Blog/2026-07-23/Sixtless in Seattle

The parking lot where I was stopped with my busted-up tire. The penny-farthing guy was there, yes

I dropped by a friend's place to pick up some more Blackwell GPUs and everything seemed to be going well. I did my usual thing when I want to travel on the cheap to pick something up:

• United Basic Economy
• Hotwire car rental
• Same day flights

I remember thinking to myself that I should try out the Seattle light rail since it goes all the way to Lynnwood where my friends live. Not wanting to complicate matters for myself, I settled for the rental car and decided that it would be simpler. As it so happens, it was not.

Everything started going wrong when I was in this one toll tunnel in Seattle. The tire pressure indicator started flashing and the car started rumbling. Clearly something was deeply wrong. I had a flat tire, but I was stuck in a tunnel with no shoulder and so we limped our way to the first place where there was some space off the roadway and called Sixt and told them what was up. They told me to make it to a parking lot so I took the first exit and stopped by a dock with an ominous sign that said "This facility is at MARSEC 1". This was about 1635 on the day.

Unfortunately for me, I was also running out of charge on my phone. So there I was, stopped outside the Port of Seattle, and trying to get back on the line with Sixt. When I eventually got through, they asked if I could replace the tire. This is generally pretty straightforward except for the case they'd come up with here: they'd used wheel locks and didn't have the wheel lock key available. When I told them this, they said not to worry and that they were sending "Volvo Roadside Assistance".

Volvo Roadside Assistance

Volvo Roadside Assistance turned out to be a local tow operator called Sky Towing that was actually dispatched by an Urgent Towing, probably a local operator for Sixt. When the guy showed up, he did the predictable thing of looking at the wheel and saying it has a wheel lock. Then he did the exact same thing we'd done and failed to find the key. He said he'd got the call at 1812, which makes sense since that's when we called Sixt again to send someone out.

Now began the fun part. He said the car had to be towed - there was no other way it was making to a lot. That seemed convincing to me, but I'm always a little hesitant when a tow guy says something needs to be towed to his lot. So I asked him to contact his dispatcher and confirm they could do this while I called Sixt. By now, my friend had arrived as well, so I did have a working phone again.

He loaded up the car on the tow truck and was about to leave when the Sixt customer support guy "strongly advised" me not to let him tow the car and that they were going to set up a "one-way tow". All right, unload the car and off you go "Volvo Roadside Assistance" that is actually just a tow truck service.

One-Way Tow

The Sixt roadside assistance team then decided to set up a one-way tow after which we'd get a message on our cell phones telling us the ETA and so on and so forth. Predictably, no message had arrived some 40 minutes later so I called them again. This time the guy on the phone said he wasn't able to contact his tow team but that I'd get a message. By now we were 1915 and not only had my flight back from SeaTac left some 2 hours ago but also the next flight possible was leaving and I was going to have to spend the evening here. That's not so bad on its own, but I'd prefer to have done it on my terms.

In any case, I called back at 1930 having not received any text message and we had a long back and forth with a new agent who told us that the tow service would notify us within the next 90 minutes. None of the agents at this point had any real ETA. The numbers were sort of made up and when I asked them if I'd have to stay overnight they told me that wouldn't be necessary and that they'd know within 90 minutes.

AAA

By this time I'd figured out that they were just stonewalling me and telling me that I was expected to have the car towed myself but in the odd kind of language where they don't really tell you that. So I asked them if that's what they wanted me to do, and the agent told me that I was free to do so and gave me the address to which they wanted it towed. To be honest, I think I would have preferred to have known that right at the start, but then she assured me that within 90 minutes I'd hear something.

We decided to wait till 2030 before we followed up and by about 2035 the Sixt tow arrived and that was the end of it.

Post Return

One interesting thing is that Sixt's internal teams don't coordinate. I kept getting the "return overdue" message but when I contacted customer service they told me that the "case was with the roadside assistance team" and to ignore those return overdue messages. Well, all right then.

Other Odd Happenings

While I was waiting for help to arrive, I noticed that Seattle was being quite stereotypically PNW. The spot I'd stopped in was just off the West Seattle Bridge Trail and on this very warm summer's day there were quite a few people riding their bikes along it.

Penny Farthings

Because I didn't have any charge on my phone, I don't have a photo, but one of the sights was a man clad all in black riding a jet black penny-farthing bicycle. He had an enormous top hat and circular lens sunglasses. Quite the sight!

Jake Brakes And Trains

This being a seaport, there were trucks going by with their jake brakes running to slow down and an occasional short train sometimes with a double-decker load. Very cool!

Dustin

One of the Seattle bicyclists stopped to inquire and was likewise surprised that I didn't have the wheel lock key somewhere in the car. He suggested a few locations I'd already checked and just in case we went around and checked them again to no avail. Ah well.

He had an amusing story about a Ford Taurus he once owned which he drove happily for many years. One day he had a flat on the car and found that it had a wheel lock. Despairing of finding the key, he called a tow company and gave it to them for a few hundred bucks to be crushed. Right after he'd signed it over, the tow company turned down the car and then gave him the one thing they found: a wheel lock key. Sorry to hear, Dustin. Just a moment too late!