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Is it just me or do their fees seem incredibly high. I've never had my car towed but my not-small city charges $110-140 to tow the car and another $28/day to st

Is it just me or do their fees seem incredibly high. I've never had my car towed but my not-small city charges $110-140 to tow the car and another $28/day to store it after the first 12 hours. http://www.calgaryparking.com/web/guest/impoundlot/requiredfees http://www.calgaryparking.com/web/guest/impoundlot/requiredf...

ronnier 12y ago
Forgot where I heard this, but this world is made to take your money.
beachstartup 12y ago
this article is set in san francisco. it is a completely miserable place if you do not have enough money.
- getsat 12y ago
  It's also pretty miserable even if you make decent money (mid-100s). Thankfully, I am headed for greener pastures in less than a week. Goodbye to the most dysfunctional and disgusting city I've ever lived in. Amazing place to gain work experience if you work in tech, but a horrible place to live.
  - Cookingboy 12y ago
    Agreed, I've lived at a wide range of places, from nice suburb near Dallas to mid-sized "cool city" like Austin to international metropolis like Shanghai, and SF is by far the least livable place (especially cost adjusted) in my opinion. Nice weather, cool culture, but very, very broken infrastructure and government and pretty much anything that has to do with policy and regulation.
    - beachstartup 12y ago
      i lived there for 2 years during a non-insane period of time (2006-2007) and made 100k, and everything was a pain in the ass. you literally could not even walk down the street a single time without dealing with some kind of fucked up problem. looking back on it in retrospect, it was even worse than it felt, but i was young, and liked to party. like most people there. such a beautiful city, too. it really kind of broke the illusion for me. still wonderful to visit though, because you live in a fantasy-travel bubble instead of having to deal with day to day life.
Spooky23 12y ago
Many cities bid out towing for revenue purposes. In my city, in addition to paying an usurious fee, you need to get a form at the police traffic division HQ, pay at city hall (30 minute walk through the hood), then bring some slip to one of three scum hole tow yards.
Cookingboy 12y ago
It's San Francisco, the towing company there charge the fee not to cover their cost, but to make a very hefty profit. Along with SFMTA and their parking tickets bullshit (once I argued for a ticket with photographic evidence of the misplaced meter and a long written letter, but they just simply replied "nope, we don't care, pay up"), together they are nothing less than a government sanctioned cartel.
- jmckib 12y ago
  I once blocked a driveway in SF by accident (tiny garage door and the curb was still there), and I ended up having to pay near $1000 to get my car back a few hours later. Where does the money go? I remember being disturbed that the towing lot appeared to be privately run.
  - jonknee 12y ago
    It was almost certainly privately run.
jagger27 12y ago
A recent experience in Ottawa was inline with the article's prices.
- dubcanada 12y ago
  Toronto is maxed at $230 for a tow + 24 hour storage. Ottawa must be more http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/traffic/towing_practices_and_rates.pdf http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/traffic/towing_practices_and_...

ronnier 12y ago

Forgot where I heard this, but this world is made to take your money.

beachstartup 12y ago

this article is set in san francisco. it is a completely miserable place if you do not have enough money.

getsat 12y ago
It's also pretty miserable even if you make decent money (mid-100s). Thankfully, I am headed for greener pastures in less than a week. Goodbye to the most dysfunctional and disgusting city I've ever lived in. Amazing place to gain work experience if you work in tech, but a horrible place to live.
- Cookingboy 12y ago
  Agreed, I've lived at a wide range of places, from nice suburb near Dallas to mid-sized "cool city" like Austin to international metropolis like Shanghai, and SF is by far the least livable place (especially cost adjusted) in my opinion. Nice weather, cool culture, but very, very broken infrastructure and government and pretty much anything that has to do with policy and regulation.
  - beachstartup 12y ago
    i lived there for 2 years during a non-insane period of time (2006-2007) and made 100k, and everything was a pain in the ass. you literally could not even walk down the street a single time without dealing with some kind of fucked up problem. looking back on it in retrospect, it was even worse than it felt, but i was young, and liked to party. like most people there. such a beautiful city, too. it really kind of broke the illusion for me. still wonderful to visit though, because you live in a fantasy-travel bubble instead of having to deal with day to day life.

Spooky23 12y ago

Many cities bid out towing for revenue purposes. In my city, in addition to paying an usurious fee, you need to get a form at the police traffic division HQ, pay at city hall (30 minute walk through the hood), then bring some slip to one of three scum hole tow yards.

Cookingboy 12y ago

It's San Francisco, the towing company there charge the fee not to cover their cost, but to make a very hefty profit. Along with SFMTA and their parking tickets bullshit (once I argued for a ticket with photographic evidence of the misplaced meter and a long written letter, but they just simply replied "nope, we don't care, pay up"), together they are nothing less than a government sanctioned cartel.

jmckib 12y ago
I once blocked a driveway in SF by accident (tiny garage door and the curb was still there), and I ended up having to pay near $1000 to get my car back a few hours later. Where does the money go? I remember being disturbed that the towing lot appeared to be privately run.
- jonknee 12y ago
  It was almost certainly privately run.

jagger27 12y ago

A recent experience in Ottawa was inline with the article's prices.

dubcanada 12y ago
Toronto is maxed at $230 for a tow + 24 hour storage. Ottawa must be more http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/traffic/towing_practices_and_rates.pdf http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/traffic/towing_practices_and_...