A family member recently passed, and we needed to have his hybrid car towed to the dealer as it had…read moresat in the parking garage for over three years. Basically a brand new car, this hybrid was dead, no power at all.
I filled out the Yelp information stating the make and model of the car, the location in a parking garage and the circumstances of why I needed the tow. I had Yelp send out projects to four towing services. I chose ABC Road Services [I am confused by the different company name, listed in Google as F&G Towing, instead of ABC Road Services as listed in Yelp ...], as they were the cheapest quote. . . and the owner said he may be able to fix the problem without a tow.
The owner came over and tried to charge the car's auxiliary battery. No go. He told me after fifteen minutes of attempted charging, that the battery was dead and the hybrid battery also had no power, and that we needed to tow the car. However, since the aux battery was dead, the car could not be put in reverse. Also, the flatbed he brought was too high to carry the car through the garage. He suggested buying a new battery to get power to place the car in neutral to roll it out to the truck.
I went out to purchase a new replacement auxiliary battery and scheduled to have the tow company return the next day (as the dealer had already closed). Another tech came out, and first wanted to try charging the aux battery again. It worked! There was enough charge to start the vehicle, with no need for replacing the battery or towing the car to the dealer. The problem, according to the first technician, was that the charger that the owner brought was not compatible with the 12v battery. The second tech had a 12v charger. He told me to keep it running to charge the aux battery. He then left for another job.
Unfortunately, after running the car for five minutes to charge up the battery, I turned off the car and it promptly died - again, no power. As I found out later through research, these hybrids often do not have alternators to regulate the battery charge, relying instead on regeneration by braking and by engine power.
The first tech still was busy with another tow, and a second tech came out to switch out the battery. Viola! Power restored and the car could shut down without losing power! I followed his advice and put in a gas stabilizer and drove the car out to a gas station to fill up the tank.
Fortunately, no extra charge for the first visit, as well as the two techs that came out. And since I didn't actually need a tow, I did not need to pay for towing. HOWEVER, if I did need a tow, the owner quoted $145 for tow up to 8 miles. The dealer was 5 miles away, so not bad. The first tech, asked me what had been quoted to me by the owner, and when I told him the tech said "Honestly, it will be $195 for the tow." Why the difference? I do not know, but that price change worried me.
So, for the owner to give me the wrong quote upfront, and for the worries caused to me for due to the inability to charge the aux battery in the first place, I had to take off two stars for this review. If the two techs were the only ones I had to deal with, I would have given 5 stars for their time and service.
