PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

Squiggle Dog · #49 03-11-2011, 11:30 PM

I now own my dream car! I have the title and keys to it as well.

I had a tow truck lined up for the early afternoon but the driver said the truck was broken down and probably couldn't pick it up until Sunday. I called a few other places and they said they would have the truck driver get back to me in 5-10 minutes. After about 30 minutes I called back to ask if the driver was available, and they said that they told them to call me.

After about an hour of not hearing anything back I saw a tow company on Google Maps that was near my house in Tacoma. I called them to ask if they had a driver available and about how much it would cost. The lady asked where the car was and where I wanted it to be towed. I told her the Seattle address and said I wanted it transported to my house in Tacoma, about 30 miles away. Then she said she would have a driver call me in 5-10 minutes so I would know when he was available and what the cost would be.

I waited for probably 20 minutes and then I got a call from the driver. His accent was so thick that I couldn't understand most of what he was saying, other than that he was at where the car was and wanted to know if I could see his truck. I was shocked that he was in Seattle where the car was since I expected to have a truck from Tacoma take me to Seattle so I could pay for the car, not have a Seattle truck pick up the car. I told him the situation and he said he would have dispatch call back.

A while later the lady I had spoken with called back and wanted to know my credit card number. I told her that I needed to have a truck from Tacoma take me up to get the car in Seattle and take it back, not a truck from Seattle. Then she said that it would cost double for that driver to pick me up, take me to the car, bring the car to Tacoma, and then go back to Seattle.

I said that it wasn't going to work, and she got all nasty and said that she was going to charge my credit card even if they didn't do the tow. I told her no, because I didn't even get to talk to the driver before he left for the car; he just drove to where the car was and called when he was already there, while in the meantime I was waiting for him to call to confirm if he was even available. I didn't even know how much they were going to charge me. She told me that she needed to talk to the driver so they could figure something out.

She called back again and asked what the reason was that I didn't communicate with her and tell her that I was in Tacoma. I said that the address on Google Maps shows them as being right by my house in Tacoma and that I expected a truck that was local to take me to the car in Seattle because I have to pay for the car. The lady told me that they were based in Seattle (even though their Google Maps address is in Tacoma, right by my house). She got all flustered and said she needed to figure this out and hung up.

I waited for a bit and none of the other tow truck drivers called, so I gave up and rented a UHaul truck and trailer. It was actually for the better because it would have cost between $160-180 to pay for a tow truck, while the total cost of renting the truck and trailer was $145, including taxes and gas money.

When I arrived there the owner of the wagon was in a W126 SEC that he installed a 5 cylinder turbo diesel engine into and rebadged to a 300SDC. I imagine he wouldn't have been against my installing a turbo diesel engine in the wagon! I used a mechanical winch to pull the car onto the trailer and it was smooth sailing all the way home.

I am excited to finally own a heckflosse Universal wagon! I am going to be using many of the parts from my 200D for the wagon. I tried to sell the 200D for a while, but the body rust and engine troubles have kept it from selling at an acceptable price. Now that I can re-use the parts for the wagon, I'm not losing all of the money that I spent on new parts and I can make some money selling the parts that won't work on the wagon.

Tomorrow I want to give the car a good bath.