Because Nothing Says ‘Compassion’ Like Crushing the Poor
San Diego, the land of year round sunshine, sparkling beaches, fish tacos, and... the relentless impound vultures circling every street corner. While the city markets itself as laid-back and easygoing, its towing practices are anything but chill. Enter the charming phenomenon known as “poverty tows”, because apparently, nothing screams civic pride like yanking someone’s only means of transportation for the heinous crime of having an expired sticker.
Here’s how the game works: park your car somewhere legal, maybe even lovingly tuck it in like a loyal metal companion, and then—BAM—it gets abducted. Why? Oh, because you dared let your registration lapse a month. Or you didn’t move it within 72 hours. Or you’ve got a few unpaid parking tickets gathering dust. In other words, your car wasn’t blocking traffic, endangering lives, or otherwise causing chaos... but the city decided to treat it like a rogue menace anyway.
And the kicker? A city audit revealed that these non-emergency impounds make up a solid 37–41% of all tows in San Diego. That’s not just a little sliver of overreach, that’s nearly half the impound lot stuffed with perfectly driveable, non-dangerous cars whose only crime is existing while slightly inconvenient.
But wait! There’s more! The people hit hardest by these tows are exactly the ones least able to afford them. Low-income workers, people living out of their cars, folks on the edge of homelessness, all get slammed by surprise impound bills, daily storage fees, and the soul-crushing cost of retrieving a vehicle from the municipal black hole. Spoiler alert: most can’t. The result? Their cars are auctioned off, belongings inside tossed or trashed, and suddenly they’ve lost their transportation to work, school, medical care—you know, basic survival.
It’s the perfect vicious cycle. City takes car. Person loses job. Person can’t pay fines. City shrugs and sells car. Person spirals deeper into poverty. Repeat until the streets are lined with the broken dreams of former car owners. Truly heartwarming stuff.
Meanwhile, towing companies are living their best lives, stacking fees higher than the Coronado Bridge. Every 72-hour tag or expired registration is just another payday. If there were an Olympic sport for monetizing misery, San Diego’s towing contractors would bring home the gold.
So what can you do if San Diego’s “poverty tow” machine has snatched your wheels? First, resist the urge to scream into the void (though honestly, it helps). Then head to OUTPOUND.com, a sanctuary for the tow-traumatized. Whether you’re trying to figure out how to get your car back before it’s auctioned or just need to understand your rights, OUTPOUND can walk you through the chaos and help you fight back. Because sunshine and beaches are greatm but not when you’re staring at them from the sidewalk after your car’s been whisked away for a registration lapse. Stay salty, San Diego. The rest of us will be at OUTPOUND.com, trying to clean up your towing mess.
