To make a very long story shorter, I left the parking lot, walked across the street and business had my car towed. I heard my car alarm going off and I ran to see it being towed. I stopped him from leaving, and tried to pay him, however he left anyway. After paying the fine at the tow lot, I inspected my car, they had rammed my Authentic Mazdaspeed front bumper with their tow truck forks because the car was too low to get it under! The damage is not horrific but it’s obvious. After looking at it, and telling me they were not responsible, they said to come back on Tuesday to have it inspected further. After more rudeness, I called my insurance to make sure this didn’t get ignored and they are in on it now. I got home, looked up the towing laws in Tallahassee, and found out that the driver broke 2 laws towing my car. First, he told me to drop the car I would have to pay him $88 in cash right there which he said is a city mandated price. However the law states that if they have not left the property yet then the most they can charge to drop it is $44. Second is the driver my wait a reasonable time for me to get funds to pay him to drop it. As soon as I crossed the street to go to a Chevron, he left. However, later that night I realized that the parking brake was on and the car was in first gear and the rear wheels were on the ground while it was towed. That being said, if he actually drove the speed limit then the engine was spinning at ~8000rpm for about 10mins with the engine not on and the parking brake on!!! Here is the main question, I thought the oil metering pump was electric, and controlled by the ECU depending on load. So was my engine spinning 8000 rpm with no oil?! The car runs so obviously any damage was not catastrophic, however what damage could have happened? Is there any way of proving damage?

 

check your rear tires for bald spots. They should be smart enough to know that you cannot tow a RWD car on a dolly without releasing the parking brake and it being in neutral. I saw a tow truck tow a miata like that and the rear tire blew as soon as it got on the freeway. If you have to sue them for destruction of property.

 

the business that had your car towed... you should let your local news know about this if possible. i'm sure the business could use some free advertising about how nasty they are.

 

Unfortunately towing is a huge issue in Tallahassee. So unfortunately the news could care less about the business towing me. However, they may care to report on the citizens rights in the actual towing laws.

 

Do any of you engine gurus know what kind of damage the engine may have? MM? Charles? BHR?

 

if the parking brake was on and in gear then you have flat spots on your tires my son. take pictures. with the e-brake and in gear the engine would not spin. to test this take your car to a steep hill, put in first gear and shut it offtake your foot off of clutch, your car will not move because your engines compression will hold the weight of your car in first gear. this is also true about your ebrake. so in conjunction with 1st gear and the parking brake they put stress on your rear bushings and tires but nothing else. they owe your new tires as well as a new bumper. and i would say, an appology