Apparently, the city of Ann Arbor decided to do some construction on Wall St. and didn’t bother to tell anyone. Normally this wouldn’t matter since they’ve been doing construction on and off on Wall St. for months, but on April 19th, they (the city of Ann Arbor) thought it might be fun to tow all the cars on Wall St. without letting anyone know they would be towed. This is what happened to me yesterday afternoon.

I walked out and looked up and down the street thinking, “Where’s my car?” Then I thought, “Where are all the cars? Any cars?” As I stood there looking back and forth a couple times, some guy standing out in the yard of his apartment complex on Wall St. asked, “You have a car out here?” I said that I did and he proceeded to inform me that they towed at least 10 cars at about 8:30am and a few more after people saw open parking spots. Knowing immediately that it’s going to be at least $150.00 to get my car back and there’s no fighting City Hall, I walk back to my girlfriend’s place and she drives me up to Brewer’s, the towing company’s lot.

After arriving at Brewer’s, the woman behind the counter tells me that I can’t merely pay the impound fee and be on my merry way. No, I have to go to the police station and get a release form because the City of Ann Arbor had the car towed. Very well. Off to City Hall.

Once at City Hall, a nice officer behind the counter tells me it will be $60.00. I asked if that was for the “parking violation / ticket” I need to pay to get my car out and he informs me that the $60.00 is only for “administrative fees” and that the ticket he proceeds to hand me is for $25.00. The $60.00, however, apparently pays for the release form. I pay the cop the $60 for the admin fees and release form, then hit the ATM in the lobby to pay the parking ticket and drop it in the drop box. $85.00 lighter in under 5 minutes and I still don’t have my car, but at least now the City of Ann Arbor and I are back in good graces and I have it’s permission to get my car back. Back to Brewer’s.

Once back at Brewer’s, the lady informs me that it will be $155.00 to get my car back; $95.00 for “Light Duty Tow”, $40.00 for something called “Michigan Statutory Assessment” which basically tells me that Michigan demands their cut of the action, and $20.00 for “Outdoor Storage” where the car sat for a whopping 6 hours.

$240.00 later and driving all over Ann Arbor, I finally have my car back. Had I known all this was going to happen, I would have given $240.00 to a homeless shelter or soup kitchen or something and parked elsewhere. I’m still grumbling about it.

True story. The end.