Cars whir past and park on Court Street on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. (NATE SWANSON / DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY)
Towing in Confusion ANNA MILLAR FOR THE POST
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any dread the sight of a large towing truck with hooks on its back, especially when it’s coming near their car or truck. Towing is not a new issue in the city of Athens, with both permanent residents and students having stories of being towed and feeling as though they were charged an unfair price. Those complaints are not only recent occurrences, and even those who have left Athens still remember the occasion when they walked out to see their car being loaded onto a truck. Amanda Carter, a former OU student and former Athens resident, rescued her 12 / OCT. 21, 2021
car from the back of a truck while it was being towed in 2016. Carter parked her car in the Family Dollar lot at the end of Court Street while she shopped. After she dropped her bags off in her car, she walked up the street for a few minutes to pick up a friend. When she got back to the parking lot, she saw her car being loaded onto a tow truck and the man driving the truck approached her. “He was like, ‘Yeah well, there’s no one that works there left to vouch for you, so you’re gonna have to give me 100 bucks in cash unless you want to have to come pick it up in the morning,’” Carter said. “I had to walk to the Chase ATM on Court Street and give him $100. And I was like, ‘Is there no paperwork or anything?’ He said ‘no.’”
Athens resident Nickie Bailes had two unpleasant experiences with a towing company in the past year. The first one happened when she was towed from in front of a friend’s home. Bailes had gone over to help her friend with taxes in the spring, and they told her it was okay to park in front of their home. Her friend had been told by the building’s owners the lot was not being monitored due to COVID-19, she said. She estimates she was at the home for about an hour, and during that time her car was towed without her knowledge. This occurred during the late evening when it was dark outside, she said. Due to the time of day, Bailes said the company who towed her car, Curtis Towing and Auto Re-
pair, would not allow her to retrieve it that evening. Ultimately, Bailes was able to get her car back the next morning but said she was charged around $230 to do so. She was charged the original tow fee as well as an overnight fee and a weekend fee, Bailes said. She was told Curtis Towing does have rights to monitor that lot; however, she believes they were not simply monitoring, but preditorally watching. The second incident Bailes experienced was also with Curtis Towing. That time was different. It was a private tow in which Bailes’ insurance company, AAA, called the company following a car crash. Bailes’ son was in a crash, requiring
