[Dan_335i]

if they tow ur car and it says like 335i and doesnt have xdrive badge they will tow it from the rw. but what if ur car is a xdrive but debadged it and they towed it with the rw up. Will they still be in trouble even tho the car is debadged?

didnt get towed just curious

[Teemo Panda]

Good Question, would love to hear the feedback from other members.

[F30.M]

On my 335i xDrive, There is a label by the driver's door saying the proper towing method for the car, which is flat bed towing only.

[TheHitchhiker]

The manual says flat bed towing only even for RWD cars. But I don't know how much the towing guys care about that. They just lock it from either front or rear tires and pull it. The best thing to do is, to avoid any situation that may get your car towed!

(And now I said that, probably my car will get towed. Hi Murpy Laws)

[1bad335]

I have a lot of experience with tow companies since I used to own one many years ago. Basically they pick and run. Meaning, they check to see if the car is RWD, FWD or AWD. Depending on what they see they will tow the car from the front or rear. If it's debadged, most will look under the car to see if it is AWD. But in the end it is best to stay clear of these situations since most operators could give a shit less and will hook it the easiest and fastest way they can.

[KellerKiller]

Always ask the company for a flat bed with a winch. You have to specify or you deal with what they throw at you. And then, supervise! Can't remember, does the car come with the tow rings for the bumper?

[1bad335]

Originally Posted by KellerKiller

Always ask the company for a flat bed with a winch. You have to specify or you deal with what they throw at you. And then, supervise! Can't remember, does the car come with the tow rings for the bumper?

Yes it has tow hook. I think the question was more about towing the car when it is parked where it should not be and towed without your consent. If you are calling for a tow then you should be smart enough to know and ask for a flatbed tow no matter what type of drive system you have.

[ad78]

if you call bmw assist they know what they are doing. once i had 135i and they towed it flat bed. (busted RFT's)

my car are always debadged

[Meeni]

My local impound uses mostly flat beds (don't ask how I know ).

I've seen some tow trucks also using wheel dollies. They tow from the front with wheel nets attached to the front wheels, and put a sort of 4 wheeled cart under each rear wheels.

[Dan_335i]

If your car is xdrive bu debadged so they assume its rwd. They tow with the rw up and mess up the front wheels will there insurance pay for the repairs?

[KellerKiller]

Originally Posted by 1bad335

Yes it has tow hook. I think the question was more about towing the car when it is parked where it should not be and towed without your consent. If you are calling for a tow then you should be smart enough to know and ask for a flatbed tow no matter what type of drive system you have.

Then just don't park illegally? Not sure why that would be the real question unless one has plans to do something stupid.

[ft1338]

I think unless you're in the urban ghetto most tow trucks these days are flat beds? I'm probably wrong but I only had a car towed once and it was a flat bed. But the car was totalled. Ooops.

[persian54]

Originally Posted by ad78

if you call bmw assist they know what they are doing. once i had 135i and they towed it flat bed. (busted RFT's)

my car are always debadged

False....... BMW doesn't come out... no one related to BMW comes out. They simply outsource it to the nearest participating tow company, just like AAA.

Some companies aren't stupid so they know to bring a flatbed for BMWs, but it has nothing to do with BMW Assist. They're clueless idiots from my experience (I've used them close to a dozen times in the past 4 years on my 4 BMWs)

Originally Posted by KellerKiller

Then just don't park illegally? Not sure why that would be the real question unless one has plans to do something stupid.

Shit happens. You're lucky you don't have to deal with parking where I live.
You've probably never lived in LA, but parking here is a nightmare. You really cannot understand how it is without living here. Parking is ok at certain hours on one day, not on another, then it changes depending on construction that gets scheduled, and even if you're a little late you're still screwed.
No one wants to get towed, but shit happens, especially if you're in a busy city.

[WilliCO]

My semi-educated guess is that:

A) Yes, you may have a viable negligence claim against a tow company that damages your AWD car by towing improperly.

B) It would cost you lots of time and money to find out for sure.

[KellerKiller]

Originally Posted by persian54

Shit happens. You're lucky you don't have to deal with parking where I live. You've probably never lived in LA, but parking here is a nightmare. You really cannot understand how it is without living here. Parking is ok at certain hours on one day, not on another, then it changes depending on construction that gets scheduled, and even if you're a little late you're still screwed. No one wants to get towed, but shit happens, especially if you're in a busy city.

Shit happens in that some drivers are idiots and may swipe your car or ding your door and leave. But negligence is just that. I've had my own moments, but luckily no towing. I got a 120 euro ticket for driving through (not parking) in a residential area in Pisa, Italy. The sign was not very clear and even the lawyers I talked to said they get a ton of Italians that way too and that's why they don't drive into the city much.

In Germany you just really have to know the signs. Shit, you can get a ticket for using the wrong parking ticket machine for where you parked, even if it's the closest to your car. In Amsterdam, parking can cost damn near $100 a day; and in Venice there's literally only one garage for the whole city and it's not worth it to spend that money. I err on the side of caution and use a pre-planned garage if I'll be parked more than 10-15 min in any big city, just like I did in Seattle, where I grew up. Public transit is there for a reason.

And I have driven into LA a few times visiting friends. I pick my parking wisely and walk/carpool/cab/bus. Hell of a lot cheaper AND easier than driving through that mess and risking parking where I shouldn't (Time and effort getting the car back in one piece = money). I would wager LA traffic and parking wouldn't be near as bad as it is if every single swinging dick there didn't HAVE to drive his own car everywhere. (Not a stab at you, it's much the case in many cities)

[drob23]

Originally Posted by KellerKiller

Shit happens in that some drivers are idiots and may swipe your car or ding your door and leave. But negligence is just that. I've had my own moments, but luckily no towing. I got a 120 euro ticket for driving through (not parking) in a residential area in Pisa, Italy. The sign was not very clear and even the lawyers I talked to said they get a ton of Italians that way too and that's why they don't drive into the city much.

In Germany you just really have to know the signs. Shit, you can get a ticket for using the wrong parking ticket machine for where you parked, even if it's the closest to your car. In Amsterdam, parking can cost damn near $100 a day; and in Venice there's literally only one garage for the whole city and it's not worth it to spend that money. I err on the side of caution and use a pre-planned garage if I'll be parked more than 10-15 min in any big city, just like I did in Seattle, where I grew up. Public transit is there for a reason.

And I have driven into LA a few times visiting friends. I pick my parking wisely and walk/carpool/cab/bus. Hell of a lot cheaper AND easier than driving through that mess and risking parking where I shouldn't (Time and effort getting the car back in one piece = money). I would wager LA traffic and parking wouldn't be near as bad as it is if every single swinging dick there didn't HAVE to drive his own car everywhere. (Not a stab at you, it's much the case in many cities)

LA sucks cause everything is so spread out, it's almost a traffic clusterfuck by design. European car culture is just so different and cities have such better public transit it's not really fair to compare. On the other end of the spectrum, I read on autoblog about a traffic jam that lasted 3 days in China LOL. I spent the past year living in Boston and that city is an absolute shit show when it came to driving, parking, towing...the whole 9 yards. I agree that I would probably do everything in my power to make sure I didn't park illegally, but when a tow truck shows up 5 minutes after leaving a car in the wrong spot I must say it's hard to walk that line.

Where I was living in Cambridge, you had to move the car every 2 weeks for street sweeping and tow trucks would line up at 8 AM in droves. I had an old POS Honda and it wouldn't start one street sweep morning...jackass tow truck drivers just sitting there wanted $30 to jump start my car.

But OP, to answer your question there's probably a 10% chance the driver cares enough to check, and there's no way he phones back to get a flat bed instead. Good luck trying to get the tow company to pay for your fried center differential/tranny, those people make used car salesman look like saints.

[Cyberdemon]

Honestly if your car gets towed for being park illegally good luck getting anything out of the tow company.

I had my car towed once for parking in a shopping center and walking across the street to another store. They saw the Ebrake was on in the car (was a FWD car and it was left in gear) so they "Claimed" they put it on wheel dollys but at some point it was definitely dragged. As soon as I turned on the car there was a horrible horrible grinding noise from the tranny/diff and when I confronted them they insisted it was fine.

Long story short - if they damage the car you'll have to go through lawyers to get anything done and lawyers are not cheap. Also, there's often no real way to "prove" they've damaged anything unless the car flat out isn't working. If they do some gear grinding that may hurt the car in the long haul but the car still works there's no way to start tearing things apart to prove the gears were in better condition beforehand.

Parking beware...

[drob23]

Originally Posted by Cyberdemon

Honestly if your car gets towed for being park illegally good luck getting anything out of the tow company.

I had my car towed once for parking in a shopping center and walking across the street to another store. They saw the Ebrake was on in the car (was a FWD car and it was left in gear) so they "Claimed" they put it on wheel dollys but at some point it was definitely dragged. As soon as I turned on the car there was a horrible horrible grinding noise from the tranny/diff and when I confronted them they insisted it was fine.

Long story short - if they damage the car you'll have to go through lawyers to get anything done and lawyers are not cheap. Also, there's often no real way to "prove" they've damaged anything unless the car flat out isn't working. If they do some gear grinding that may hurt the car in the long haul but the car still works there's no way to start tearing things apart to prove the gears were in better condition beforehand.

Parking beware...

I can't even imagine dealing with that...ugh...especially on a german luxury car where every mechanic dreams of encountering a disaster of fk up like this. Almost gives me nightmares just thinking about it

[persian54]

Originally Posted by KellerKiller

Public transit is there for a reason.

And I have driven into LA a few times visiting friends. I pick my parking wisely and walk/carpool/cab/bus. Hell of a lot cheaper AND easier than driving through that mess and risking parking where I shouldn't (Time and effort getting the car back in one piece = money). I would wager LA traffic and parking wouldn't be near as bad as it is if every single swinging dick there didn't HAVE to drive his own car everywhere. (Not a stab at you, it's much the case in many cities)

While i lived in Japan, and during my travels to SF, NYC, and parts of Europe, I have loved the public transit.

However, the few times I have tried to use it here in LA, it has been a nightmare to say the least. When you live quite away from the city, it can be near impossible to get to where you want to go without driving there yourself.

It's not possible for me to go from my house in the suburbs to DTLA without driving....
At the very least, I would have to drive to the nearest metro station, and then from there take a variety of connecting busses etc. More of a hassle than driving unfortunately. I personally try to avoid going to LA as much as possible, and when I do, I try my best to find a fair parking lot/garage.

So while I agree with you that if more people took public transit, it would be better for those who drive.... but LA really needs to develop a better public transportation network before we can see that. I had no problem getting around the entire country of Japan using public transport, but it's a real PITA to get around the city here in Los Angeles.

Go to the suburbs, and public transit becomes even more scarce...

[1bad335]

Originally Posted by ft1338

I think unless you're in the urban ghetto most tow trucks these days are flat beds? I'm probably wrong but I only had a car towed once and it was a flat bed. But the car was totalled. Ooops.

Not really if truth be told the tow truck with a wheel lift is the best truck to have in your fleet. Reason being, you can get into tight spaces, you can get into low parking garages. With a flatbed you need a lot more room to extend your bed and the bed when tilted raises up higher than almost any parking garage will give you room to operate. If you own a big enough towing operation you will have flatbeds and tow trucks but if you're a small operation, you probably only have a tow truck. I had both and used both everyday but they are not cheap to maintain as well.

[ft1338]

Originally Posted by drob23

LA sucks cause everything is so spread out, it's almost a traffic clusterfuck by design. European car culture is just so different and cities have such better public transit it's not really fair to compare. On the other end of the spectrum, I read on autoblog about a traffic jam that lasted 3 days in China LOL. I spent the past year living in Boston and that city is an absolute shit show when it came to driving, parking, towing...the whole 9 yards. I agree that I would probably do everything in my power to make sure I didn't park illegally, but when a tow truck shows up 5 minutes after leaving a car in the wrong spot I must say it's hard to walk that line.

Where I was living in Cambridge, you had to move the car every 2 weeks for street sweeping and tow trucks would line up at 8 AM in droves. I had an old POS Honda and it wouldn't start one street sweep morning...jackass tow truck drivers just sitting there wanted $30 to jump start my car.

But OP, to answer your question there's probably a 10% chance the driver cares enough to check, and there's no way he phones back to get a flat bed instead. Good luck trying to get the tow company to pay for your fried center differential/tranny, those people make used car salesman look like saints.

Haha I hate tow trucks even more just reading this post. There is that stupid show on TV called Parking Wars or something and it's about that kind of crap, from the perspective of the tow trucks and other parking cops. But it's just impossible to watch this without wanting to throw a brick at my brand new TV.

[rconti]

Ask for a flatbed if you're requesting to have your vehicle towed, it's the only way to tow ANY vehicle.

If you get towed for a violation, they don't care, they'll yank it however they feel like it, ignoring any badges.