.' 'You have thirty minutes to move your cube.'"

It's been my experience that tow truck companies are jerks.

delsydsoftware: So, what's the equivalent of a Ford Tempo? A bicycle rickshaw with bent wheels?

*thumbs up*

Ha--didn't even have to click on the link to know it's Portland.

CelesX: It's been my experience that tow truck companies are jerks.

Meth addicted jerks.

Here he is in the replacement vehicle...



/They flattened our old car like a pancake
//Lincoln park pirates

They should be put in line behind the bankers just before the lawyers.

i love how the person that wrote that article misspelled the towing company's name four times, even though there's a picture showing the correct spelling.

He said Seargent's Towing realized its mistake and is now going to provide him with a car similar to his, which he'll pick up Thursday.



It's a trick. Get an axe.

You have 15 minutes to move your cube

Insert obligatory "geez-I-am-SO-annoyed-with-Portland" sezzme rant.

/too tired to bother writing the whole rant at this point
//now living 800 miles away
///can't complain about the beer scene, though

They stopped making Tempos 15 years ago. There's no way that car was worth much.

What a Ford Tempo may look like:

My favorite tow truck run-in (and there have been many) was when my car died in the absolute middle of nowhere between Flagstaff and Albuquerque. Tow truck guy comes to hook up my car and roots around under the front end to hook up the cables. Just as he starts reeling 'em in I realize that he's attached one cable to my tie rod.

But before I can say anything, snap! Now have a dead car AND a broken tie rod, and I'm still in the middle of nowhere. The best part was a few hours later when they tried to claim, with a straight face, that it was like that when I called them...even though a car with a broken tie rod would be just about impossible to steer.

I hate towing companies as much as the next fellow but let's not jump down their throats for something they've not yet done. They got the court order, said 'Uhh, sorry, let's find you another car...' and we're already accusing them of trying to pour salt in his wounds.

They probably have a heap of cars from which he can choose.

tortilla burger: You have 15 minutes to move your cube

Came in here to make this reference.

In Texas either the owner or manager of a property is the only one that has the right to request a vehicle be towed off their parking lot. The wrecker was probably cruising for "abandoned" vehicles to tow and hoped the car owner wouldn't bother to take them to court and just pays the fees to get their car back.

schief2: My favorite tow truck run-in (and there have been many) was when my car died in the absolute middle of nowhere between Flagstaff and Albuquerque. Tow truck guy comes to hook up my car and roots around under the front end to hook up the cables. Just as he starts reeling 'em in I realize that he's attached one cable to my tie rod.

But before I can say anything, snap! Now have a dead car AND a broken tie rod, and I'm still in the middle of nowhere. The best part was a few hours later when they tried to claim, with a straight face, that it was like that when I called them...even though a car with a broken tie rod would be just about impossible to steer.

One time me and two friends were headed to Oregon on a camping trip. My van overheated, and I went to take a loot at the engine to see what was up and the coolent tank exploded after about a minute of observation. The coolent burned my entire arm, and as I was walking a mile back to the nearest exit at Rice Hill, a tow truck driver comes along, picks me up, grabs my van on his vintage flat bed tow truck, and drives us 100 miles to Eugene to the hospital there. So they aren't all bad.

I have a Tempo I'll give him if he picks it up.

A Tow truck license in Portland Or. you can go just short of leagel carjacking.

FTFA, "My car is my only way of transportation and living out here, I don't have any other way of getting anywhere."

He lives in one of the best cities for public transit with bus and MAX service. Not to mention Portland is a bike utopia.

FTFA: "My car is my only way of transportation and living out here, I don't have any other way of getting anywhere."

Also FTFA: "The car owner, Gray Bushnell, said for the last month and a half he's been working on his appeal with the city to get his car back from Seargent's Towing."

What he means is that he has no other way of getting anywhere except for the way he's been using for the last month and a half.

Anything they give him that is "similar" (but not actually another ford tempo) is several orders of magnitude better than a ford tempo.

The car's owner could have avoided this whole mess if he'd taken this guy's advice...

PUSH THE TEMPO!
PUSH THE TEMPO!
PUSH THE TEMPO!

Benevolent Misanthrope: I'm going to love seeing what they consider "similar."

Yeah, me too seeing as the Ford Tempo hasn't been manufactured in 15 years. I had a 1990 Ford Tempo 15 years ago (cost me 1000 bucks) and it was a complete POS. The damn thing didn't even have an engine temp gauge (this was the way they were built). So if you were overheating you didn't know about it till you cracked the block.

dustman81: "Here are your messages: 'You have thirty minutes to move your car.' 'You have ten minutes to move your car.' 'Your car has been impounded.' 'Your car has been crushed into a cube.' 'You have thirty minutes to move your cube.'"

*ring*
"Yelllo, Mr Burns office"
"Is it about my cube?"

/those where the days, when the Simpsons was more hit than miss
//Did you get that report on the accounting department?

Had a Tempo in college that was immortal. That's the only explanation for the shiat it surived. Topped 100mph weekly on my backroad commute to work, and just generally abused by a college kid in a small town with lots of backroads and a fair share of logging roads.

Gave that car away and it made it through 3-4 more owners and across the U.S. and back. I paid 800 dollars for that car, and to this day, that's the most dependable car I ever had. I hope my current car ages so well.

the worst part about the tow truck companies in boston is that they are all pals with the cops. during street cleaning the asshole tow truck drivers will have the cars already up and then wait for the cops to show up and ticket.

I feel sorry for the guy that they are going to steal the replacement from.

It was a Ford Tempo, they helped him really.

Yeah, it actually sounds like the towing company is trying to do the right thing. Around here, they'd be suing him for about $2k in storage charges.

Ford Tempo? They were doing the owner and the world a favor

TeddyRooseveltsMustache: What a Ford Tempo may look like:

darnit, I scrolled too fast

At my old apartment complex, a guy committed suicide in his own apartment where he lived with some family and friends.

As soon as the cops showed up, fifteen (I exaggerate not) tow trucks showed up to take the guy's Mustang. The rather nice Mustang that was parked in the guy's own parking space.

The tow truck drivers tried to convince the wife that they had to take the car in case the cops needed it for evidence or something. She didn't buy that. Then they told her that the landlord said that since the car owner didn't live there any more, the car had to be towed. She didn't buy that either.

Oddly enough, the cops pretended that this wasn't even happening.

Douchebags.

whoa, I've never heard of a city that scraps the impounded cars that fast. I think here they just eventually auction off unclaimed vehicles - like once a year or something.
And obviously this was not an unclaimed car.
I can imagine the phone call "You farkin' did what to my car!?!?! Whadderyallfarkinnutz!?!" (Audible within a 1 mile radius)
Or words to that effect.

cksewell: In Texas either the owner or manager of a property is the only one that has the right to request a vehicle be towed off their parking lot. The wrecker was probably cruising for "abandoned" vehicles to tow and hoped the car owner wouldn't bother to take them to court and just pays the fees to get their car back.

This isn't Texas. Tow truck operators can legally do "patrol" towing around here (Oregon, where this happened). One of the local representatives is working on a law to make it similar to Texas, but we'll see where that goes. I hope he's successful.

Retriever Towing and Set Towing are the worst around here. Set has been caught replacing other companies' signs with their signs, towing a property owner's own car, and the owners have even been arrested. But they are still in business thanks to the stupid towing laws around here.

It's probably typical of all college campuses, but at the University of Cincinnati the d-bag tow truck drivers will circle parking lots and park in front of cars with meters that are almost empty. The minute the meter hits zero, they'll put the car up and then wait for about 30 minutes to see if the owner comes back. If you make it back in time, you have to pay the mother farker $100 cash (which they most likely keep) to get it off the truck.

I had to stand in front of a truck once to keep the guy from leaving while my ex ran to an ATM to get the money. Farking dicks, tow truck drivers really are the lowest of the low.

I had a 90 Topaz, and it had a Mazda engine, so the engine itself wasn't too bad. The big hassle with mine was that it kept breaking engine mounts. I think I went through 6 or 8 of them, some broke before I got off the dealer lot getting a different one fixed.

Toe truck drivers are people too stupid to be cops

LITTL3_D3VIL: He lives in one of the best cities for public transit with bus and MAX service. Not to mention Portland is a bike utopia.

Perhaps that shows just how viable those methods really are.

"Toe truck" drivers are stupid?

Anyway... at least this towing company is buying the guy a new car.

SoxSweepAgain: "Toe truck" drivers are stupid?

Yup. Toe truck

Benevolent Misanthrope: "...I drive a 2002 Kia Sedona..." - bwahahaha!

/thanks BM
//I needed a good laugh

TheGreatGazoo: I had a 90 Topaz, and it had a Mazda engine, so the engine itself wasn't too bad. The big hassle with mine was that it kept breaking engine mounts. I think I went through 6 or 8 of them, some broke before I got off the dealer lot getting a different one fixed.

When replacing a motor mount that's busted, if a car is old enough, they're all probably weak, so it's best to replace 'em all at the same time. Barring that, if you must replace only one (which I can understand, for financial reasons) you should loosen the mounting bolts on all of them and rock the engine around a little bit to let everything settle where it's supposed to be, then tighten them back up. Otherwise you might be putting more stress on the old mounts due to slight misalignment.

/probably a little late to tell you this now
//surprised the dealer didn't know this
///well, OK, not really, I've dealt with some pretty incompetent dealers
////oh, yeah, and powershifting breaks engine mounts