I've often wondered how a car can be towed if the parking brake has been engaged and/or the car was left in gear.

I'm assuming a tow truck operator has a way to do so, otherwise it would be impossible to tow illegally parked cars without having them suffer severe damage.

Anyone know?

 

For a RWD car, in gear and ebrake pulled, you pick up the car so that the front wheels roll on the ground.
For a FWD car, in gear and ebrake pulled, you use a "dolly" on one end and pick the car on the other end and tow it away.

AWD and S2000s should only be towed on a flatbed. In a pinch, you can use the "dolly" method but you risk damaging bodywork.

 

Interesting...I thought the ebrake locked out the rear wheels on FWD.

And here I thought there was some "magical" way to shut off the ebrake and take a car out of gear.

Thanks!

 

the ebrake on a FWD car DOES lock the rear wheels.

 

They do. That's why you must use a "dolly".