Towing Issues: My car was towed by mistake, tow truck driver, california plates

Question
I parked my car in a turnout off of Highway 50 west of Lake Tahoe.  As far as I know, it was legally parked.  A tow company towed it to the Ford dealer in Sacramento because they made a mistake. A lady with the same type of car was broken down about 200 yards up the road from my car. She requested a tow to the Ford dealership.  When the tow truck driver came upon my car, he thought it was the car he was supposed to be towing.  Don't towing companies have rules about when they can tow a car?  Shouldn't they at least have the license plate number of the car and verify it? I was on hike with my wife and two small children and I came down the mountain to find my car gone.  I have the car back now but I was wondering if I should just over-look this or do something about it.  I called the tow company today and they apologized but they did not even offer to compensate me for the gas and time of the driver I had to call to pick us up. Thank you for your response

Answer
Well mistakes happen and unfortunately it did in your case. But as a tow truck driver, I do want to tell you a little about the process of receiving a call to tow a vehicle.

First you break down, and get a ride home or somewhere else. In most cases you have taken the keys with you.
Then you call the repair shop and a lot of time you do not know the license of the vehicle or EXACTLY where it is...  Look at the description of how you would describe where you parked.

So you get a service manager or writer who is called to have someone go pick up the Blue Windstar with California plates but not known what the license plate is. There will be no keys.

Now that is from the owner to the service writer, who in turn calls the tow company dispatcher who writes down the information as relayed to them as best as possible.

Then this is sent over the radio or cell phone to the driver who goes out looking for the Blue Windstar in the turn out west of Lake Tahoe on Highway 50, which is broke down and there are no people there and no keys...  

Now if you were driving a vehicle which is unique like a green Ferrari or a Pink Rolls Royce you might not have a problem, but think about how many times you came out of the mall and seen more than one vehicle which looks like yours.

Have you ever tried to get into the wrong car by mistake.  

I hate to say it but this does happen a lot in the towing business due to the lack of information we receive.


Now as to compensating you, that would be up to the tow company and you to work out. I am not sure if it would happen, but it might...

Hope this helps, but sorry for not having a better answer than what you most likely already knew.