Quote:
Originally Posted by juddholland
It's a shame. The law should under no circumstances dictate a, say $7000 repair cost just because a car is illegally parked. Imagine if you had gotten stuck on Lake Shore Dr. in the blizzard last February. Wouldn't you have wanted the operator to pay close attention to making sure your car is returned to you undamaged?
Weeks before I was supposed to give up my 535 wagon end-lease back in December, I was involved in an accident. A woman stopped in the left lane on Lake Shore Dr. around the blind curve near North Ave. to CLEAN HER WINDOWS (because somehow the electric-ness of her Land Rover's windows never occurred to her). Long story short, one guy hit her, the next guy hit that guy, and I had no time to react after coming around the bend, so I collided with cars two and three, skidding between them and the barrier. I thought the car was effectively totaled. The front axle had snapped, the steering rack was finished, and there was significant body damage. The police, in their ignorance to the $70,000 station wagon with Four Wheel Drive that had just incurred damage equal to half its residual value, called not a flatbed to take it off Lake Shore Dr., but a typical, two-wheel fastener crane tow truck. I stared at it as the tow truck took it away down the exit ramp, listening to the rear wheels skidding across the pavement, and then I heard an echoey "clunk," followed by a nails-on-chalkboard whine. My beloved wagon was finished. And maybe, had more attention been paid to the kind of drivetrain on the car, it might not have been totaled, and Ms. Window Washer wouldn't have incurred over $40,000 in damages. She lost her insurance anyways. All's well that ends well, I guess.
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That is what I was thinking when i wrote the original question. Since then I have spoken to the shop foreman at the dealer and this years model x3 has no manual way of putting the transmission into neutral without removing the panels under the transmission and turning a lever. He did point out that tow truck drivers can put enough electricity into a completely dead battery to get it into car wash mode so it can be put onto the flat bed. It can be done from both ends of the car - Like jumping it.
He also stated they will all be that way soon. The current x5's still have the lever under the cup holder but that will change as well.
Hope this helps.