My E36 got towed!

[lestrange]

I just bought an E36. Can't get insurance without pictures with winter tires on. Can't put winter tires on because I can't find the wheel lock key. Car got towed at 4am this morning because it has no plates or stickers. Can't get the plates with no insurance. Car is now sitting in the impound, because it had no plates. Now I must pay $230 to have it released and towed back. Sorry I needed to vent!

I bought the car Sunday... I've owned it just over 24 hours. Arrrrrrgggggh!

[EurOnly]

Maybe you should not have left it on a city road.

[DailyE36]

get the car back and store it in a safe place. there are ways to get wheel locks of. just look on youtube. im not sure about the insurance thing tho.
good luck.

[mwood]

I just bought an E36. Can't get insurance without pictures with winter tires on. Can't put winter tires on because I can't find the wheel lock key. Car got towed at 4am this morning because it has no plates or stickers. Can't get the plates with no insurance. Car is now sitting in the impound, because it had no plates. Now I must pay $230 to have it released and towed back. Sorry I needed to vent!

I bought the car Sunday... I've owned it just over 24 hours. Arrrrrrgggggh!

Catch-22

[BMWdriverwanted]

Get limited liability, then up it.

[xlDooM]

Find the right size inhex socket (it's like a socket with an allen key sticking out of it), hammer that into the anti-theft bolts and get them out. A chisel bit may also work, but riskier.

[lestrange]

Maybe you should not have left it on a city road.

It was in my building parking lot in my spot which I pay parking for. They looked up the vin# its still in the old owners name since I literally just got it Sunday afternoon. They saw it wasn't registered to anyone in the building so it was towed. They thought someone else was parking in my spot.

[KevinMullins]

Damn, that sucks.


Can't get insurance without pictures with winter tires on.

I have NEVER heard of anything like that and I've lived all over the country and dealt with many different insurance companies on many different vehicles.

[lestrange]

Belair direct.... that's all I have to say about that.

Fees to release my car from the impound $123.02. Tow $60 to hookup $3 per km towed. Mcnallys wants $90 to extract the wheel locks it'll take an hour. Then $90 to tow back to my building. I also contacted BMW $120 -240 to extract $120 towing each way and could take up to 3 days.

So do I trust mcnallys?

Cause I don't trust myself with a hammer around my wheels.

[johnf]

I have NEVER heard of anything like that and I've lived all over the country and dealt with many different insurance companies on many different vehicles.I bet you've never lived in Chicago and dealt with the Lincoln Park Towing Company, otherwise known as The Lincoln Park Pirates

The "charm school" is Joliet State Prison.

I hope they didn't damage the car!

[KevinMullins]

I bet you've never lived in Chicago and dealt with the Lincoln Park Towing Company, otherwise known as The Lincoln Park Pirates (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE5HtTxxJRM)

Nah, my only time in Chicago was for boot camp back in the day.
But leaving any untagged car on the street/parking garage/whatever is just asking for it to be towed.
I was really just referring to the being denied insurance due to type of "tires" on the car.
I think OP is from overseas though since he mentioned "kilometers", so our rules for insurance may be different I guess. (?)

[strad]

Yeah if your car is not in compliance with the law, it needs to be on private property with the permission of the property owner (or the one with the bundle of ownership rights in the case of a lessee).

Parking a non-compliant vehicle on public property is just asking to get towed. I don't know why anybody would do that and expect to get away with it, and I appreciate risk, living in Las Vegas and all lol.

[johnf]

... I was really just referring to the being denied insurance due to type of "tires" on the car.
I think OP is from overseas though since he mentioned "kilometers", so our rules for insurance may be different I guess. (?)Quite right. I'm linking things together today in crazy ways.

There's a Belair Direct car insurance company in Canada.

[immajackuup]

that's op problem lol

[teb1987]

so uhh not to suggest you know.. something fradulent... find a pic of your color car with snow tires on and show it to them :devillook or just find your car and photoshop the color :devillook or photoshop snow tires onto a pic of your car :devillook... jus sayin...

[Albertan]

I'd be talking to the building management. You pay for the parking spot. You can put whatever you want there. They have no business towing a car from your spot. Tell them to tow it back.

[dinanstu]

Get the wheel lock key from your dealer. They have them all there...
Sorry about you getting towed....

[KevinMullins]

There's a Belair Direct car insurance company in Canada.

Duh moment for me... I didn't even think about Canada using kilometers as well.

They get down right good winters up yonder, maybe there is some weird tire stipulation in regards to insurance.
I guess if it were spring or summer time this wouldn't have been an issue. :D

[johnf]

In Germany, you are allowed to drive on summer tires if the pavement is clear.

If there's snow or ice on the road, however, you can be fined if you don't have at least M+S tires. More worrisome is that you can also lose some or all of your comprehensive insurance if having summer tires gets you into an accident. If there's a claim, the accident will raise your premiums for up to 18 years.

[ChuckDizzle]

double check your rear trailing arms after you pick up the car. Tow truck drivers like to use them as hook points and they can bend ever so slightly.

[lestrange]

double check your rear trailing arms after you pick up the car. Tow truck drivers like to use them as hook points and they can bend ever so slightly.

They actually towed my car on a dolly as the car had to be removed while sitting between two cars parallell parked on a wall.

[ChuckDizzle]

They actually towed my car on a dolly as the car had to be removed while sitting between two cars parallell parked on a wall.

I'd still ask them about the whole procedure then check their work for damage. Its rare that a tow truck driver will take the time to properly mount up an e36, especially if you aren't there to watch.

[BMWdriverwanted]

Could be worse. Every month or so you see tire skid marks in my neighborhood. No, there not burnouts when they go 70 yards over 3 speed bumps.

[sjpgoalie]

Denied by insurance because you don't have snows? Where are you at, OP? That's whacky...how are they going to know from pictures, regardless? Can't you just slap some tires on with decent tread and tell them that they're snows when you give them the pics...?

[BMWMPow3r]

srry to hear. Get bottom rate insurance, talk to the bldg owners to see if they can talk to the towing company, to lower the fee. never heard of not being able to get insurance without snows.

[attrack]

I know here in B.C you can get insurance without winter tires, but your liability goes way up, but not winter tires= no insurance? I've never heard of that before.