Ten tows in, never rentin' from this business
April 07, 2026
On Saturday, I went with three grad student friends to Amherst Agni, a Desi fusion dance competition at UMass Amherst. Our goal was to study how we might bring a similar event to MIT in the future and to enjoy some exciting fusion dance performances in the process. The trip was super fun and worthwhile.
After the show, we drove back to Cambridge, and I dropped off two of the three friends at their respective apartments. The third friend planned to meet some friends in Central Square, which was conveniently along the way to my graduate dorm in Cambridgeport.
Heading southbound on Prospect St between Harvard St and Bishop Allen Dr, we saw flashing lights in the rearview mirror. I had been driving the speed limit and following all traffic laws, so we weren't sure what was up, but the policeman quickly informed us that the rental car's registration was expired. Apparently the Cambridge police scan everyone's license plates and check.
He said that legally we were no longer allowed to operate the car, and officially he was supposed to have the car towed. However, since I had explained it was a rental car, he pointed to a private business across the street (Vital Care of Cambridge) and instructed us to park the car in their empty lot for the time being and then deal with the situation during the day from the Budget office. He suggested that Budget might be able to remotely renew the vehicle's registration, at which point either we or Budget could retrieve the car and legally bring it back to the Budget garage in Central. I asked for some official documentation of our conundrum and his instructions, but he recommended against this because that would require him to officially generate a citation that would go on my record.
I parked the car in the Vital Care lot as he held traffic and then took pictures of the vehicle's location and headed home, which was luckily only ten minutes away by foot. Seconds after he began to drive away, I saw his lights flash again as he found the next traffic violator.
Budget was closed on Sunday for Easter, so I was slightly worried that the car would be towed from Vital Care before I had a chance to deal with the situation, as their lot was plastered with signs indicating that unauthorized vehicles would be towed away on a 24/7 basis at the owner's expense. I would have to hope the towing company also took Sundays off. I took a midday sprint to check on the car.
I also sent a detailed email to Budget customer service and the MIT insurance office explaining my predicament.
Later that afternoon, I called Budget Roadside Assistance and asked for their help. At that point, it seemed like the best option would be for Roadside Assistance to tow the car from Vital Care to the local Budget maintenance facility at the airport. However, Roadside Assistance said the facility would soon close for the day and suggested I just wait until Monday to deal with the situation in-person at the Budget office.
On Monday morning, I woke up bright and early and headed to the Budget office in Central Square. Sent in circles once again, I was told by the agent at the desk to contact Budget Roadside Assistance to schedule the tow to the Budget maintenance facility. Somewhat counterintuitively, the desk agent also suggested our best course of action would have been to have the police tow the car on Saturday night and then immediately call Roadside Assistance to have them retrieve the car and bring us a replacement. The desk agent also suggested that getting pulled over for an expired vehicle registration was a relatively common occurrence, given the size of their carsenal.
I called Roadside Assistance and was told that they could arrange for a tow from Vital Care to the airport facility. They asked me to confirm that the vehicle was still at the address I had specified over the phone on Sunday. Having expected this situation to wrap up neatly and stationarily, I had unwisely walked the five minutes from my apartment to the Budget office in a hoodie, shorts and flip flops. So I trudged down Mass Ave and up Prospect St amidst the low 40s temperature and 20mph winds to confirm the car hadn't grown wheels and rolled away.
When I reached the Vital Care lot, I was greeted by an employee who was looking for the owner of the mysterious rental car that had materialized in their lot. The lot had filled up by that point and had one remaining empty spot, so the employee said his boss wanted the car moved as soon as possible in case more customers showed up. They had initially planned to call the towing company at 9am but offered to wait until 10am after I explained the situation. We swapped contact information, and they said they would let me know before calling their towing company.
In the meantime, I confirmed the car's location to the Budget Roadside Assistance agent, who said their affiliate's tow truck would arrive between 10am and 11am and instructed me to leave the keys under the passenger seat. So it would be a race of the tow trucks to see if this saga would end or continue. I left the keys under the seat and returned to the Budget office.
At 10am, I called the affiliate tow truck company, and it seemed like they were dispatching the truck. At 10:10am, the tow truck driver called and said he was on the way. I relayed this update to Vital Care. I sent one final email to the MIT insurance office and the Budget franchise describing my circuitous journey and call log and mentioned that the truck was on the way.
At 10:20am, I received a call from the tow truck driver saying that he was a minute away, and then over the phone I helped him locate and identify the car. I relayed this update to Vital Care and they seemed satisfied.
Side pot
While we were waiting in the car for the policeman to check the registration, the remaining friend decided that she wanted to go to her apartment instead of towards Central. Since she lived north of Central, I remarked that it would be convenient to bang a uey and head north on Prospect St once we were set free by the policeman. As this was a regular two-way street, she suggested it might be inadvisable to do so in front of the police. As it turned out, the policeman held traffic and instructed us to make a u-turn to get into the parking lot, so I was at least half-right.