Read the local paper. Take a walk. But read the local paper. Check out this story from my current town of residence Mountain View, CA.

No car, no recourse ?Vacationer returns to find his car towed, auctioned and up for sale on Craigslist — by a tow company employee

Seeing this story makes me remember how much I despise tow truck drivers. Full disclosure. They’re dirty carnies.

I think getting a car towed is something that we all have in common. It’s happened to all of us, or one of our close friends. It seems to happen at the worst time.

It’s not something you can really protect yourself from because cars never get towed when they are blatantly parked illegally; it’s only on some trumped-up charge, and it’s the kind of thing that will burn in the back of our minds forever.

That’s a perfect audience for a story.

And yes, I had my car towed a couple of weeks ago. It cost $400 to get it back, and it was a hassle.

The car was stolen by the City of Mountain View when it was parked on the public street in front of my apartment for more than three days.

There is some code against this (22-1651-O). I’ve read it. It’s so badly written, every car in Mountain View, just in terms of math, breaks this law.

Someone should take Mountain View to court.

I bike commute during the week, so yeah it was parked. The real reason my car was “towed” was that some neighbor wanted my spot.

I regret that apartment complexes have worked out deals with towing companies to tow away the cars of friends that are visiting (also, happened to me) and that municipal governments have given letters of marque to these pirates to profit-share in the bounty.

There’s no semblance of legality about this.

So, what’s the story with these tow truck drivers? I think everyone wants to know.

I don’t think I’m the only person that would put a documentary about this on their netflix list, and certainly I would chuckle if some big-screen serial killer turned out to be tow truck driver.

To the gentleman in the news story: I’m sorry your car got stolen by carnival folk, but If it makes you feel any better I will buy the exclusive rights to your story for like $10.