City Attorney David Chiu announced today that the city has initiated debarment proceedings against Auto Towing, a towing service in Hunters Point.
The action comes after months of alleged illegal activity from Auto Towing, which entailed allegedly targeting the cars of individuals that Chiu described as “vulnerable,” given that the victims were primarily Spanish- and Cantonese-speaking residents.
Debarment is an administrative procedure that authorizes the city to ban contractors from applying for, or receiving, city contracts for up to five years.
Potential consequences that loom over Auto Towing’s future contracts with the city are due to allegations of “repeatedly illegally towing vehicles and trespassing on private property to install a fraudulent sign.” Auto Towing does not presently hold any city contracts, but did bid on one earlier this year.
The City Attorney’s Office claims that Auto Towing installed fraudulent signs in the Bank of the West parking lot that sits at 2675 San Bruno Ave., and proceeding to illegally tow at least six cars from the lot.
The signs, which vaguely warned that all vehicles are subject to towing, were allegedly installed without a written contract with the property owner, as required by its permit, and without any form of consent by the property owner to do so.
Today’s filing includes victims’ statements to the police, with descriptions of “feeling defrauded and intimidated.” Witnesses also confirmed with the Bank of the West branch manager that the bank did not authorize the towing service to enter its lot and haul away people’s cars.
The law, intuitively, requires property owners’ consent before towing a vehicle from private property.
“Having a car unjustly towed is a nightmare for any driver,” said Chiu. “Auto Towing intentionally misled and scammed vulnerable people out of hundreds of dollars. Our city has no interest in contracting with exploitative businesses engaged in illegal conduct.”
The debarment filing includes details that could implicate Auto Towing for selectively profiling the victims of their illegal activity. Besides mentioning that many of them did not speak English as their primary language, it focuses on the fact that individuals with disabilities were also subjected to illegal towing, despite the clearly visible placards on their dashboards.
It states that the Board of Supervisors “specifically found a risk to public health and safety when vehicles of senior citizens and persons with disabilities are illegally towed from private property.”
The filing proceeds to mention other questionable actions by the company, such as telling victims that they could only retrieve their towed cars via cash payment, a standard that directly contradicts the conditions of the California Vehicle Code; it states that vehicle owners “have the right to pay with cash or major credit card.”
Additionally, Auto Towing allegedly towed vehicles to a different location than listed on its permit, and told vehicle owners that they could not retrieve their cars over the weekend.
The debarment filing also included the experiences of several witnesses who paid their towing fees to Auto Towing LLC, despite the fact that their cars were towed to a different location: The Specialty Towing office at 2045 Oakdale Ave. SFPD Tow Desk confirmed for one of the witnesses that Auto Towing LLC was still responsible for the tow, even though the person’s car was directed to a different towing yard and office.
“They have to be doing business at the place that they are permitted for. The physical location that they are permitted at is not where the cars are being taken,” said Jen Kwart, spokesperson for the City Attorney’s Office.
“Auto Towing intentionally misled and scammed vulnerable people out of hundreds of dollars. Our City has no interest in contracting with exploitative businesses engaged in illegal conduct.”
City attorney david chiu
The involvement of Specialty Towing in the debarment filing is a curious one. The filing mentions an incident on May 18, in which witnesses saw two separate tow trucks attempt to tow two different cars. One of the trucks belonged to Specialty Towing, the other to Auto Towing.
The witness said that the drivers claimed they were summoned by the bank to tow the vehicles. The witness proceeded to photograph the trucks, and upon her doing so, the trucks immediately vacated the premises.
“The actions described below are predatory towing, a practice the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has recognized as having a disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations,” the filing states.
Yelp reviews on Auto Towing’s page raise more concern regarding the company practices; one user claims that their personal belongings are being held illegally, for a “ridiculous ransom.” Another angry reviewer referred to the company as “car pirates” who are “not following SFPD fee structure.”
Auto Towing did not respond to requests for comment, stating that all queries could be directed to their lawyer, whose contact information they refused to provide.
I got towed by this company in early july while parked legally at my friends house in mission hills, a private gated comnunity just off of lake merced. The community has a guard station that monitors every vehicle that enters and exits it. On that evening the hired security company allowed the tow truck into the complex at 10:31pm and out of the complex with my car at 10:38pm. My belief is the security guard was in cahoots with auto towing company to make off with my car.
To make the ordeal more traumatic is that we had to drive to hunters point after 11pm with two vulnerable women only to wait 20 minutes for the tow driver to arrive. The tow location is in a very isolated and dimly lit area of san francisco.
When the tow driver arrived we accused him of towing our car illegally and demanded he release it at no charge. He practically laughed in our faces. Finally i conceded and said i will pay the charges and dispute the legality at a later time. The tow truck driver than refused to release the car even we paid because he said we were rude to him. We had to come back the next day to get the car, waiting this time over an hour for someone to arrive.
The charges totalled $690 which included $200 for two days of storage. I am still fuming.
I don’t know if i will pursue a case against these criminals because i don’t have the time. If you have some advice on how i can find some justice please email me at andy.signmaker@gmail.com
Thanks
Andy– I’m pretty sure we waited for our cars together that terrible Saturday morning, I was the little black Jeep they stole from Burger King on Mission. Chiming in to ask that the author please let us know if victims who have not yet filed any kind of claim have any recourse, I know my tow was an illegal tow, but I jad given up hope of getting any justice
Sorry to hear you when through this trouble i use to do thus kind of work but everything had to be legal in order for us to tow car’s from apartment complex from property owners to management signs at every entrance, with consent that if u park in someone else space the one that owns that space if they come home an couldn’t find the owner they have the rigth to call the tow service posted on the premises entrance, an then they can tow it with no regrets, then if u as an owner show up before they leave the property u get to have your car back some with no drop fees but most of them will charge a drop fee, back then use to be like 60, but i never charge any after my first incidents ,everyone had said its ok to charge, but got in trouble for doing it once,my boss never explained it to me ,until he said we don’t do that an gave the money back, but if you are out of the property , even if its 1 feet off property u can charge a full price or if they are humbled people an don’t try to harass you u can give them a break let it go for half the bill back then was 110, first 4 hours were free storage after the 4th hour was 19 a day an there after every 24 storage goes up,this one you got scammed if you pay the fees to drop the car outside when he arrived at the storage yard it doesn’t matter if you gave him shit about it he had the right to release the car back to you he an t hv at tow yard didn’t have no right to hold the vehicle for extra days storage an probably lien sale paperwork, if im not mistaken an it shouldn’t be added tilt the 5 day but lot off thing have changed an some tow companies are a rip off, so be aware, an if this is the same company that there talking about in this article you should sue them, find the lawyer thats after them , good luck an watch every time were u park.?🙏
there are more than one way serve a person or business. if the person lives at that resident and knows the defendant, serve them with the paper work. if at a business, whoever is behind the counter taking money and releasing cars can be served. make sure you send a copy to that address. it does take time to go to court with your completed paperwork and file. but if they dont show up, you win. but be prepared with statements, photos if needed, other like complaints etc…..but go online and make sure this is correct. i dont live in the bay area. im not even a lawyer. i do watch law and order, AIU, auto investigation unit
I sued this company in small claims and won. They are masters at avoiding service of process. I sued them in superior court for fraud and they are refusing to file respond to the suit.
I am also very glad to read this article. We were also victims of this scam at the Bank of the West parking lot on San Bruno Ave, we got taken for about $540. Is there anything we can do to get our money back?
This is criminal, why aren’t they being held accountable?
I’m an retired tow truck driver , and I came across this article. . . Cars only get towed for illegally parking where your not supposed to or if you don’t have a parking permit or if you been parked for longer than the posted time , then the property manager or Patrol officer calls us out and assign us what cars to tow away. We just don’t get around stealing cars ! That’s illegal ! And tow companies are not going to risk there business over a couple of hundreds bucks …
Pay attention to where you park ! Read the signs posted in the area ! Don’t park in other peoples parking spots and you would not get towed !! Plain and simple . And people are acting like if someone is supposed to release there car right away !? 8am -5 pm is business hours Monday – Friday . Anything else after that time or day you have to call and make and schedule an appointment. You can’t just expect us to fly to you in these busy chaotic streets! We are busy working attending other calls as well. We will get to you eventually.
I am so glad to read this article and to know that I am not alone. Beware of this company. My friend’s car was parked at a private property. Towing starts at 11 pm at night, but they towed at 10:30pm as caught on camera. Also they did not release the vehicle until the weekend. They did not follow the rules, they did what they wanted to get money.
This is fraud. It is extortion. Why is this business even allowed to operate? Where is the D.A. and/or the police?
Kseniya,
Hi. I remember you! I just wrote an email to David Chiu’s office. His address is:
cityattorney@sfcityatty.org
Hopefully there is some class action thing happening where we can join.
Disbarment isnt even a slap on thr weist. These people should be driven out of business!
I emailed them too! No response yet, but definitely, they shouldn’t be allowed to operate period. Fingers crossed
“Predatory towing”. That’s a new one, to me at least.
Debarment means they couldn’t do business with the City and County. As they are not in a contract and only bid once, this looks like a symbolic gesture only.
The more appropriate thing to do would be pulling the permit?
So, where is the police investigation on this company? Who are the owners? They need to face some stuff.