What the hell did I just do? Did I really just give the car-towing return facility four stars? Four. Would that be the number of times I punched myeslf in the face for having gotten my car towed, or the number of days I need to work to make up for the towing fees. Well, I'm going with it, no sense in stopping now -- cause then they'd have time to tow me. Getting your car towed blows. Like really sucks. But more often than not, it's your fault, like it was my fault this weekend (though a more prominent "No Parking" sign would have helped). However, you can't fault that on AutoReturn, that's the city's fault, or your own. However, having lived in Philadelphia for the last four years, I have a big-city basis for comparison. When my car got towed in Philly, it was towed to the industrial wasteland that is Southwest Philadelphia, where there was neither a person nor any public transit or ATMs in sight. Nor did they, of course, take credit card. I hated going through it, but it was pretty nice to have a centrally located facility that accepts credit cards and allows me to drive out of the lot. Towing blows, but at least it's a painless (if not very expensive -- I should note I paid $125 in Philly) experience. I mean, after all, you'll feel much lighter after your wallet has been trimmed by $300. read more

Came here with a friend to pick up her car. Yes it sucks to have your car towed, but reviews should be based on your experience at the place. $385 to get the car out. The woman who helped us was nice. Answered all the questions my friend had like why the car was towed and what not. I'm not sure why the guy wanted to drive the car out and the other guy who helped someone else just brought them to the car. But we got to drive it out since she had a lock on the car. The one thing about this place is that it's kind of hidden behind the parking lot. If you're at the gates, the office is to the left towards the police station. read more

The friendly guys at auto return had me shell out $340 to get my truck out of the towing yard after coming to SF looking for work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus $83 from SF parking ticket department... I am so bitter as I am really broke right now and thought this was a HUGE scam the city is running...I mean people are not necessarily paying attention to all signs especially those hidden behind trees... Although we should since our money will go straight into the city's pocket otherwise. it sucks and I am now really sour about coming to the city and dealing with this nightmare. never again. read more

I live in sf and it's a sh*t hole. The city sure does know how to milk their residents for money. My car bail was 386 and 75 for the ticket. About 200 of the bail was administrative fees. It must feel great to get paid 200 dollars for 5 mins of paperwork you rich fat pigs. If the city is that poor, why not stop providing free homeless shelters and allocating those funds to your tax pay-ers? It's already obvious sf is a homeless magnet for bums all over the nation but damn Gavin doesn't do anything about it. So back to this sh*t hole, auto return. the people here are rude and obnoxious. They ripped a paper form off my car tearing my wiper blade and cracked my window during the break-in and towing process. I asked politely that they damaged my car and what they will do about it but they chuckled and said there is nothing they will do about it because there is really no way for me to prove that they caused the damages. What asses..... At least the meter maid was nicer... read more

Auto Return is a Mafia in our beautiful San Francisco. They towed my car because I did not see the sign "Street cleaning from 4pm to 6pm every day". Yeaa right, I'll bet you clean mission street between 4th and 5th every day, in the middle of the most busy commute hour. They charged me $439 within half an hour. I saw very many victims all lined up to pay their hard earn moneys. Having the reason as this unrealistic parking restriction on the commute hour tells me, who ever sets these cleaning hour signs gets a cut. They have to. They deserve it. The employees face skin is very thick, as the bullet-proof shield they stand behind. As long as this company operates, SF is a third world country. read more

Anybody taking a walk of shame down here in the morning after a hangover knows these guys can suck a big fat dick. After you get yelled at by a Cholla hair banger finishing her nails because you didn't take a line ticket, it's time to step up to the booth and pay the $250 towing fee while she talks to her friend on her RAZR. Go outside, hand your ticket to some pavement troll who doesn't think you have the authorization to get your car, and hope your car's alignment and underbody aren't fucked up by the tow driver. I've been towed about eight times in the city. Four of the times I think were questionable at best. How does it cost $250 dollars to tow a car? These guys are professional thieves. They'll put the car on the back of their turtle smell and walk home in a minute. You'll see the stolen cars pouring in all day on your trip slips, trust. And the best part of your trip is still cuming, You'll have a DPT ticket on your wind shield that you'll pay for later. read more

So two months ago it cost $244. Now it's $375!! Un-freaking-believable!! I got there 12 hours after my car was towed. Upon inspection, I found the bottom cover under the car was all torn apart, and now a piece of plastic metal thingy was hanging loose, kind of flapping around. I filed a claim right away. If nothing comes of it, I am considering further options. Also, terrible customer service by the lazy security attendant guy at the lot. He looked like he hated his job. read more

If you're going to get towed and have to pay $355 to get your car back like I did, at least at Auto Return you'll deal w/ great smiling people to help you through the process. Yes it sucks to get towed. Yes I could've used that $355 in 101 better ways. Yes it was a beautiful Saturday when I could've been lounging poolside (which is where I was heading when I discovered my car was gone). And YES my rude (if not completely stupid) North Beach neighbor could have driven EASILY in & out of their driveway! But it couldn't have been easier to get the car back. Expensive yes. Difficult not at all!! Total of 15 minutes spent here and I hope to never have to come back! read more

I was afraid the whole night was ruined: we were towed! But after a restorative slice of pizza, we took a taxi to AutoReturn and had the car back in no time. The woman at the counter was sweet and cheerful, and another dude helpfully led us right to our car in the lot. It way-sucks to get towed, but not way-sucks-worse-than-anything. We got to the party waaay before all of our friends that had not been towed. read more

I forgot to change my address on my license so my tickets were being sent to my old address...and lo and behold I wake up to my car being booted. So I trekked down to auto return at 11pm and Leilani helped me. She was super nice, non judgemental and literally had me out of the office within 15 minutes. An hour later my boot was taken off. Thanks Leilani! As for auto return as a company- screw you!! My entire rim of my Mercedes is scratched from the boot. I will be getting in contact with management to remedy this because it's quoted over $300 just to fix my scratched up rim. read more

These guys towed a commercial vehicle during the construction works. Can't tell you how upset I am. Had to use an Uber with a lot of tools. Terrible. On the other hand that's my fault, I admit it. I shouldn't be parking on the street 2-6 and I did. By the way people there are ok even nice. Told me I can get a discount cause that was my first time. Good lesson though... read more

Came to sf to roam around the city. Ended up having to stop to go to the bathroom for a total of 10 minutes... came back and my car was gone. Find out its at AutoReturn... went in hoping they would give us a break but no. I understand we parked somewhere and had misread the parking sign, now we are paying 303$ to get out my car. The tow truck drove 2 blocks and they are charging a 200$ towing fee. Can you say crooks? Like are you fuckin kidding me? I'm livid... and the people who work here have no fucking heart or understanding from where people might be coming from. read more

My scooter got stolen. I reported it to the SF Police. Whoever stole it was still driving it around the city. It got towed 3 days later by DPT for being parked illegally by the thief. In order to get my scooter back I had to pay $239, which included one day storage charge... They waived the admin fee... around $250 ($250 admin fee!!! to input a license plate in their software database, which probably takes 5 seconds...) c'mon!!! that's B.S.!!! This is a mafia style company which monopolizes the towing in SF. There should be other companies to make it fair, otherwise it's just a monopoly and they can do as they please...they can basically charge you whatever they want... who controls them???? I'm still gonna try to fight the fee somehow... It's just wrong to have to pay $239 to recover your stolen vehicle... read more

What more can I say? Yes, the 4-6pm got me, totally my fault. Thankfully AutoReturn was there to save the day. Fast service with friendly employees providing a great community service. It's my first time and wow, I never knew being ripped off would be such a fulfilling experience. As a bonus the city gave me a ticket too. I feel really lucky to have been a part of it. Thanks again. :) read more

I can't really get mad at this company for towing my car because I was in the wrong in this situation. They get a one star because they stole valuables from inside my car. If you're going to end up getting towed pray that it isn't by this shady company. read more

I think we should have a class action lawsuit against Auto Return. I just paid $501 for my car. It was in their lot for 1 hour!! $500 is unreasonable and does not add up. Anyone who wants to join this lawsuit should email me at oblix_1234@hotmail.com. It's time we made them reduce their costs to something more reasonable. read more

First of all, the name of this business is a total Joke. Thanks for returning what you stole. For anybody who argues that they are performing a civil service, I ask what if you get paid more than $400 / hour for whatever kind of work you do. $450 to tow a car a couple of miles is absolute extortion. And, I live in NYC where everything is supposed to be more expensive, particularly transportation wise, but this is more than twice the cost of a tow there. To make matters worse, my car was legally parked. For somebody who doesn't live in SF, your choices are Violence or taking it in the ass, hard. It's no wonder these cowards all sit behind bullet proof glass. What a convenient arrangement the city has. They give a cushy exclusive contract to some buddies of god knows who, in exchange each side gets to point the finger at the other, leaving the victim with no recourse. What's next? Crooked cops demanding bribes accepting credit cards? Oh wait, that's what we have here. SF - Your city depends highly upon tourism. You go around towing legally parked cars and ass raping people for $550? (there's a citation on top of the tow)Get a clue. read more

Somewhere a San Francisco politician is getting his pocket lined with money from AutoReturn for allowing them to charge $450 to tow and store your car for 2 hours. I don't even want to think about how much it would cost if they had it for over 24 hours. I was lucky that there wasn't a line or a nasty employee at the other end of the window, but damn - having to pay close to half a grand to retrieve your car is a damn crime. I hope whatever politician who arranged this gets whats coming to them. Karma is a bitch. read more

*LEGAL THIEVERY* Does anyone know how to contest "AutoReturn" (because they are making hand over fist returns on your auto) for reimbursement? The AutoReturn Mafia says that according to SF law there can be no refunds based on" financial hardship or mitigating circumstances"- does this include disabilities and displayed handicap placards? I am so over SF or what is now more commonly known as the uber elite playground of the 21st century colonizer. read more

Lol i wish i could give a zero rating. First of all this company thinks its doing service but what it is doing is ripping of people's money. Are you F*&#ing kidding me. A tow costs close to 500$ in san francisco.San Francisco parking department adds a 200$ administrative charge for every tow. Iam like WTF? is that for.. you tow my car. They think they are in year 2200. This is nuts and the city complains that they are running out of money but some shitty towing company makes 400$ an hour Shady business to loot common people of their hard earned money. read more

shortly after first moving to san francisco, i had the "fortune" of being towed by the dpt *twice* in a 2month period. (yes, i could've financed a semi-luxurius weekend trip to paris on what i spent on recovering my car!). in any event, the auto return is a pain in the @$$ to get to. it's in the ghetto, so if/when you get there after dark (which is almost always the case since it's so thoroughly inaccessible by public transport from the sunset), you feel like you'll be mugged/raped/killed within minutes. the people who work the counter are *really really* weird. first, they ignored me for a while as i stood at the counter. they weren't talking, they weren't really doing anything. they just made me stand there for a while feeling useless. after this, the guy came, mumbled/stuttered something and kept looking at me with a weird gleam in his eyes...as though he were undressing me. moreover, i thought they are supposed to bring the car out front. well, in my case, the guy made me walk back to the car with him. it was *really* uncomfortable bc in that pile of cars, man, *anything* could happen. anyway, it's creeping me out just writing about it, but basically, when i got to my car, i just hightailed it outta there. read more

I come home from a day of sailing, day's great. Then I realize my car's gone. I took a picture of exactly where it was parked and there's another car there. Hmmm... Call the police to see if it was towed, and APPARENTLY I was blocking a driveway. Funny, since I circled around almost three times to AVOID parking in a driveway. I am 100,000% positive I didn't. Car was towed. $528 to get it out. $100 parking ticket. So, walk the 3 or 4 miles- get lost a few times, too- in the worst parts of SF (I stepped in what I believe was human urine on the sidewalk) to get to this place, and I finally do get there, to discover- not too much to my surprise- that my car had been broken into. I was missing a whole bunch of little things- snack foods I kept in my glove box, air fresheners, coupons for food, and about five dollars in change. My car had clearly been rifled through, and stuff was missing. But I was told I couldn't claim anything because the amount of things stolen didn't total $50. But here's the kicker. My parking brake is overly sensitive (it's a 12- year- old car and I drove about ten miles with it on one time), so if you bump it just right- up then down- the car goes out of park... even just a tiny bit. Now, I'm pretty damn convinced that's what happened, and my car rolled into the driveway I was supposedly blocking (I'm young, not stupid. I know where I parked my car and it wasn't even near a driveway when I parked. But I got towed, I paid and drained every penny from my name, and no one is even willing to listen to the very real possibility that whoever was in my car rolled my car? So... that's why you're getting the one star review. Plenty of people bellyache about how this kind of stuff isn't actually their fault for whatever reason, but there is tangible stuff MISSING from my car and I still can't get someone to listen or take me seriously. There is a special circle of hell reserved for all of you. Needless to say, I'm taking Bart next time. read more

The towing fees here are absolutely ridiculous and the customer service here is very poor as well. You figure people would be a little nicer if you're paying them hundreds of dollars to claim a vehicle. read more

How the fuck is $471 proportional to the damage I caused society by accidentally parking in a street sweeping space for an hour on a Friday afternoon? read more

Fed the meter at 3.00PM for two hours, missed the signs above your head, which said tow-away from 4-6PM. Signs are quite spread out and easy to miss. Anyway - Got car towed away today and hope the city is happy ripping of honest tax paying citizens. My questions are. Why don't they put in meters which will stop accepting money during the tow-away period. Why don't they put a warning sign above the meter. Why not just mark the parking are with a red line or something and do away with the meter. As soon as I arrived to see my car missing, I saw a citation being given to another car and a tow truck standing by. Then another tow truck arrived and told the citation officer that he has spotted another car and urged her to quickly move to that car so he can tow it away. I thought the tow truck drivers job is to tow cars when called upon ?? What is going on here ? read more

Dont let them drive away with your car you will never see it again. Please tell me what can we do for revenge ive had 10 cars in 10 years taken from them i got 3 kids 9 months 4 and 6 got hands full with them no time to appeal jump through hoops to have basic property rights this place is sooooooo croked its discusting and to make worse in cahoots with sfpd unbelievable im ready to start my own tow company just to boot and tow tow trucks whos with me? read more

The staff was professional, courteous and helpful. I went in with a friendly attitude and was given the same. They are doing a good job at a hard job - that's not an easy gig. I thought the situation was as pleasant as it could be, considering. Shout out to Simone and Will, thanks for your help! read more

$2,975.75 to get a car that is not even worth $2,975.75 out of the impound. Thanks SF. Thanks for privatizing this service. Thanks for having a payment plan. Your $65 a day storage fee is completely reasonable. I can totally afford over priced groceries for the next 10 months now. Oh and rent that has increased over 30% in the past year, yeah I can pay that and this, too. Sure. Thanks for making your city affordable and welcoming. I can't wait to move to hippie hill which is the place I obviously belong. Yay! Hey, but I can get it out at 3 in the morning if I want. That warrants a star. read more

I had my car stolen I called numerous times if they had it in theyre possession they said no my gut feeling kept pointing me back to them for some reason I called today and I was told my car was sold 4 days ago please if any body has info on my 90 Honda thats gold and was sold for $100 I have valuables I need from my daughter's death certificate pictures etc. Can you please reach out they told me they sold it to a scrap yard company my name is Angel and I am the org owner read more

These motherfuckers are running a scam with SFMTA. I made a mistake but it will cost me $590 of my hard earned money. Isn't that absurd that a parking violation costs you this much?? I hope karma comes and gets this company and politicians and SFMTA involved. read more

This is such a rip off. My car was towed away due to construction, the thing is that they didn't even bother placing a tow away sign next to where my vehicle was parked the previous day and then this morning as I'm walking towards my car lo and behold my car is gone. Oh and there was now a lovely tow away sign next to where my car was parked. How the f was I supposed to know I wasn't supposed to park there?! 400 dollars and terrible customer service later I drove my baby off that terrible lot. The cherry on top is a citation ticket. Sweet. read more

If I could negative stars, I would. My car got towed and I had to pay a hefty price ($600). And they told me to go and pick it up from their Pier 70 lot. When I got the car back, I figured the employees had STOLEN everything I had left in my car when it got towed. My sunglasses, my coins (so f*king cheap of them to steal my coins) and some of my cards. And they responded that they are not liable for the items left in the car. This is ridiculous - you pay so much charges for them to take care of your car (per day charge) and they don't even take care of it. Their employees are the worst. This is extortion with ridiculously bad service. I pray that nobody goes through their towing experience ever. read more

At about 9:15am I was walking down Leavenworth to where I had parked my truck...um, oh shit, where's my truck!!!!! I ran up and down the street convinced maybe it was just hiding, yes, I had completely lost it and continued to freak out until my boyfriend came to help calm me down and advise me that running around spazzing out and having a minor meltdown was not a good idea with the police department right down the street. When I calmed down enough to at least seem slightly stable, we went to the police station hoping it wasn't stolen or discovered gutted in some lot. It wasn't stolen...the meter maid nazis somehow got it on a flatbed tow truck (according to the bill) and dragged it to the autoreturn. Didn't know that a 5 minute drive would cost $481...oh not to mention the tickets I had stuck on the windshield. Besides having to spend so much money to get my vehicle back from the meter maids and tow yard, I had an unpleasant surprise when I went to try to pop the hood to check that nothing got banged up when they towed it...not only was there a couple new dents in the front bumper, but the hood wouldn't pop open. They had jammed the mechanism used to release the latch under the hood when they towed it. Thank you AutoReturn, for pretty much bankrupting me and damaging the bumper and hood of my truck. See you all in hell. read more

Worst customer service and the cost for the tow is beyond ridiculous...$437 I will NOT be coming to SF anytime soon, I think they got plenty of my hard earned money in this trip and not to mention totally ruined mother's day for me and my mother!!!!!! read more

May 2008: Note to Rachel - my car ended up at SF Auto Return not because I BROKE THE LAW (as you claim is the blanket reason for a car being towed here) but because somebody else brok the law - THE THIEF WHO STOLE MY CAR AND LEFT IT IN A TOW ZONE. Oh, and Rachel? Anybody who gives two separate five-star reviews to SF Auto Return and doesn't have a personal story about a towed car? WORKS AT SF AUTO RETURN! December 2006: My car was stolen last night. I found out this morning at 11:30 when I went to get it from its parking space on the street in the Marina district where I live, and it wasn't there. At a friend's suggestion, I logged on to SF Auto Return's web site and entered my plate number, and it said it had been towed from a location in the TENDERLOIN at 7:38 this morning. I then got on the bus to get my car out, and called them on my cell phone from the bus, at noon. The woman who answered said that my 4 hour grace period to get my car out without a storage fee was going to expire in FIVE MINUTES. I explained that I was on the bus and could only get there when the bus got me there! When I got there at 12:30, I asked them to waive the $30 storage fee (which was on top of the $188.25 impound fee) and they said that since I had called and spoken with them at noon, they had PROOF they had warned me the grace period was almost up, so they couldn't waive the fee. I said that I had been ON THE BUS!!!! that my car had been STOLEN!!! that I was there 30 minutes after the period expired. No matter. They seemed to think that I had just left my own car overnight in a towaway zone in the Tenderloin, and I kept explaining, I live in the MARINA, it was STOLEN!!! then they said "did you file a police report?" and I said "no, I'm going over there to do that but the police said that even if I file a police report they will not waive the impound fee, so I thought I'd come here first and see if you'd at least waive the storage fee. " Bottom line? Even when a poor working-class person like me has her car stolen, and they're already making $188.25 off my misfortune, they want another $30 out of my pocket. So, I stood in line for an hour and a half at the police station around the corner (850 Bryant) to file the report, and when I finally got an officer he said they had to send an officer over to the lot to inspect my car! And they'd have to radio for someone to do that. But he finally took pity on me himself and went and did it. If you go through THAT process you get the $60 "administrative fee" knocked off your ticket. Whoopee. And I still have to fight the $60 DPT tow-zone ticket. I hope if I send in a letter and a copy of the police report they'll dismiss the ticket, but knowing DPT, I'm not going to count on it. So...the thieves stole my registration (which will cost $16 to replace at the DMV and is creeping me out because they know my name and address)...they rammed a screwdriver into the ignition, so I can start the car with my key (I could probably start it with a fork at this point) but I can't get the key all the way into the ignition. They didn't break any windows, so maybe I'm lucky. But if I want to replace the ignition it will cost about $200 in labor and $200 in parts - for some asshole to drive around in my car for a couple of hours. As it is, the ignition is permanently one click away from "off and locked" so I can't lock my steering wheel, and whenever I open my door it thinks I've left the keys in the ignition so it starts beeping. read more

Such a rip off. I am from Utah. And recently our friends car got towed at China Town. There were so many signs all over and one of them said no parking 3pm-6pm. We got their at 2pm. Obviously, we did not read the part were it said 3-6pm no parking M and Wednesday. The fine was over $500 the towing company is totally taking advantage of the situation. Why $500? This is totally a corrupted system. I HATE when profit companies take ADVANTAGE of the situation. read more

How are these people allowed to charge $400.00+ for storing my car for less than an hour? How is this not considered a scam? Fucking thieves. read more

$575 towing fee plus $93 ticket; got my car back in 1h of discovering it was towed; the service is efficient and phone staff is helpful; of course such fees are outrageous and nor fair read more

While during the process I never would have said "Woohoo! As good as it gets!", looking back now it as painless as it could have possibly been. Granted, it sucked. I was so angry. But it was MY dumb idea to block someone's driveway (only, like, 5 inches!!). And it was MY fault I got towed. After getting through the whole process, and having my car delivered to me in a hour (yay!!) I was back on the road again. While there are a ton of things I'd rather spend $500 on, I am grateful for the awesome customer service I received on this crappy day. read more

In the mood for Outrageous prices and a horrible attitude? You are in the right place! My car was stolen and I had to pick it up from here... They made more than $600 cause my car was stolen and then recovered... How is that even fair? I'm a victim of car theft and then you are going to rob me again???? Fast forward a few months and my car was parked illegally and towed, second visit they had my car no more 5 hours... $700 + just to get my car back? City of San Francisco can I please get permission to run a similar monopoly??? This place is making more a hour than most surgeons. Cherry on top... The horrible attitude of the clerks inside! The only nice person there is the guy in the yard who finds the car and gives it back to you. read more