Editing Motorcycle Theft (section)

== Recovery ==

About a month later, I was home when I got a call from the police. They'd found my bike and it was pretty much in shape. I just had to show up within the next 24 hours and they'd let me have it back. It turns out they'd found it the very next day but couldn't find the VIN and therefore couldn't find who it belonged to. At the impound yard, they'd eventually found a way to get that off the motorcycle and that's when they'd called me.

=== Courthouse ===

The place you go to get your bike back from the impound lot is the Bryant St. Courthouse. Those guys give you a letter that lets you have your bike back, you take that to the lot and then all is well. The thing with stolen vehicles is that you don't really get them back for free. Once the police call you, you have about an hour to respond to come pick it up. If you don't pick it up in that time, it'll be towed and you have to pay the tow fee and the lot storage fee and all that all of which sum up to an astronomical amount. Since I hadn't picked up the motorcycle in a month, the storage fees were more than the total value of the bike.

But in this case, they hadn't really called me when they foud the bike originally. This meant I wasn't actually on the hook for anything, and they gave me a piece of paper that released it to me. Hurray!

=== Impound Lot ===

The impound lot for the bike was on 7th St, near the freeway on and off ramps. It's a miserable place, mostly filled with people whose cars have been towed for whatever reason<ref name=me2/>, so in that gloom I was a bright light: I was going to get my rightful motorcycle back. Sadly for me, I soon discovered that anything towed to this lot only spends a short time there. The police had sent it there, and eventually told me that's where they'd sent it, but they don't really keep track of where it goes.

Fortunately, this lot does keep track of where they send things. So they sent me along to the lot in one of the numerous nameless cities South of San Francisco, South City / San Bruno / whatever.

=== Impound Lot 2 : Electric Boogaloo ===

<youtube>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBgoi28hXoI</youtube>

Now, by this time I was getting a bit antsy, but once I get going I find it easy to keep going so off I went in an Uber to this South of SF city. The policeman who recovered the bike had said it looked in typical working order and so I should be able to ride it out. 

When I got to this new lot, I told them I was just going to ride it out. But when I walked up to my bike, I realized that was it. This bike was not going to be ridden out unless I somehow attached a pedaling apparatus to it. This is because the ignition was drilled through, the fuel tank was empty and a pallid blue-grey, and there was no way to power the bike on. It's not the policeman's fault. He might not ride bikes.

All right, well that's fine. I'll just wheel it out, call a tow, and get it fixed. Well, not so fast! When an abandoned vehicle is towed, you can't just wheel it out. It has to be in working condition to leave the lot or you need to tow it. It was 4 PM. The lot closed at 5 PM. If I missed the window, I'd have to start paying storage fees that are hundreds of dollars. Well that's a bit crazy, I only just got the call that day!

Anyway, I called my tow guy and out he comes with his truck, takes the bike and sends her to the shop. All is well. We beat the clock, hurray! But why would someone do that to this bike?