So yeah, one day my brother decides to take my project 510 out for a joy ride after getting into an arguement with his girlfriend. Forget the fact that it hasnt been registered in two years.

He gets pulled over and busted for no license, no registration, no insurance. The car gets impounded and he gets hauled off to jail. The car was sitting at my mothers house and no one thought to tell me the car was impounded.

When I do find out I give him some time to fix his mess, of course which he doesnt and today I had enough, I went to get my car back.

City tow... or to be more precise... auto return, which is now handling SF's towing and storage tells me I need a release from SFPD for the car as well as a clearance from DMV for registration.

So I decided to hit up DMV first since SFPD is in the room next to the tow window. After about an hour and a half I find out that my 510 has 3 tickets my brother neglected to tell me about the last time I registered the car, not to mention the back registration.... $400 down the drain but I get my current registration with a temp operation permit until I show proof of insurance.

Back to 850 Bryant to get a release paper and the cop at the desk is telling me I have a 30 day hold on the car because it was impounded for registation and insurance or lack there of. Now the DA's office dropped the charges on my brother due to the fact that it was originally an unwarrented stop, so that should have terminated the hold... no case, no reason to put a hold on the car. After the cop searched the VC's for about 30 minutes trying to find a reason to hold the car he finally gave up and charged me $194 for a vehicle release. $194.00 for what its not a towing fee, its an SFPD fee for towing me car... my god, it must have been a lot of trouble for that officer to call up the radio room and request a towtruck. So I try to charge it... oh im sorry we dont accept credit cards, the atm is down the hall... mother fucker!!!!

So FINALLY with registration and release in hand I go back to the tow window. That will be $731 please... WTF!!! apparently my car has been in the impound since the 15th and i was just finding out about it. And guess what? once again they dont accept credit cards... ignore the fact that the visa and mastercard stickers are right in front of you on the window and that they have a credit card machine on the counter, they just dont accept them. Ok well, i dont have the cash on me or in the bank, but i do have those cash advance checks that the credit cards give you... so i start to fill it out and the lady asks if its a personal check... No, its a cash advance check... oh im sorry we dont accept those, personal or business check only... oh you bitch!!! lucky this window is between you and I.

So, half way through the process of bailing my car out I run out of money. I guess theres nothing to do but goto work and ask my boss for an advance on my paycheck. So I finish off a half day of work to make up some of the money I lost, head to my shop to get a ride back to SF and bail out my car. 8pm at night i get to 850 with $800 in hand to bail out my car and take it home with thoughts of murdering my brother in my mind... get to the counter and guess what... the total amount is now $747... WTF... oh yeah our storage fee starts at 11am, so this is technically a new day. OMG!!! just give me my fucken papers and let me get my car.... "oh im sorry sir, the tow yard is closed right now, you will have to pick your car up tomorrow morning between 8am and 11am or we will have to charge you another day of storage."

Yes, towing cars seems to be a big business for the City and not just SF. Anyways, i just wanted to share this with you guys out there because i know there are alot of you out there driving around with no insurance, suspended licenses and even stolen tabs. This is what you have to expect if you get caught.

I dont blame the cops for this, my brother was the idiot in this story and it cost me dearly... although i still believe if they spent half as much time fighting crime as they do issueing fixit tickets and towing cars, this would be a near zero crime city. Still in this case my brother was in the wrong.

Just a friendly warning, if your gonna be out there fucking around, at least have all your papers in order. -Ninja