Towing Issues: towing damage, small claims court, better business bureau

Question
I had added a carport to my apartment rent, and the management mistakenly issued me a carport that belongs to someone else. I parked in the carport yesterday and someone had my car towed w/o my knowledge. This morning once I'd found out what happened, the management (realizing thier mistake) gave me $200, rode me to the towing place and paid for the tow. As soon as I arrived at the towing place, the guy who towed my car last night said, "yup, I placed all 4 wheels on a dolly for ya because those subarus are all wheel drive" ...well once I start driving away I notice a grinding noise come from the drivetrain on deceleration. 1/4 mile down the road I get out of the car and try to inpect the exterior, under the hood, etc but see nothing.  The same guy pulls up in his truck and asks whats wrong. I tell him about the grinding, and that I was taking it to the dealer for a quote.
At the dealership, I call the towing business owner. He says hes sure the operator performed correct procedure, and that Im looking for an easy fix to problems that were already there.
The dealer, after a quick inspection highly recommends I don't drive the car anymore to prevent further damage. They take me home in a courtesy shuttle. They later call me and tell me the repairs will cost a little over $3,000 in damages to the rear and center diffs., driveshaft and U-joints. They estimate it done by aug 5th or 6th. This is in Tacoma, Wa.  The towing company has an unsat. rating with the better business bureau, and won't offer any insurance information. The apartment management wont tell me who called in the tow or who owns the carport due to privacy info. I went door to door to look for witnesses but havent found any. A witness of an improper tow seems invaluable but aren't allowed in small claims court.
What can I do? Do you think a receipt with $3000 dollars damage to a car I could still drive away to the dealer is sufficient evidence?

Answer
Wow, as soon as you got there they were saying they towed it on a dolly...  That to me kind of sends up a red flag...  Yes the driver could of done something wrong in towing it, and that could be the problem but then again it could of been something already  going out on the vehicle which decided to fail that that point
(since you mentioned it was a Subaru have they  fixed the issue with the timing belt breaking right about 60,000 miles ??)

Now as to the tow company not taking responsibility, well that kind of is the first response when they are first called..  But if you present them with either the estimate and or repair bill along with a statement of what might of caused the damages from the dealership you might have a better chance there...

Now think "court methods" in presenting the issue to the tow company and that is how you should handle it..Also keep very good notes including date, time and who you talked to.

Also there is a great web site I use for getting information on "recommended methods" for towing vehicles... Check out www.towspec.com   and fill in your vehicle information and they will show you the "recommended methods" and any limits they have on that vehicle.


Now as to the tow company having a "bad record" with the Better Business Bureau, that in its self is a joke... The BBB does not have any teeth and no way of "FORCING ANYONE" to do anything... And of course they like the news media only  report "BAD THINGS" never do they list compliments for the tow company.

But like I said earlier, take this and treat it like a court case and you should get a lot further..