Truck off: Vancouver driver speaks out after towing company flub

Milad Mahpeykar/Dash cam footage

A Metro Vancouver man is speaking out after what he says was a frustrating experience with a towing company.

Milad Mahpeykar says he parked on a street near West 6 Avenue in Vancouver and left his car there for several hours.

“My car essentially was towed for a parking violation based on a City of Vancouver bylaw,” Mahpeykar says. “I was around there doing some shopping, and when I returned, the car wasn’t there.

“I contacted the VPD and they told me ‘that most likely your car was towed.’ So I contacted the company, and they told me my car was towed because of a bylaw violation and that I could pick it up from that specific location.”

The location was Busters Towing.

Milad Mahpeykar’s parking violation notice from Busters Towing was provided to Daily Hive.

“I just went there; they ask you to pay some money so that you can get your car released.”

Later on, he viewed some of the dash cam footage to see that his vehicle was towed with its wheels still on the ground, which can damage automatic transmissions.

“Part of the law is that they need to use additional equipment. In this case, they call it a dolly. The front of the car will be pushed to the truck, and then the back wheels are supposed to be on a dolly so that the wheels do not roll during the tow. But according to the dash cam footage, they just backed into the car.”

Mahpeykar shared his dash cam footage with Daily Hive.

“Specifically, this type of car, which is all-wheel drive, is not supposed to be towed on its own wheels, even for a metre.”

Daily Hive contacted another towing company, Lizard’s Tow Truck Co. in Vancouver, which says these procedures are standard for towing automatic-transmission vehicles.

“If the car’s wheels were spinning on the ground while it was being towed, it could damage the transmission; it is called a dolly,” says Lizard’s Tow Truck Co. employee Susan Sydor.

Mahpeykar says he started researching towing regulations in BC, and according to sgtautotransport.com, a car with an automatic transmission is supposed to be towed with the vehicle totally off the ground.

He contacted the tow company, which denied any wrongdoing.

“They just said, oh, yes, initially the car wasn’t on a dolly and didn’t have any safety harness, but that was just because the driver didn’t have enough space to stop the truck and do the operation. Which is not true; there was enough space.”

An email from Busters Towing management sent to Milad Mahpeykar.

Busters Towing provided footage from its facility that conflicted with Mahpeykar’s footage of the vehicle being towed without a dolly.

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Daily Hive contacted Busters Towing spokesperson Kyle Schrump, but did not receive a comment.

After going back and forth for almost a month, the company agreed to grant the driver a full refund for the towing bill because of the discrepancy.

“They sent me this email, and then they said, okay, we did some further investigation, and then you are right, the towing wasn’t done properly and that they will try to train their drivers,” says Mahpeykar.

Mahpeykar says he believes the proper equipment was not used in order for the company to finish the job faster, which put his car at risk and could have caused permanent damage to its transmission.

“They might be motivated to do so so that it takes less time for them to do the tow and not to do it safely.”

Through this experience, he says he realized the importance of doing your due diligence and taking a second look when confronted with a hefty bill.

“People should know and make sure that their cars are pulled properly or, if not, making sure that they hold the company responsible for this sort of unsafe towing,” Mahpeykar says. “Information and knowledge is power, right?”

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