If your stolen car gets recovered in San Francisco, SFMTA is now giving you somewhat of a Christmas present (that hopefully you never have to open) – No fees to recover your stolen vehicle! But only if you act quickly…. Photo credit: thesfnews

According to KQED, up until last month car owners who had the joy of dealing with getting their car towed after being stolen would have been stuck with a ginormous towing contractor fee ($225.75) should they get their car back. They also would only have a 4-hour grace period before the crazy daily storage fees of $68.25/day started adding up.

That’s right, until this year, you had to pay to get their car back after it was stolen. That’s like if someone broke into your apartment, stole all your stuff, and then you had to pay the police to get your stuff back.

We love non-residents… Money, money, money, MONNNN-EY!

However, staring in December 2015, all towing fees have been waived for recovered stolen cars. And the storage fee grace period has been extended to 48 hours. So if you DO get your car stolen, at least you won’t get hit in the wallet as hard as you used to.

You just need to make sure to file a police report prior to the recovery of your stolen vehicle in order to qualify for the waiver. Unfortunately you can’t file a stolen vehicle police report online. Find the SF police station closest to you so you can file in person.

> Was your car towed in SF? Find where your vehicle is at AutoReturn

And it definitely pays to be a San Francisco resident. As long as you pick up your car within 48 hours of it being towed, your cost to the city should be zero. If you’re a non-SF resident, you get a 50% wavier of the SFMTA tow fee ($133 instead of $266), no contractor tow fee, but you’ll have to act quicker – you get a 24-hour storage fee grace period.

Here’s how it all breaks down:

Fees for Stolen Cars that are Found and Towed

Photo Credit: KQED

It’s sort of ridiculous it took this long for city contractors to get civilized and agree not to upcharge victims of car theft, but I guess it’s better late than never, so we’ll happily take the early Christmas present. Thanks, SFMTA!

Read more at SFMTA, KQED and thesfnews