Howard's Towing and Recovery

If I could give zero stars I would. These people stole my car!! I parked in the lot and walked directly into casbah restaurant. Came out and my car was gone. I called and they insisted they saw me cross the street... Which never happened. After arguing with the guy on t...he phone who was very rude, he finally said he would give me my car back...but I had to go pick it up. Well he had my car so that was impossible. He said he would send a driver to pick me up, but my friend was not allowed to come with me, only I could go. This prompted me to call the police. They came, demanded that the driver of the tow truck come and talk to them and threatened them with a stolen vehicle charge. The cop ended up taking us to get the car and stayed with us till we left the lot, free of charge. Thank god for the cops. These people will steel your car and steel your money. The cops said they have so many problems with this company. They should be shut down!!!! Read More

On March 7, 2012, I parked at the Shadyside Plaza to get pizza or hoagies after my son was just about done getting his first tattoo in memory of his friend that died very young. I was originally parked down the street for the 2 hours that he was there. I moved my car ...when the tattoo place said he was just about done. I put it in the Shadyside Plaza on South Highland Avenue where Pizza Parma was located and went and looked at the menu and also checked out the Chinese place next door to see what they had since I knew my son would be hungry when he was done. I then walked across the street to get my son, they were just about done, so I waited maybe 15 minutes to 20 minutes at the very most to find out what he wanted to eat at the Pizza Parma. We came out, ordered our hoagies and while waiting for them, I got cold and went to my car to get my coat; only to then realize that my car had been towed and I would have to pay $150.00 to get it back from Howard's Towing!!! I explained that I only walked across the street to get my son and find out what he wanted to order. There was no sign saying that you are not allowed to walk off the property even for a second before ordering. I explained this all to the tow truck driver and he said that the moment I walked off the property, no matter what the reason, I abandoned my car and he was then allowed to tow it!! He said that he watched me go to the Pizza Parma and then check out the Chinese Restaurant then proceed to walk across the street and instead of telling me that I couldn't walk across the street to find out what my son wanted to eat, he just towed my car!!!! I realize NOW I should have told the Pizza Parma while looking at their menu that I was just running across the street to get my son to see what he wanted to eat so that my car wouldn't have gotten towed, but living in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, I did not think that anyone would do such a thing for a few minutes!!! I did not have $150.00 cash on me and they were closed in the office to use a credit card. The only good thing was that my son had his car too, or I would have been stuck just for not ordering first before getting my son, even though I did not know what he wanted yet!!! The tow truck driver damaged my front bumper scraping it against the cement blocks in the parking lot and was just out to make a buck, not do the right thing. My intention was never to use their lot without being a customer, I just needed to first find out what my son wanted to eat!!!! The young tow truck driver was very rude and pocketing money from other people he was going to tow, but they caught him before he actually towed their car from the same lot. The idea is to make sure there is parking for paying customers and I was a paying customer!!! Once he realized, he should have brought my car back or at least not charged me an absurd rate of $150.00 for 15 minutes of parking, even though I was a customer there!!! These people do not care and are just out to rob people! Read More

I was such an idiot. I was in a hurry to get the groceries in the house and then rush back out to the car, to pick up my son from school, I locked the keys in the car!!! I searched from my phone for a company and called Howards Towing. I actually reached Howard. He wa...s very sympathetic and calmed me down explaining he had two school aged children as well and totally understood my panic. Howard made it to my home in less than 10 minutes unlocked my car and had me on my way! It's nice to know that there are business out there that care about people and not always in it for the money. Obviously this was by far not a job that was going to make him any money but he cared enough to come help when I needed it most. Thank you and I hope some day I can return the favor. Read More

These people are predators. They sit in gas station parking lots, wait for the customer at the station to step away for 5 minutes and low and behold your car is being towed. They tell you for $110 cash they'll let you have your car. You hand over cash and they provid...e No Receipt. Taking cash and giving no receipt leads me to believe there is some under the table money not being accounted for. Fortunately, circled back to the station to get a receipt to then find the towing company breaking into a car with the alarm going off towing another vehicle. Read More

I had the misfortune of flipping my car sideways in the snow once. Howard's had people there within 15 minutes who spoke to the state police for me & got my car turned back so carefully that I DROVE IT HOME. If you go to these guys they will treat you like family & that...'s probably because it is a local family owned business. The number's not hard to remember 422-9000, if you find yourself in need of a tow or repair (they are the only mechanics I've ever been able to trust) CALL THEM ASAP! Read More