Driver faces huge car repair bill after vehicle is towed & impounded despite paying for ‘perfect’ parking space

A FRUSTRATED driver is facing a huge car repair bill after her motor was badly damaged after being wrongly towed and impounded.

Student Esther Liu fears she may have to shell out thousands in order to resolve the major dispute despite claiming she fairly paid for the “perfect” parking spot in the first place.

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Esther, a PhD student from Minnesota, travelled to Chicago to continue her studies on the usually packed weekend of July 4.

After a long day of driving Esther finally spotted the ideal place to leave her car on the Near North Side – or so she thought.

She said finding the space was like “winning the lottery” due to the nightlife of Chicago being in full swing by the time she arrived.

But now she could be forced to fork out up to $10,000 to pay for damages to the car after it was improperly towed away and left the motor nearly totalled.

The miracle parking find seemed too good to be true at first so Esther took her time to make sure she was legally safe to park to there.

She told CBS News that she spent 15 minutes checking road signs and speaking to locals with her pal in order to be completely sure.

The student said: “We read all the fine print in the box. We called the phone number that’s listed on the Park Chicago meter, and someone there said, ‘Yeah you’re good until the meter resumes at 8am’.

“We even went into nearby buildings to ask the doormen about the parking spots.”

After thinking the lucky spot was safe for the night Esther paid the correct amount of cash into the meter and went to her accommodation for the evening.

An early morning start saw her head down to repay the meter at around 7am but the 2003 Honda Element had mysteriously vanished.

“My first thought was I forgot where I parked,” Esther said.

“My next thought was the car got stolen.”

She then started to frantically try and track her car online before calling up the local authority for some help.

Esther soon discovered her car had been towed and impounded by the city.

The reason given on the ticket was “parking in a tow zone” – leaving Esther baffled over exactly what she did wrong.

A local doorman who saw Esther’s struggles showed her surveillance footage of a red tow truck hooking up her car at 4:46am.

The CCTV shows the truck was quickly hooked up and dragged away on its back two wheels.

All I know is I had a good, working, recently serviced car. I parked it in Chicago, and now I have a nearly totalled car

Esther Liu

Esther says this has caused serious damage to the Honda.

She said: “You can’t tow an all-wheel drive like that.

“All I know is I had a good, working, recently serviced car.

“I parked it in Chicago, and now I have a nearly totalled car.”

Repairing the car just so it is driveable again could cost her thousands of dollars, Esther claims.

According to the ticket, the officer said the car was a front wheel drive so towing it without a flatbed underneath would be fine.

This led to the damage due to the incorrect information given to the tow driver.

After locating the lot where her car was Esther then faced another fight to actually get the motor back.

The Honda was registered to Esther’s brother meaning they needed his permission to allow her to claim it back.

This also meant everything the student had left inside the car couldn’t be given back to her until she had permission.

Her glasses and EpiPen was all sat in the glove box leaving Esther to plead with the authorities to allow her to have them back at least.

She said she was bluntly she couldn’t access the vehicle.

Esther replied: “That is wild. These are essential medications.”

After hours of back and forth with the city she finally managed to get the correct paperwork and her brother’s approval to get her things out of the car.

Despite having the car it was damaged beyond a quick repair meaning it is still in Chicago with Esther back home in Minnesota.

Her final hopes are pinned on a discrepancy form with the towing company where she hopes the cost of all the repairs will be arranged by them.

The city website says all claims can take “several months before a final determination is made”.

She is also still battling to get the cost of the ticket scrapped and had to attend two administrative hearings to get the tow fees tossed.

Chicago Police didn’t comment on Esther’s case.

The Department of Streets and Sanitation did confirm the ticket was under investigation.

They added that tow truck drivers are under no discretion to ignore the orders of a ticket from an officer hence why it was towed incorrectly.

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