Back to the impound lot

I am not sure how many of your remember the last time my car was towed, but it was many moons ago, when I was fairly new to New York. That time was much more expensive than this time, although the process and reasoning this time were, if anything, even more ridiculous.

Just like last time, I was parked on Seminole, except that this time it was on the other side of the hospital. Just the same as last time, a fully legal parking spot, about 4o feet from a fire hydrant, in a spot clearly left open because another car had just left. I have in fact parked in this particular spot several times, and am always pleased when I can get it, because it is a good spot, close to work and easy to pull into ... which is saying something these days, as snow takes up about 20% of the available parking spaces around here. Thus parked, I walked into work and had a pretty good day, and was excited to leave a bit early, around 6, to get home and spend time with Aviva. So I walk over to where I parked ... and the car is gone. At first, I think it was stolen, then I talk to Aviva, who convinces me to check the near-by streets in case I misremembered where I parked. Obviously the car was nowhere to be found, so I call the police, tell them my car is stolen and they tell me to call 311 and see if it has been towed.

At this point, I cannot think of a reason why my car would be towed, I parked legally and have no outstanding tickets. It occurs to me that my inspection sticker expired on December 31st, I had tried to get it done on the 3rd but everywhere I went was too busy, and I was planning on taking it in over the weekend. But that was just a ticket the last time, so I am left in a quandry about my offense would have been to get my car towed - nevertheless, I am shocked when I find out it has, in fact, been towed to the impound yard.

I trudge back to work, trying, without success, to get someone at the tow yard to pick up the phone, the first yard I call is the wrong one, which the very angry guy on the other end of the phone assumes is because I am an idiot .. and not because that is the number I was told to call. As I walk back to work, I call the Bronx tow yard number and finally, after 4 calls over 30 minutes to 3 different numbers I finally get someone on the phone. She tells me the yard is open until 10 pm, and that I was towed because my inspection had expired and then hangs up while I am asking for directions.

It begins to occur to me that perhaps I sound like some sort of raving lunatic or something else dramatically unappealing, because everyone I am speaking too sounds angry at me and cannot wait to get off the phone.

Once back at work, something goes right and one of the students in the lab offers to drive me down to the impound yard. Its only 4 miles away, but it takes 35 minutes to get there because in the Bronx streets are laid out like the city planner was a one-eye drunkard with no thumbs, and the drivers are not much better. When we finally arrive, I walk in, show my ID and am gestured into the first of several portable offices. As I walking into the office, the guard asks if I will be needing a tow truck. I tell him no.

This, as it turns out, was foolish ...

I quickly find out that the guy in front of me in line has also had his car towed for an expired inspection, and that his inspection also expired on December 31st, 2010. Further, I find out that because our cars have expired registrations, they are deemed "unsafe" to drive in New York City, and must be towed to an inspection station. In fact, they will only release the car to a registered tow truck driver who is present in the office. A bit incredulous, I lean back out the door and ask the security guard about that tow, I am informed that the truck just left, but another will be by in 5 minutes.

It briefly occurs to me to find it odd that they generally have a truck just waiting there ... this immediately makes much more sense when the tow truck driver informs me that he does not have to tow me back to my house, just out of the impound yard, at which point I can repossess and drive my car ... oh, and the 60 foot tow out of the yard will cost me 65$, in cash, because they don't take checks. But I can use the ATM conveniently located in the office, which of course charges a reasonable fee. At this point I have not even mentioned the glacial pace at which our paper work is being filled out. There are 3 people in the office but on only 1 is doing work, 2 if you count continuously refilling staplers as work. I arrived at the yard at about 730 pm, and there was one guy in line in front of me and they ended up processing our paper work together. By the time I get out into the street, having given our receipts to the tow truck operator, it is already 830 pm. The tow truck driver goes down to his truck - which as it turns out, is just a Ford F-150 with a wooden 2x4 and some large chains in the back - and drives into the yard, slowly coming out with our vehicles, first the other guys, then mine. While he is doing that, I ask the security guard when they started towing for inspection violations. He says that it has been the law for more than 5 years, but the tow is at the officers discretion. He notes that recently officers have been choosing to tow an awful lot more often, so often that now there is a tow truck permanently parked outside the impound yard.

I choose not to mention that if are cars are truly unsafe to drive, necessitating the tow, in seems silly that towing them would probably not be at an officers discretion.

When the tow truck finally comes back out with my car, 35 more minutes have passed ... probably because it is more difficult to tow a car when your tow hitch looks like something MacGuyver would come up with. The tow truck driver also mentions, in response to my queries, that he works for the body shop across the street, and that once this sort of thing started happening, they just got a truck and started to do towing, and it has already easily paid for itself .. obviously, as this guy just made 130$ in 20 minutes. Less than amused, I go to pay the guy, and only have 62$ or 80$, not the chane for 65$, which is what he told me the official fee was mandated to be by the tow yard. He looks for a minute and says, "62 will be fine." Mandated my ass.

After I pay the guy and get my car off the truck, I receive one final bonus from the NYPD ... I discover that I have also received a ticket indicating that I need to pay 65$ because my inspection is expired ... good thing they gave me that ticket, otherwise I might not have realized my inspection was expired.

Why its sometimes better when your car IS stolen

So on the way home from work last night, after a fairly calm day, I passed by the spot where I parked my car opposite the corner of Seminole and Eastchester. The thing that caught my attention was that my car was not there ... in fact, there was another car parked in the exact same spot. Personally, I think my California plates just offended them ...

My first thought, surprisingly calmly, was that it was shocking that someone could have stolen a car so close to a police station. After talking to my Dad, I went over to the 49th precinct and after a few phone calls they confirmed that my car had not been stolen, but rather it had been towed and was sitting in the police impound lot over on 141st street. I was kind of surprised that my car had been towed, since I parked in a spot that another car was pulling out of, that I have seen occupied on many occasions (as I said, it was occupied by a different car when I walked past that evening).

I shared this information with the officer who was helping me out, and he replied, "Huh, they towed you from there. Well, I guess sometimes you just get unlucky." Not particularly comforting, but at least honest. So I called the pound, a bit confused as to what my car was towed for, and found out that although they were open until 8 pm, I would be unable to get my car this evening because I had a California registration ... my California plates had tipped them off. Apparently, to get your car out of the lot, you need to have NY registration.

Oh, and 185$ in cash for the tow. And if I don't get the car by 3 pm the next day, I have to start paying a 20$ a day storage fee. I hang up the phone and it strikes me that it would just be a colossal amount more efficient if they had just given me a ticket for several hundred dollars. I still would have gotten the message, but wouldn't have had to trouble them to take car of my car.

Well, still having California plates after 2 years in NY. Maybe I was asking for it.

So today, I woke up early and called the DMV to check on what I would need to get a new registration for my out of state car (license, title and insurance card). Check, check and check. So I walked 2.5 miles over to the DMV, filled out the right form and waited to get to the front of the line that allows you to get a ticket to wait in another line. Except I did not get that far, because the woman at the front of the first line looked over my stuff and said, "Sorry honey, this ain't gonna work." "Why not?" I asked. "This is a California insurance card, and we can only issue a NY registration with a NY insurance card."

Uh-huh. So I went back outside and called my agent in California, only to realize it was 7 am there and she was asleep. So I called through to State Farm, got the number of a local agent and called them up about getting NY insurance. I get through, and have a nice, long talk with Rosemarie, who sets up my NY insurance policy as I walk the 2.5 miles over to the insurance agent. Rosemarie is very nice, not incredibly competant (as she is unable to actually bring up my California policy so we can compare policy details) but we spend a bit of time and after writing a check for far more money than my California policy cost, we get a policy together (first thing I am doing after taking some time away from this day is calling the Gecko).

So then I walk back towards the apartment, where Aviva picks me up and drives me back over to the DMV. I go back inside, and wait in the same line for about half an hour, get to the front and the new guy looks over my forms, notes the NY insurance card and gives me a number so that I can start to wait in another line. Which I do for a good 45 minutes. When I finally get called up to the front, the lady gives me a lot of attitude despite my politeness.

I have never understood this ... I know the job is hard and people yell and it is boring, but you have to realize that when you work at the DMV most people are going to be unhappy or confused or both. Cut them some slack and they might make your day a little better.

So after looking over all the forms, the lady picks up my insurance card and my drivers license, looks them over and says, "This is not going to work." "You're kidding right?" I say somewhat incredulously. She procedes to tell me that because my license says Peter Jesse Gaskill, but the insurance card says Peter Gaskill, the card is not applicable to the license.

Back outside, on the phone with the insurance agent, who tells me the girl who just finished my case is not there. But she can help me, faxing a new copy of my insurance card to the conveniently located fax station near the DMV. I get the one page fax. It costs me five dollars. Then I go back to the DMV, more waiting in line to get a number so that I can wait in line. I finally get up to a clerk, who, wonder of wonders, looks over everything and silently nods. She then gives me a new set of license plates and takes my check.

We leave the DMV (Aviva had come inside to wait with me because she is wonderful. Also nuts, because waiting with me almost drove her crazy) and drive down to the impound lot, which about 25 minutes away. At this point, I only have about an hour until they begin to charge me more money to store my car (which seems ridiculous, since they did not need to take my car in the first place). I try to enter the lot at the first entrance, but I am rebuffed and told to move down to the second entrance. There they look an my ID and ask me to follow the small green lines to the office.

I do that, get to the office, and then wait in a non-existent (meaning me and one other person) line for about 25 minutes while the six women behind the counter talk to each other about nothing. They finally realize I exist, and come over to help me. After 30 or 40 minutes of paper pushing and 185$, I get my paperwork, and head up to the top of the yard, get a guy to take me to my car, so I can look at the 165$ ticket on my car. Awesome.

I get in the car, start to drive away, and then have to stop. I need to install my new license plates ... can't leave with California plates on my car. Finally, with new plates, new insurance, a fresh 165$ ticket and a much larger hole in my wallet, I drive home, hoping I will never again need to deal, in any way, with the NYPD.