Wow. Boinked twice.

Where's the Audi wheel boot guy when you need him?

I would have disabled the tow truck or driver by force if I saw that happening to any of my cars.

It's pretty obvious she's an automotive moron. Having said that, there is no really good reason for the police to have the car towed without some face time. I assume the DC police have enough smarts to run the VIN and/or tag to see who it's registered to before towing it and since the owner's address would be on the same street where the car is sitting, you'd think a small bell should ding somewhere.

Common sense...government...does not compute

The police report was on the windshield, this is just lazy-arsed red tape, a simple inquiry would have explained the situation, freaking pencil pushers.

I am a trained investigator, the people who sent out the tow should have done a basic set of inquiries which would reveal the situation. How hard is it to call them, knock on the door or just utilize some wheels to eliminate damage.

I wish I could find out what the insurance company will do...

That is why I will never spend 1500$ on a set of rims. I would have found something for my car to get it off the ground. Even a set of spares, anything.

The tow truck driver was a punk for doing that though. If audis are made as well as they should be hopefully there isn't too much damage, I know I wouldn't want to work on an aluminum unibody.

just by the video, I bet that car is toast...

FS: 2000something Audi S4...Parts only, wheels not included.

Would there be the same outrage if her neighbors 89 civic was towed after sitting on blocks in the street for a week. A car on the side of the road for a week with no wheels may as well be an abandoned car, being new and German doesn't make it more important or entitled to special care. If it fell of the blocks and hurt someone's kid you can bet someone would be at city hall wondering why 2 tons of litter was left there for so long. The city wanted it removed and it was removed.

I'm kind of curious about the tens of thousands of dollars of damaged. I've moved stolen recoveries like that and rarely did more than paint damage and occasionaly a bent brake dust shield. I wonder if she isn't being further soaked by the dealer that told her to leave it in the street until her wheels came.

Depending on HOW he hooked on to the car (remind you there is a tow port in the front bumper that you screw a little adapter into I will BET that he tossed some J hooks onto the lower control arms...

This car is at least a 2008 A4 if not a S4. It has nice aluminum control arms and a nice aluminum oil pan as well as all the rest of the crap under the belly pans and covers.

I will bet the control arms, crossmember, oil pan, radiator, charge cooler (if an A4), radiator, condenser, underbody splash shield, driver and passenger underbody covers, paint and body repair, rotors, shields, wheels, tires, and locks and wheel bolts are all included in the $10,000 quote.

Rewatching the video it looks like he did hook the lower arms and they may be bent, but the sling is under the bumper so the rad condenser and other stuff up front is most likely fine. once the front rotors are on the bed he tilts the bed down and that keeps the weight off the bumper and on the rotors and lcas. He may have mangled all the plastic shields which shouldn't be tens of thousands, and the wheels tires ect aren't part of the towing damage.

That little hook in the bumper is for pulling the car out of the snow bank, the car really shouldn't be loaded and secured by it. I've seen a couple BWM's bumpers tweeked that way. Most Audi's have two slots you pull rubber plugs out of and put small t hooks in. If you get a complaint for wind noise you can't find the holes by the rear wheels are a good place to start. Had he done that there would have been less damage because the winch cable would have lifter the nose higher off the ground. Ofcourse that doesn't really matter because when he got back to the yard they took it off the truck by running a forklift through the windows and carrying it out back. .

the other thing I got out of it: the neighbor who called it in. Don't you freaking know which cars your neighbors have, that are parked out in front of their houses ALL THE TIME? But no, she's parked it in front of her house for a couple years, and a couple days of it sitting with no wheels and a neighbor thinks it was a car that was abandoned and dumped? NO one dumps a car AND jacks the wheels.

And man, if you get a police report, HAVE IT IN THE WINDOW, and have the parts ordered, you might well believe that your car is safe from being towed in the next couple days.

I place ZERO blame on the lady in this case.

Wally wrote: Ofcourse that doesn't really matter because when he got back to the yard they took it off the truck by running a forklift through the windows and carrying it out back. .

what?what?what?

I remember years ago I had one my spiders towed from the lot at work. They used a "claw" style hookup on her. Went to the yard, had to argue with the clerk to go see my car (they wanted me to pay the fine first) and show them the plainly visible parking permit attached to plexi behind the plastic rear window.

Car never drove the same after that. It always felt a bit "loose" in the front.

Cars get dumped like that in New York all the time. Car gets stolen, driven to another location and the wheels are removed. I'm a little surprised by the cinder blocks. Most of the cars I've picked up were on the ground, why would a criminal waste time carry around blocks. The more I Iook at this story the more questions I have though. The neighborhood seems to be upper middle class. Are the DC police that bad that you can take a set of wheels, and leave the car on blocks and no one would notice? Nosey do gooder that had the car towed didn't hear that alarm in the middle of the night? It almost looks like some of the more amaturish insurance frauds I've seen. Put the wheels in the garage, wait on the adjuster to come, profit. They seem to have no common sense or mechanical knowledge, yet they don't have a shop handling their claim.

Wally wrote: Are the DC police that bad that you can take a set of wheels, and leave the car on blocks and no one would notice?

Yes. They are that bad.

I'm a little surprised by the cinder blocks. Most of the cars I've picked up were on the ground, why would a criminal waste time carry around blocks.

It's easier when you have the blocks. You can get the jack out from under the car, the wheels come off easier (they aren't stuck in the fender wells), and you don't trip the alarm when you set it down.

Nosey do gooder that had the car towed didn't hear that alarm in the middle of the night?

The alarm likely didn't go off, because of the cinder blocks. And no, he wouldn't have noticed. People never notice car alarms. Or home alarms for that matter. You don't even get looked at while under the hood of a car with the alarm going off.

They seem to have no common sense or mechanical knowledge, yet they don't have a shop handling their claim.

It's DC. It's perfectly believable. Really, it is.

foxtrapper wrote: The alarm likely didn't go off, because of the cinder blocks. And no, he wouldn't have noticed. People never notice car alarms. Or home alarms for that matter. You don't even get looked at while under the hood of a car with the alarm going off.

THANK YOU! I always tell people that alarms are a waste of time, nobody bats an eye when they go off because they've been crying wolf incessantly for the last couple of decades.

The only way I would ever get an alarm was if it was one of the super-sensitive ones from the early 90s, "Step away from the vehicle!"