this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2026
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[–] lettruthout@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I was going to suggest charging the company an exorbitant fee for each incident but your idea is better.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

win-win, tow companies fill their lots with waymo, people from waymo need to come get the car, pay hundreds in cash (because all those places are cash only) there's no room in the lot for normal tows.

The passengers should get free rides for a year.

[–] deliriousdreams@fedia.io 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

What do you mean they're cash only? I've paid by card (credit card even) to have my car towed when it just died while sitting in traffic, and again when I needed to move a tool box. What in the world?

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 1 points 14 hours ago

We're not talking about calling a tow service to help you out. We're talking about calling a tow service for improperly or illegally parked cars.

They operate under a completely different set of rules, where they're very concerned about chargebacks.

The ones in my metro area only take cash, You're not even allowed to get your wallet out of the car.

They also have ATM's in their lobbies and they charge $6 to make a withdrawal.

[–] db2@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You weren't paying to get your car back. Different kind of towing.

[–] deliriousdreams@fedia.io 3 points 1 day ago

In plenty of places (in the US) it's the exact same companies doing both. Mack Towing is a pretty good example. The police where I live use them to tow vehicles that are illegal parked or considered abandoned. Those places charge a fee ($400 per day) to the person who owns the vehicle and the fee must be paid before the vehicle will be returned to the customer. They really don't only deal in cash (although I can understand why they might not take credit card payments in this eventuality because of the risk of a chargeback).