[Editor’s Note: Just as we were getting ready to publish this, a new twist emerged. Maria wrote that she was contacted last night by another person by telephone demanding that she pay $1,000 for the return of her car at an agreed-upon meeting place. She contacted police soon afterwards. They took a report. Maria’s insurance does not cover theft.]
A reader, Maria, is stuck in kind of missing car purgatory. Maria (she asked that we not use her last name) is a single mom and music teacher at a local school who recently moved to West Philly. Her 11-year-old daughter started school this fall, so last Tuesday, the first week of school, was filled with the normal excitement and everything flowed as it should, Maria wrote in an email. After picking up her daughter after school Maria parked her charcoal gray 2012 Toyota Corolla on the corner of 44th and Osage, right by her apartment, a “great parking spot,” Maria notes.
“I had parked at 3:30 p.m. last Tues. afternoon. My car was missing Wednesday a.m. at 7:30 a.m. No signs were posted, however, PGW had placed barricades on the corner of 44th and Osage where I was parked,” she wrote.
Maria reported it to the police, combed the neighborhood streets and also called four independent towing companies but no one seemed to know what had happened to her car.
On Thursday evening, Maria received two phone calls from a restricted number. An unknown man left a voice message that went as follows:
“Maria…I am calling in regard to your vehicle. I am going to call back again very soon. I hope you pick [it] up and if you don’t, well, who gives a [expletive]. Have a good evening.”
The phone call left Maria worried for her and her daughter’s safety and she reported the calls to the police who told her that, “although serious in nature, they would not trace the call or investigate since the person did not actually say they were going to kill me,” writes Maria.
Sunday afternoon Maria learned that more than a dozen cars were towed from her neighborhood. The cars were relocated within a six block radius since there was some work going on on the streets. She says she called the police, the Philadelphia Parking Authority and local towing companies to no avail. She drove, walked, biked around trying to find her car. No one seems to know what the procedure is when this occurs. Earlier this week, she took the day off work to physically look in every local towing storage lot.
“This is beyond bizarre…,” Maria writes. “Maybe my car was towed and taken to the chop shop. At least I would have closure. As of today, my car is still in stolen status.”
Maria’s insurance company will not help her either, she writes. “That is a whole other story…”
“Does anyone do their job anymore? Are there any competent people who care anymore?” Maria would appreciate any insights.
September 19th, 2014 at 6:15 pm
We had something similar happen to us last week but in a different location. I parked my car on 52nd and Malcolm earlier in the week. There were no signs up about restricted parking. On Friday, I went to get my car and it was gone. The road was torn up so it was clear that work had been done. I called 311 who patched me through to the district. I gave them my information and license plate number, but they had no record of my car being towed or moved due to construction. They told me to call 911. The officer came out and searched their records and also found no indication my car had been moved or towed. He assured me that companies were supposed to file a report with them whenever a car is moved, so he said my car was probably stolen. He filed a report and gave me a number to give to my insurance company.
A neighbor said that someone on the block had also been missing their car but that she found it several blocks away. After hearing that, my partner got on his bicycle and combed the neighborhood. Sure enough, my car was parked down at Whitby and 53rd. Another officer came out and we closed the case.
While I am grateful that my car wasn’t actually stolen, I am annoyed that someone could just move it without filing some sort of report.
I hope Maria finds her car, but in the meantime, I’d like to know who to complain to about something like this?
September 19th, 2014 at 7:32 pm
This is ridiculous. Maria sorry to hear about the aggravation. You should call the news outlets and do a sting operation on this p.o.s. “business” that towed your car. Then you should sue pgw for hiring a unscrupulous sub contractor to remove vehicles from an (un-posted?) work zone. If the company has any connections to PGW then they should pay the retainer fee and reimburse you for time off from work. I think towing tax paying citizens personal property should be against the law. I bet if you brought light to this dilemma a hundred people would come out in a class action suit.
September 19th, 2014 at 7:57 pm
Same story here, except a year ago. Parked on 44th and Baltimore (no signs posted), next day it was gone, police/tow companies had no records, police urged me to report it stolen. Took to the streets and found it relocated to behind clark park. Two funny twists to the apparently all to common story: (1) they moved it to a no parking zone and I had a bunch of tickets (successfully contested after much ado); (2) after reporting the car recovered to the police department (in-person and over the phone), detectives came to my house ~3 weeks later saying it was still on the stolen car list and pseudo-joked/threatened that the next time I drove it I might be arrested.
I get that sometimes cars need to be moved for city projects, but it would be helpful if no parking signs were posted in advance of the work; records were kept regarding which cars were moved and to where; and a contact number posted at the site for people searching for their vehicles to call.
September 20th, 2014 at 6:20 am
Maria keep looking. I had the same thing as the two above but mine was moved 6 blocks. Their favorite move is to stick it in an hourly parking zone so they can get you with a ticket. Look in those
September 20th, 2014 at 11:36 am
Thanks everyone for comments, stories, & advice. I am still perplexed by the city’s haphazard towing system and ability to relocate cars sending dozens of hardworking people to search the streets on their own. Since my car went missing the day dozens of cars were relocated and is still in stolen status, I wonder if my car was moved to an area where it was stolen. I have received over twenty phone calls from the perpetrator who supposedly bought my 2012 Toyota Corolla for $1000 (adding insult to injury) and is now demanding $1000 in cash in return for my car. According to local authorities, there has been an increase in auto thefts and extortion that could be related to illegal towing. Thursday night I received several phone calls from the same person who said they had my car and wanted to meet. I reported the calls to the police & was told to notify them if a meeting was set up.
Yesterday I endured a six hour ordeal after I notified police of the “meeting” I had set up with the perpetrator. I was instructed to walk to the playground and wait. I. Kept the criminal on the phone as I hid in the vehicle that brought and waited for authorities. Instead of sending undercover police, 4 marked cars from two different districts surrounded the area, causing the criminal to flee. After that attempt was botched, the criminal, surprisingly, called again with a new location. Although undercover police were on the scene, they were unable to recover my car.
At this point, I don’t know if I even want to own a car in this abyss of aggravation. No one seems to know anything about anything and police are quick to dismiss reports as “unfounded”. Any feedback or advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you for listening!
September 22nd, 2014 at 9:53 am
This happened to my boyfriend and I within a month of moving to Webster street about 8 years ago. We were lucky and just so happened to come home while the tow truck was actually connecting our vehicle to his truck but ours was not associated with the city. Apparently one of our neighbors called a private tow company claiming that our truck was abandoned (despite the fact that it had been driven earlier that week.) I believe the name of the company was ‘Hook Me Up Towing’ if you want to start by calling them, otherwise I would just try to take note of different tow companies around your neighborhood and start calling around.
September 23rd, 2014 at 12:06 pm
We had a car stolen about 10 years ago under similar situation. It was legally parked but had a flat tire. When my friend went to fix the tire, the car was gone. I believe thieves took the opportunity to steal the car when other tow trucks were in the area dealing with moving cars for street work.
Maria’s story is awful enough but the inattentive, lackadaisical responsible of the police is horrific and matches my own experience with the 18th District’s response to important but not life threatening crimes.
I think both the tow truck problem and the police response deserve political and media attention.
September 25th, 2014 at 6:50 pm
My Volkswagen Golf was stolen by a tow truck almost two years ago on the corner of 51st and Osage in front of Malcolm X Park right next to my house. Call ed the PPA, the police and a bunch of tow truck companies and no one had it. Reported it stolen and never heard about it again. I know it was a tow truck because the engine was shot from my timing belt unexpectantly breaking while I was driving. The car couldn’t drive on it’s own. My insurance didn’t cover theft either. Thankfully Indisnt get threatening phone calls from who ever stole it.
October 10th, 2014 at 6:53 pm
I am just seeing this post now and wanted to add to this thread. I also had a car illegally towed several years ago when I was living at 47th and Chester. It was a rental car from Enterprise and was parked on the street. A drunk driver hit and totaled the car and then it was towed without authorization from me or the rental agency. I reported the car stolen and the 18th district police were no help at all. They were actually really rude and I only found out about the drunk driver because of a neighbor. I was going to have to pay for the car if it was not found because I had collision and liability insurance on the car, but not comprehensive that covers theft. Enterprise assured me that it happened frequently and to wait. Sure enough, after a month, the tow company called enterprise and told them they had the car and had to pay a fee to get it back. Maria, I hope you were able to get your car back.