Their Lot in Life Is Caring for Other People’s Wrecks

The black car, almost unrecognizable as a Cadillac, sat in the middle of an impound lot in Santa Ana.

The hood was gone, exposing the engine with parts missing. The inside was gutted. The silver Cadillac nameplate was stripped off the trunk lid.

Its story -- a 1995 Cadillac stolen from a used-car lot, dumped, then recovered by police -- is one of hundreds told at the MetroPro Road Services impound yard on South Garnsey Street.

There’s the dark red Chevrolet Tahoe whose driver-side air bag, spotted with blood, hangs over the steering wheel.

Next to that is a teal Dodge Ram with a demolished bumper and grill, deflated right-front wheel and spider-webbed windshield. On the front seat is a 12-pack of Corona, some of the bottles empty. The truck bed is full of junk, some of it indicating that the owner works in construction.

“Looks like a bad day [driving] home from work,” said Jody Campbell, MetroPro’s chief executive.

And so it goes, for aisle after aisle of vehicles.

Windshields cracked, bumpers crushed, tires deflated, bottles -- of brandy, in one case -- on the front seat.

Some cars have an easier time getting to the lot. There was a royal blue Volkswagen Jetta, intact and clean, but for the few-weeks-old French fries on the back seat.

Workers here have seen it all. The cars -- and their stories -- all blend together. “I can’t tell you how many times a day we get a call, ‘You have my car. It’s that red one,’ ” Campbell said. “Well, we have 500 cars and about 200 red ones.”

MetroPro serves many police departments and cities, using 60 company trucks to tow about 1,300 vehicles a month to lots in Santa Ana, Irvine, Anaheim, Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach.

The firm’s clients include the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol and the police departments of Newport Beach, Tustin and Fullerton. The company also serves the cities where their lots are located.

Police keep MetroPro busy, using the lots for impounded and stored cars.

A car that is in storage was probably towed because it was abandoned or in an accident and needed to be removed from city streets, said Denise Robsel with the Huntington Beach police records bureau.

A car is impounded, Robsel said, usually because the driver had an invalid license, expired registration or was uninsured.

Huntington Beach police impound or store 12 to 15 cars a day. Since Jan. 1, the department has had more than 1,430 vehicles towed, Robsel said.

Whether the car is impounded or stored, it’s all the same to Campbell.

“We almost don’t want to know,” he said about the cars’ backgrounds. “When you’re impounding 1,300 cars a month, we don’t want to know the history.” Besides, he notes, “it’s really none of our business.”

People who claim vehicles, however, often have stories to tell. Gilbert Navarro, 31, and his niece Sandra Ortiz, 20, arrived at MetroPro not knowing what would be left of their white 1992 Ford pickup, which was stolen April 18.

Navarro owns a construction company and the truck had been parked on his property with several other vehicles. But because Navarro never used it, he didn’t notice it was gone until one of his workers confessed to having taken it on a drunken joyride.

“Supposedly, he hit like 16 cars,” Navarro said.

Navarro and Ortiz got quite a shock when they saw the truck.

“Ay, no,” Ortiz said, gasping.

One tire was missing, the hood was pushed upward, the bumper and grill were smashed, and there were sheets of glass from another vehicle in the truck bed.

“I’m upset, very upset,” Navarro said.

Not only was the truck totaled -- that means $6,000 out of Navarro’s pocket -- but it would cost him another $360 just to recover the wreckage.

“People are so excited to get their cars -- but sometimes when they get their car back, they’re not so happy,” Campbell said.

“Unfortunately, we are the sounding board.”

Navarro and Ortiz kept their cool. That doesn’t always happen, MetroPro tow-truck driver Jesse Gomez said.

Sometimes MetroPro staff have to call police to the scene where they are trying to pick up a vehicle because drivers won’t get out of their cars or are screaming at tow-truck drivers.

“You try to help your customers out as best as you can,” said customer service representative Kat McNab, “because they’re already in a bad situation ... the trials that they go through, accidents where you’ve had people getting hurt, the arrangements that they have to make to get their cars out.”

Those arrangements include going to the police department that ordered the car towed, getting a release form signed and, often, paying city fees that can cost more than $100.

Then, the customer must go to the tow yard and pay an average $100 tow fee plus $25 a day for storage.

Sherri Rotter has worked in towing for almost 20 years and says the best way to deal with irate customers is to not give them a reason to get angrier.

“You have to have a certain temperament to do it,” she said. “By the time you get done with them, they can be your best friend.”

She said the best part of the job is talking to customers, even if they’re upset.

“The challenging part of the job is being able to handle the personalities,” Rotter said.

“It’s rewarding because it’s a challenge and not dull and boring.”