Gentlemen on the phone says business owners downtown will need to contact a1 towing and fill out a form letting A1 towing know if we ever want to use the parking space of the building we rent, after hours.
Yes, they think they own downtown and came tell Business owners who PAY rent that because they are parked after hours or on Sunday that means their car is illegally parked.
They towed my friends who were in town visiting who were using the parking I get for renting a unit downtown. Either they change their business practices or we start complaining about them enough that the police do something. It’s obvious they are giving cash tips for referrals. Hope karma eats them alive
If I could give zero stars, I would. A1 Towing is hands down one of the most unprofessional, disorganized, and rude companies I’ve ever dealt with.
After my car was towed, I arrived at their lot and was forced to wait over an hour before anyone even bothered to come and open the gate. There was no urgency, no communication—just complete disregard for my time. When someone finally showed up, they were incredibly rude and dismissive, acting like doing their job was an inconvenience.
To make matters worse, after paying the city tow fee of $147, A1 Towing piled on an additional $150 “administration fee” that was never clearly explained. It’s pure price gouging. The whole experience felt like a cash grab built on poor service and zero accountability.
Save yourself the headache and frustration. If your car ends up here, prepare for long waits, hidden fees, and employees who seem to go out of their way to make an already stressful situation worse. A1 Towing should be embarrassed to operate the way they do.
They towed my beloved Fiesta ST from crunch in Palm Harbor. I left the gym to find my beloved baby girl missing.
Although getting your car towed sucks, Dex and the staff are great, they made the whole $337 sting a lot less and took care of my car. I’ve had an ungodly unfortunate year and these guys were so nice.
When she breaks down I’m calling A1 recovery Inc. for the tow back home to fix.
Dex thanks for being cautious and professional and cautious handling my fiesta.
Watched one of their drivers driving emergency lane for a good 2 miles in traffic and then when he saw police car, he quickly got into the lane but the police car did not pull him over. I guess he didn’t see him, but he sure did move quick once he saw the cop car. They are so dangerous drivers be careful very unprofessional. We should it on here companies that use them like CVS. So we can hurt their business by not going to CVS, etc,,,,,
This is what my friend called predatory towing. According to my friend they drive around and tow cars that are parked not according to HOA rules. That means the HOA gives them permission to tow cars of tenants who supposedly violate arbitrarily set rules. Rules that the HOA drafted , sometimes with the sole purpose to create revenue. We are not talking about the non tenant or third party thst parks on private property but the tenant or visitor who has a right to be on the property, pays rent and when he comes home late from work cannot find a parking lot , so his tire is an inch in the grass or over some line . He goes to bed totally tired, gets 6 hours or less of sleep and his car is towed .
It is also not unusual that such HOA receive kickbacks from the towing company.
Dropped off a Penske truck here. Check out was quick and easy. The tattooed guy at the counter was very nice, very professional. I appreciate the fast and friendly service.
Illegal towing company. Towed a disabled vehicle that was involved in an accident. While waiting for OUR tow truck company to come and pick up our vehicle, this A-1 company came and took the vehicle. Horrible people, hold your vehicle for ransom. St Pete police can't even answer simple questions about the law to hold them accountable. Useless!!
A-1Towing is by far the worst. When the guy called me he started off with an attitude and was very aggressive with me which is highly concerning as a single woman. They also told me it would take 25 min for one of their employees to get to the lot so I could get my car. They were quick to tow but not quick with their service after the car has been towed. It is a completely unprofessional company who made the decision to be aggressive to a single woman trying to locate her car at night. It’s too bad their employees don’t have a better approach and customer service. 100% completely unprofessional and in an unsafe location.
Plate: BJ44AI, lookout for these guys when driving on the road. The driver was driving recklessly and almost smashed into me and other vehicles on I-275 S, and was even going into the emergency lane. Your driver is going to kill someone driving like this!
My car was towed at Saint Pete Beach when we looked up on the website it said that it would cost us $30 to retrieve it.We have screenshots of the message when we got there. They asked us to pay $270 and then reduce the price to $255 explaining to us there was a starting fee of about $190 plus additional fees for per mile driven and then additional $50 for coming into the business. Our problem with the business is why did they advertise as a $30 fee? We found the fees to be unreasonable and not coherent for example, why is it cost additional $50 once the vehicle enters a lot. How are we supposed to track down the tow truck as it’s driving to stop them it seemed like scam.
They attempted to tow my car while I was dog walking in an HOA. I arrived before they attached my car. I protested to no avail. Then, driver jumped out of his vehicle and verbally assaulted me. He cursed in my face and then mocked me while I had a panic attack. The HOA president told him to go away as he is familiar with me and apologized to me. He said that they are not contracted to tow in the middle of the day. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Terrible Experience – Avoid This Location if You Value Basic Respect.
I reserved a 12' truck through Penske three days in advance, planning to pick it up at 10 AM on Saturday (06/28). Knowing my schedule might vary, I intentionally chose this location because their hours were listed as starting at 7 AM and running into the evening — plenty of flexibility, or so I thought.
I ended up arriving at 1 PM, and was immediately met with rude, dismissive treatment from the woman at the front desk. Instead of helping or even greeting me in a professional manner, she snapped that I was “way too late” and that only her husband handles Penske rentals — he wasn’t there. Her solution? Either wait 30 minutes for him to maybe return or call Penske and make a new reservation at a different location. Her exact words: “You have no defense, sir.” I waited quite much longer.
No effort to assist, no apology, and absolutely no professionalism. If a business advertises that it handles Penske rentals during business hours, it should actually be prepared to honor those commitments — or at the very least treat customers with basic courtesy.
I’ve rented with Penske before and never had an issue — but this location is a disaster. Save yourself the frustration and go somewhere else.
Reckless driving employees! I had a terrifying experience with two tow trucks speeding over 80 mph on I-275 South. They almost crashed into the back of my vehicle while I’m eight months pregnant, all to squeeze into the emergency shoulder lane from the 38th Ave N entrance ramp and exit at 5th Ave S during rush hour traffic! This behavior is incredibly inconsiderate to other drivers and poses a significant liability for the company. I would never want these individuals towing my vehicle. It's time to hire more responsible employees!
Towed my vehicle from an empty dirt lot bordering a retail shopping complete where there is concrete parking lot. But being a dirt lot it looks like it's undeveloped and separate ownership. Not proper signage. Probably on purpose so they can take advantage of people.
I asked a cop in the parking lot before parking if I would get towed for beach parking if in parked handicap. He told me no as long as I had the handicap tag. Well A1 doesn’t care if you’re a veteran with metal in the hip with a handicap tag. They tow you anyway. Can’t talk to anyone on the weekend either go figure.
A-1 Recovery has consistently demonstrated a lack of professionalism and any systematic approach to handling customers and their property. The staff are frequently rude and unhelpful, creating a stressful and unpleasant experience. Their poor communication and aggressive behavior have contributed to a widely known bad reputation. I would not recommend using their services.
Went to report how they damaged my car after towing it without proper signage, had 3 employees essentially threaten and gaslight me to try and get me to stop. They are thieves, rude, and terrible at their jobs. Spare the front desk ladies, everyone else needs to grow up.
What an awful experience! We rented a car for the day and drove to St. Pete Beach. We parked in a deserted lot next to a burned down store with 100’s of open spaces. Only a few other cars were in the lot. After 10 minutes on the beach my son and husband decided to return to the car only to find it already hooked up ready to be stolen. For $75 they dropped it. What vultures! It’s one thing to tow a vehicle in another’s way, but this was clearly planned poaching.
A-1 towing on 5th Ave s. Is the best. Kenny was very helpful and curtesy. My vehicle was stolen and recovered totaled. My car was older so I didn't have full coverage on it. Kenny worked with giving me time to get my title released from finance company I did a car title loan with.This process was so stressful and Kenny was very kind and understanding and really worked with me. Thank you so much A-1 for Kenny and the other staff members for all your help. Curtesy goes a long way and I will always remember how they helped me in my time of need. If you need a tow company A-1 is the best.
Tarra
Praying on good citizens. Today i was accidentally towed. I produced parking payment receipt and they simply said come get your car. It cost me $42 in an Uber and they offered no refund for my lost time or Uber payment. This is unacceptable and I will report to the better business bureau. Unethical and no empathy for the errors the committed today.
Yesterday I was on US 19 north , just past east bay and I had to hit the breaks and I heard a clunk sound. I went to hit the gas and didn’t go anywhere.
My car broke down in rush hour on one of the busiest roads. I was TERRIFIED, however a crew of construction guys and one of your employees out of the kindness of their heart helped keep me calm and your employee moved me out of the road so I would be in the break down lane.
I just wanted to thank that man. This was around 6:30pm and that small act of kindness helped me to not panic as much as I could’ve. So thank you, and thank you A1 towing for having kind people
Great family ran company.
For the situation (getting towed)
They were friendly,and organized. If ya own a business and need people towed from no parking zones they're your guy's!!!!
Pulled into my downtown St Pete Evo apartment at 10pm, forgot my parking decal and went upstairs to retrieve,10 minutes later came down and car was gone. Called A1 Recovery and the representative was utterly belligerent. Literally hung up on me three times because I couldn’t understand his hurried, muttered response. Candidly, I was impressed at A1’s efficiency at, albeit low class, the “snatch and grab.” But the unwarranted rudeness was needless and terrible. After my third call I did decipher the representative stating “if I call back again he will call block me” and I will have to wait another day. While I don’t subscribe, I understand the sleazy ethics of their business model. But to compound junkyard sleaze with junkyard rudeness towards the reluctant customers that pay their salaries and create their revenue. Well, in my book, that’s beyond low class. My name is Jack Barrett and this is my Google review of A1 Recovery.
Has something changed for the better in recent weeks after reading the reviews? I do not know but I can only speak of my experience with A-1 and the staff that helped out company recently. Auto crash are never great even a bigger pain to deal with when law enforcement needs to call the tow operation (on rotation) to recover vehicles from the seen. There are generally a lot of heralds and hoops to go through but with A-1. After we confirmed that our company van was on there lot, I reached out to them and spoke to Lorain. I asked for the requirements and methods of payments plus the totals for towing our vehicle back to our Tampa branch. Lorain was extremely helpful getting everything we needed and our vehicle was bought to us the next day. Thank you Lorain and Diane for making this our experience very kind, simple and easy. Hopefully this will translate to others having this type of service and understanding in the future.
JN CES
As a visitor to St. Pete, I was appalled at the treatment I got from this company. I witnessed them scraping a brand new car by the tow truck and thought in horror about how they towed mine. They hung up on me three times when I called to retrieve my vehicle. I guess they don't have to worry about customer service when they are holding your car hostage. The rules of signage apparently don't apply here. There isn't enough available parking in some downtown areas to enjoy visiting businesses. It becomes too much of a hassle and expense to go out. I'll be visiting other areas because this city isn't addressing the issues they just grow profits and not infrastructure.
Awful people, at least who were working when I came in. I never care to write reviews except for this one. They towed my car after it was parked legally, and I had walked away from it. The person who answered the phone when I called was very rude and uninformative and unhelpful with any needed info. When I finally got there to pick up my car, they were even more rude inside. I told them I was obviously upset with my car being towed, and they proceeded to basically mock me for being upset and telling me, "Life will get worse," and repeatedly, to "Calm down and suck it up." Mind you, I am a teenage girl, which I think is why they thought they could speak to me this way. I should have called the cops to report it stolen instead of even paying these people. I genuinely hope their lives get better and they find joy in something other than mocking the people they are scamming.
Scum… visited from WA. I have PERMANENT registration from WA state as I am 100% P&T VA. They towed my truck due to “expired” registration. Showed them the registration that clearly says permanent. They told me it doesn’t apply to to their state and laws blah blah blah. Once I had the truck back while on the phone with the bank loudly told NFCU I didn’t authorize that transaction & to cancel it. They then tell me that’s fraud. I told them they are the ones committing fraud and walked out. My bank gave my money back.
Also, watch out for the jeep roaming around.
Tell truck 131 to get out of the middle of the road. I didn’t get towed, but watched the embarrassment happen. Just because you tow, doesn’t mean you own the road. Also, real sloppy job. I’d be concerned if I got towed by this company.
The guys that work at this place are “CrackHeads” doing crackhead things. I’ve been leaving my vehicle at the Monkey Bar in Clearwater Florida for 22 years and not once have come back the next morning and find my car towed.
There were no signs visible only in Auto Parts Parking Lot. The guy that met me to take my $223 dollars was nervous/tweaking because he knows that this was trash tow.
Keep you 1.8 rating on google because I would give you 0 stars as your set up is sketchy. Come to the back window to pay…..
I can’t speak for every employee there but the call centre was friendly and informative. The gentleman who returned my car was so friendly and deeply kind. We chatted about tattoos, our hometowns; he seemed genuinely apologetic about my car being in the lot. Wasn’t his fault of course! I had accidentally parked in a permit only zone & didn’t realise what I had done until it was too late. My car was taken in carefully and parked in a great spot. As I left to get it, the man behind the counter kindly wished me a better day. Cost was quite reasonable. Honestly, I just thought their employee was friggin great & I appreciated our interaction so much!
Website
