Car almost towed this morning....Almost

Were the front wheels free of turning the two feet of travel? In the air in other words?

 

Your concern is about the front wheels being forced to turn while in park I assume? Sounds like that's answered, if they're off the ground there's no problem.

I would take a look under the front end, see if everything looks ok.

 

I'm kinda behind the curve, was picturing straps and chains (and grappling hooks...). Probably more like this:

 

Doesn't anyone else want to know why his car was being towed?

 

Cool. Now that I know why it was being towed, yes, you should be in good shape. If it was because of a repo attempt, pretty much anything goes with those guys. The city can't afford to damage the vehicles.............banks don't care.

 

Go VIKES

 

Was your parking brake on?

I was never a proper tow truck driver, but I used to repo cars for Ford Motor Credit. As a corporate Ford employee I'd just have a key cut at the dealer, have someone drop me off near the car, jump in and drive off. But I did have to do some tow truck training because despite what was previously said banks really do care about the vehicle. It's going to an auction and whatever cash they can get out of it goes to pay off the loan, the outstanding balance that remains their only real option is to take the debtor to court and hope something works out. Anyways; most tow guys back then counted on the majority of people not using their parking brake, but if the brake was engaged they should have put dollies under the rear tires. During a repo there's not always time to do that so yes, they will sometimes just back up to it, those arms can be worked from the cab to grab on and take off. A good repo driver will gone in about 30 seconds. If the brake is on they'll just flat spot the tire (or burn up the brake) for a block or so until they feel it's safe enough to pull over to hook it up properly. But a proper tow they should probably be using dollies if the brake is on.

 

Only real potential problem then is damage from the operator. Check the lower front end for new scratches and scuffs as previously said, but it's also worth checking the back. The Prius isn't such a low car that it should be an issue but if if they raise the front up too high it can drag the rear bumper or exhaust. I don't suspect you'll have an issue though. The only other thing would be you can scratch the front wheels or the fenders around the tires. If they're going to tow for any distance they should throw straps over the tires and pull them tight. This keeps the car from bouncing off those arms.The ones I've seen nothing touches the wheel, only the tread part of the tire, so it's unlikely they scratched your hubcaps or wheel but if you're concerned about it anyways and will be giving it a once over you may as well check that area also.The fender would likely be a glancing blow from a hook or ratchet if he was swinging his gear around as he pulled the strap over the tire. So again you're just looking for scuffs or scratches and it's unlikely that you'll find any. Beyond that you just end up with completely random crap like for some reason he was leaning against your car with his keys or he put his hand to on your car to help push his nice person up as he got up from the ground and leaves a dent, etc.....

 

I wonder what they would do. Hard to tell one way or the other if it's on. And then what?

 

When you go to move it, do the rear tires move? if no, add dollies. You don't need to be going down the street to see them move, they should free wheel just from lifting the front of the car.