Quick take: not too bad, can be muddy, bring keys (!) and ID matching registration. Have the VIN…read more(vehicle identification number) with you if possible.
My teenager parked in a tow zone 2 days ago, and our car got towed to this lot. Reading the reviews, I expected awful things, but it was actually a more pleasant experience than dealing with most city or state offices.
First off, this place is at 10300 Doty, not 103 Doty as in the Yelp address. That's about 25 minutes from the loop in no traffic. Waze found it just fine, so I did not think it was too hard to get to. Once you pull into the lot, there's a big obvious gate where the cars come out, but you have to around the other way, to the back of the trailers, to handle the paperwork.
Inside, there was no line at 8:30 on a Tuesday night. I can see how a crowd would make this a bad experience because the paperwork plus payment takes them 5-10 minutes per car. 20 people in front of you might be an hour or two I suppose.
The personnel were really quite friendly. Not just to me, a middle aged white guy, but also to the less savory characters behind me in line (who were discussing how one of them might be "beating the charges" while they waited).
The routine is, you go inside, and tell them the last few digits of your VIN. They look it up, and then ask for ID matching the last name and address on the registration. They told me they accept a title if you do not have that. You sign some documents, and then they pass paperwork to the cashiers, who take a little while to call you up, where you pay and get a receipt. You walk outside to the gate, present the receipt, and they make an educated guess about where on the dirt/mud field your car is to be found, and tell you to walk that way. If your battery is alive, finding your car using the remote works great.
Inspect your car for damage (we had none), start it up, and drive to the gate where they will confirm the car and then let you out.
