Pat’s Tow Services

If Unilocal has the ability to rate negative stars, it would be Pat’s Tow Services for me. My incident was not a ticket or snow emergency related.
I was riding my Ural (motorcycle with a sidecar) to my dealership for maintenance. Unfortunately the clutch system gave out while traveling on Memorial Drive by Mt. Auburn Hospital. I managed to get to safety during semi-​heavy traffic.
I called American Express Roadside Service, gave them my vehicle details, and they recommended Pat’s Tow Service.
The Amex agent spoke to the Pat’s Tow representative and received a quote for $ 180 from Cambridge to Boxborough and they are 30 minutes out from my location.
10 minutes into the wait time, a representative called me back from Pat’s Tow and said they made a mistake in pricing. It is now $ 200 for the tow because they didn’t realize my bike was 3 wheels instead of 2 wheels. They require more money because it required more equipment and a special way to strap it down.
(Hm… odd. This was the first thing I informed AMEX and they specifically found me a company who can tow specialty vehicles… Well for $ 20 more I’m not going to argue.)
I agreed to the increase and was informed the driver should be here shortly.
20 minutes into the waiting period, another representative called me back and said oops, her manager just realized the vehicle is a 3 wheel motorcycle and that the charge is now $ 275. I can either accept the tow and the driver is 10 minutes away or I can decline it.
At first I was like seriously!!!
I remained calm and tried to negotiate. I expressed my frustration with an apology to the representative because I do not believe it’s her fault. I also stated that I feel I am being strong armed into paying more due to the predicament I am in. I even asked to speak with her manager.
Unfortunately the conversation did not go anywhere and the manager appears to have left. I am told again, pay or decline and I can find another way.
Wow… I was seriously shocked by the lack of customer service, professionalism and empathy. I informed the representative that I am accepting the tow at the $ 275 rate and that I will photo document and present it to Amex.
5 minutes after we hung up, I received another call who appears to be a manager. She informed me they are declining the tow request due to the conversation I had with the representative. She than hung up the phone.
Wow! Crazy.
Clearly their website (
) states that they have «30 years of service and integrity». Bullying customers in time of crisis is not my definition of «integrity».
I was truly disappointed.

If you find yourself in need if help changing a spare, these guys are guaranteed to grossly overcharge you. $ 90 compared to $ 50 that other tow companies in the area. Don’t get scalped folks.

Facts of life from a frequent towed:
They only take cash. Not because they want to inconvenience you, but if they let you use a credit card or a personal check, you might dispute it with your bank afterwards. There is a Bank of America ATM in the Twin City plaza, next to the Dunkin Donuts (McDonald’s-Gold Gym’s-Shaw’s plaza). Another BoA ATM across from the T station and a Citizen’s 2 blocks down, both on Cambridge st. Have $ 150 with you minimum.
If you are walking, take the T/​bus to Lechmere station and walk towards the McDonalds. Go up the bridge and you will see the lot on your left, on the bottom of the bridge. If you are driving, when you pass the Target plaza towards Lechmere, do not go over the bridge. As soon as you pass on the left side of the glass replacement store, you will see a tiny side road on your right hand side. That’s the entrance to the lot.
Yes, they are behind a glass divider because every one takes their anger on them. This is not a parking garage. Cars are constantly brought in and taken out so they do not have time to track down where your car is located. Yes, they might be rude sometimes because you are the millionth person that day who has been towed and is in a hurry and pleads for a discount. If you are towed, go there immediately and do not wait for the morning or next day if you do not want to amass daily storage fees in addition to the ticket and the tow charges.
They have contracts with various municipalities and private parking lots so if they get a call, they get priority than you. They are always very busy, day or night. If you leave your car in a parking like the Twin City Plaza and then leave instead of visiting a store there, watch out. There are spotters who monitor for people like you and you will be towed within 10 minutes. If it is a small lot they have a contract for, they drive around once every hour to check whether all cars have resident sticker. If there is impeding snow, especially if the governor sends all employees home, the city has to declare snow emergency and they will do as they get state transportation funding.
For those towed from Cambridge during street cleaning, how can you have missed the barking voice from the loudspeaker that starts at 7 AM for the 8 AM street cleaning? Every 2 minutes for an hour and again when the sweeper approaches your block, «Street cleaning, no parking on the odd/​even side of the street. You will be tagged and towed.» They also send texts and automated recorded calls. Yes, you might have missed the latter as Big brother Cambridge calls multiple times daily with an idiotic automated call for minute things. But the loud speaker? As loud as Charlie’s ice cream truck music. No they do not start ticketing and towing until at least 5 – 10 minutes past the posted time, which can be different from block to block, but it is always on the sign near where you parked. Be thankful. At the Boston side, when the sign says 7AM, it means that at 7:00:01 AM, you have already been tagged and towed.
Whether it is raining, it does not matter. It has nothing to do with cleaning and polishing the streets but with removing the trash so you will not deluge the city with calls after seeing giant rats. That’s why we do not have declaration of war on rats like they have in Somerville and Boston, just the occasional mini rats around Area 4 (saw 2 last week walking from Central to Kendall, on trash day eve.) and the raccoons.

Our car was towed and we were charged at a rate of $ 35 a day for storage/​parking.
You can park in downtown Boston’s best buildings for less than $ 35 a day
Our car was kept in Somerville, where parking garage rates are $ 7.00−14.00 per 24 hrs. So why the premium? Pat’s location is awful.
We were also charged $ 30 «notification fee” — yet we were never notified. A stamp costs less than $ 1. email is free. Even if we were notified $ 30 is absurd.
We were charged $ 5.50 «for Fuel». Gas is less than $ 4 a gallon and gets you 15 miles. The car was parked less than a mile from Pat’s Towing. Round trip would cost $ 1 of gas.
And then of course $ 90 towing charge and a ticket for $ 40.
Pat is paying off someone in City Hall, as he takes home a lot more then the City does.

I got my car towed due to street cleaning. Obviously my fault. Called the Boston tow line to locate my car and they gave me the number for Pat’s. It wasn’t in the system yet but the lady on the phone tracked it down; it was just arriving at the lot (of course I had just missed my car). She was helpful and told me how much it would be and how I could pay before I arrived. I checked and these prices were congruent with what the City of Boston said I should be paying online.
When I got to Pat’s (my only complaint is the location, kind of a long walk from the T, so I ended up cabbing it), there was one person in front of me. He hadn’t called the Boston tow line and his car wasn’t at Pat’s. However the lady at the front was super nice and tracked it down for him. She gave him the phone number and address for the place.
She was also super nice to me and made conversation, well aware that no one is having a particularly great day when they show up to Pat’s. I paid, and she showed my where I could find my car, which was in perfect condition (towed by flat bed, thank goodness) safely in the back of the lot. If I ever make this mistake again (hopefully not), I’ll cross my fingers for Pat’s.
I’m not a fan of the towing industry in general (legalized car theft?) but hey, for a towing company, Pat’s is pretty decent.

Don’t believe them.
After shelling out several hundred dollars for my unpaid parking tickets (my own fault, obviously), I called this company to have them come and remove the boot from my car. Keep in mind my car is less than 2 miles from their lot. I was quoted less than an hour for someone to show up to remove the boot. That’s great, even if it took them the whole hour to arrive I could still make it to work without being too late. After an hour and a half passed with no one showing up I called back and they had «forgotten» to send someone out to me and quoted me another half an hour. When I called my job back to inform them I was going to be even later because of this, I was told to not bother coming in. There is another $ 300 out of my pocket due to missed work because I was mis-​quoted the time by this company. AND I still have to shell out $ 98 to have them remove the boot.
When the tow guy finally arrived to remove the boot he told me that he had just gotten the call only 10 minutes prior, and thats supposed to make me feel better? He told me if I have a problem to file a complaint. What a joke. I will be filing a complaint and I will be VERY surprised if I get a response. I’m sure they could care less about customer service.

They are definitely not paid by the smiles over at Pat’s. Had my car towed due to street cleaning (doh!) and when I called to find out if it was there, the first lady to pick up checked for my license plate # and said no it wasn’t. I was in the middle of asking a question when she hung up on me. Maybe they were too busy counting their money?
I called a few hours later and the second lady was more helpful. Turns out they didn’t enter my license plate # into the system which is why they couldn’t find my car. So I run over to Somerville and when I arrive, they ask for $ 131. Now, I’m looking up at their sign that breaks down the cost: $ 90 for a basic tow, $ 27.50 for a storage fee. I’m not brilliant at math but it doesn’t add up. I ask for a breakdown of the costs and she tells me I’ll get it with the receipt (b/​c obviously it takes a lot of energy to explain). She gives me the bill to sign and I ask her again for a breakdown and she’s like, «What, you need it now?»
She inwardly sighs and says, «$ 90 for tow, $ 35 for storage, and $ 6 for gas.» Why is it $ 35 for storage and not $ 27.50? Because they are in the city of Cambridge and I am from the city of Boston, although Pat’s is literally 1.8 miles from me. I don’t even get how that makes a difference to them or how it accounts for a higher storage fee. Plus, the «Boston» fee isn’t posted anywhere.
I pay and walk out feeling like their address is really apropo because yea… it’s highway robbery. But my beef is not about being towed b/​c of street cleaning, but that if I needed to get my car towed by them at some point I would never turn to Pat’s. I wouldn’t trust them to treat me with any decency or to give me pertinent or truthful information. So just beware.

Ultimately the people reviewing Pat’s in this forum aren’t the ones the company really serves. I’m sure municipalities and large landowners (with parking lots) are pleased with Pat’s as evidence by the size of their business. No one is going to be happy or feel good about forking over unseemly amounts of money to get their car back. Nonetheless, I had an experience with Pats during the Blizzard of 2013 I’d like to share.
Whether I deserved to get towed or not is in this case irrelevant. After finding out our car was towed two things really bothered me.
1) We called and gave Pat’s our license plate number and were told it was in their McGrath highway lot by one of their service reps. She also said we’d be able to get our car and that the lot was open. She was flat out wrong on all accounts. We arrived and not only was our car not at the McGrath lot (it was at Dilboy Stadium on the other side of town), we would not have been able to get it since their lot had not even be plowed yet. Misinformation of this sort is just plain unacceptable.
2) They are exorbitantly expensive. $ 166 for a tow and that was without being charged the lots fees because a state driving ban was in effect. Getting rich off a blizzard isn’t apparently the sole territory of snow plows.
All that said, I’ll own being towed and the fact that Pat’s is only following orders from their client, be it a city or development, but I hold their business and their business practices in the same regard I hold used-​car salesmen and scummy mechanics who con people with high repair bills. They bring no value to society as a whole. I hope to never have to deal with them again.

I parked during street cleaning in Cambridge. I deserved to get towed. People at Pat’s were nice. I know it’s not their fault. No reason for me to get angry with them. My only issue is with the city of Cambridge. How am I suppose to find my car after it’s been towed? Yeah I guess calling the CPD might help. Thankfully the local business where I parked gave me the name of the normal tow companies in the area. Pat’s was the first I called and thankfully my car was there.
Lessoned learned…

Of course this is my perspective, and, yes, I did park illegally. I don’t fault Pats for towing my car, the cops told them to. However, if they are going to damage my car in the process they could have owned that at the time (the spilling transmission fluid could have been a clue). The ensuing phone conversations included (from their end) cursing, false phone numbers to call and threats of physical violence (I do not kid). I ended up eating the $ 3k to fix my ride rather than pursue the matter with these people, that is how unpleasant they were. I’m no peach, but my advice is to do what you can to avoid dealing with Pat’s. Ever.

Last year during one of our many snowstorms, I was staying with family out of state when I got the text message from Somerville that a parking ban was going to take effect. I wasn’t coming back for a week, and I knew that I had left my car parked on the wrong side of the street. Given the city’s strict parking ordinances, all told I would have ended up paying 300+ for the towing and tickets and storage that would have accrued while I was gone, so I called Pat’s with the strange request to tow own car from one side of the street to the other.
The guy I spoke to (Bob, I believe) was completely understanding and helpful, and he called me back several times from the tow truck to let me know where he had found my car, and where he’d moved it to. He gave me a ballpark estimate beforehand and then a more accurate (and slightly lower) one once he was on the scene.
What could have been a really stressful and expensive experience was instead a friendly and fair one at a fraction of the cost. I really appreciated it.

This is a service that deserves the impossible 0 star designation. From its rude employees to its outrageous fees, I continue to be amazed by the fact that they seem to have the highest tow prices in Boston. Amazing me further is the fact that the city of Boston allows its private meter maid service to send cars to this lot for street cleaning violations. There are plenty of worthy tow lots within city limits, Boston — why waste the tax dollars here? Listen, I’m pretty awesome at getting my car towed. Despite its somewhat shady location, the city lot in Southie is totally user-​friendly. I’ve gone to tow lots in Hartford, Worcester, Taunton, and once in Philly. I’m an expert. I know good towing. Good towing is a friend of mine. Pat’s, you are no good towing.

I couldn’t move my car for street cleaning because the battery had died, so I knew that it was going to be towed. I called ahead and they told me that they’d be able to jump my car for me when I came to pick it up, which was really great because it saved me a call to AAA. Sure enough, they helped me to start my car. Unfortunately, my car actually needed a new battery and thus I was unable to drive it away but the owner was very accommodating and understanding.
I didn’t give 5 stars because the employees were very slow moving. It felt like no one was in a hurry to get things done, which bothered me a bit because my friend was waiting for me in her car.
Also, I would be careful following Google Maps for directions to this place. It had me go on Rt. 28 to get there but while Rt. 28 goes by the location, and you can’t actually get off of the highway there. It’s best to not get on Rt. 28 at all and to just drive down Somerville Ave. In fact, the needle on the Unilocal map is not accurate. The business is located on the continuation of Somerville Ave, which is an unnamed street. It’s right past Medford Street (toward 28). On the map, it’s the road that runs alongside Rt. 28 on highway’s south side.

Wow, there’s a lot of animosity here over a lot of things that aren’t even the company’s fault.
The laws/​ordinances that say you need to move your car on snow emergency days, or street cleaning days, or just in general are posted for no stopping like fire lane tow zone and fire hydrants, etc. Those are made by the municipality (or the state in some cases).
The people that actually have the tow company come down and tow your car? Those are the municipal employees too (who are usually just doing their job as intended).
The people that ignore those laws/​ordinances and get towed? Well, that’d be you folks complaining about getting towed. Yea the costs are high, but that’s what your punishment is for being scoff laws– sorry, but it’s the truth. I’ve lived in Cambridge my whole life and never been towed once, I don’t know what’s so difficult.
And to the people who complain about things like waiting 15 minutes on a phone during a snow emergency for one of the main tow companies for Cambridge and Somerville: you aren’t alone in getting towed on those days, I can guarantee you. I know people have their individual needs, but the chances are their switchboards lit up like the 4^th of July in the dead-​o-​winter with half the city calling about their cars being towed.
My experience with Pat’s is as an mechanic and they are usually quite helpful. They are a little expensive, but they certainly do a good job and they don’t make shit up about what’s wrong with your car the best I can tell (though, I’m no mechanic… that’s why we go to places like this, isn’t it?).
The truth of the matter is, between my g/​f, myself, and my family we don’t come here that often (maybe twice over the last 5 years between us), but when this popped up as a new review today and I read the comments I felt like I had to post something almost in response to what seemed like a lot of sour grapes over things that Pat’s has no control over.

Crooks. Obviously no one is expecting stellar service at a tow company, but when you put my life in danger and interfere with my job, it’s another story.
I am a special ed teacher. Honest. Hardworking. I woke up this morning at 6 am to see my car getting hitched onto a tow truck. Somerville called a snow ban at 10:00 last night. Guess what… I was in bed resting after a very stressful day. Not to mention the fact that it hadn’t even started to snow yet… didn’t even see a plow for another 5 hours. I would have had my car out of there in a matter of minutes, but that wouldn’t have allowed this company to steal my hard earned money.
When I called the company to find my car, I was greeted by a snarky woman who preceded to put me on hold for 15 minutes. I finally gave up and took the bus to the McGrath Highway location. Nearly killed myself on the unshovelled side walk. Waited OUTSIDE in the snow for another 20 minutes only to discover that my car was actually across town at a different lot. Good Job. More unnecessary time on the road when I could be safely inside my classroom… making an HONEST living.
I understand the need to clear the roads to let the the maintenance crew do their job, but these people are creating more harm by forcing people to unnecessarily run all over town during storms.
I don’t know how they sleep at night.

I’m going to be that person and give Pat’s a good review.
My car was towed during a snow emergency, 100% my fault for parking on the even numbered side of the street. I called Pat’s as soon as I realized it was towed at 9pm on a Friday night. The woman who answered was very polite, told me they had my car, and told me exactly where to get it, and how much it would cost. She said that I could pick up the car 24-​hrs a day and even told me that the price goes up at midnight so that I could save some money if I picked up the car ASAP.
I headed to Dilboy Field, where they had stored my car. The guy at the lot was extremely friendly and polite, even though he had been up since 5am the day before. He even warned me to look for the City of Somerville ticket that would likely be on my car. There was a cop in the lot making sure everything went smoothly.
My car was not damaged, just covered in snow and ready for me to pick up.
These people are just doing their job, it’s not their fault we park on the wrong side of the street and ignore warnings!

Everyone hates tow companies, because even though they answer the phone with «Thank you for choosing Pat’s,» odds are that you didn’t. Still, there are some tow companies out there that don’t suck. Pat’s is not one of them.
A litany of complaints:
— The first time I came in, they told me I had to go to the police department to get a yellow slip from them. Why didn’t they tell me that when I called earlier to see if they had the car? Also, the woman I spoke with didn’t know where the police department was. She pointed which direction she thought I should walk and told me to ask someone.
— When I came back with the yellow slip, the total came to $ 200, and they only take cash. They have an ATM on-​site that only allows you to withdraw $ 100. Really, Pat’s?
— After finding a useful ATM at the nearby Target, I returned to Pat’s for the third time. Like many other reviewers have noted, they told me the car was «out there in the lot» and sent me on my way. It’s a large lot.
— When they towed the car, they ripped something underneath the hood and now there’s a leak in the coolant.
I hate Pat’s, and you should too.

Nobody likes a tow company, but the fact that they are cash only ($ 112.75) and have one of those conveniently located (bought on craigslist) ATMs in the corner makes them look less than legit.
Please, jesus, next time, please have Phil, not Pat tow me. They take credit cards and look less «professional».

Whatever, it’s a tow company. After my car got towed yesterday morning outside of my work due to street sweeping (for the second time since I moved here, sucks harder the second time, trust me — I now have the sweeping days for both home and work districts all over my calendar), I tracked my car down to this place. I’m posting to clear up an earlier comment — they are not cash only! They do take credit cards.
And as commented by someone else, yes, the guy inside just waved at the parking lot and said your car is out there. Thanks! The lot is HUGE. Thankfully, a guy in the parking lot pointed me in the right direction. Take home message: unless you enjoy setting $ 120 on fire, don’t forget about Cambridge street sweeping days. I miss Somerville…

These guys are great!
I parked in front of my house one night, went to bed, and like a magical car-​towing fairy, Pat’s whisked away my new car from under my nose. I then called them up to see if it was there and when I asked the man to repeat their hours, he gave a sigh and repeated them in a very perturbed tone. Spectacular! I guess he was just giving me the «New England Handshake» in my second month as a resident of Cambridge.
Tonight, when I get my car, I’m going to give Pat my hard-​earned $ 100 and say,
«Thanks man. You deserve every cent.»