So watching videos of these high speed repos where the dude activates the lift while he is backing up and lifts the vehicle in seconds and off he goes. So, if a vehicle is in Park or has E-brake on, how are the wheels moving? And what’s keeping the towed vehicle on?
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When they can, the tow driver probable picks up the end with the drive wheels. Since “Park” only acts on the drive wheels, picking up the drive wheels solves this issue. At least in the USA (where almost all new cars are automatic), my experience is that very few drivers use the E-brake. Thus, if they pick up the drive wheels, most of the time the care probably rolls easily.
Here is a video where they couldn’t get to the drive wheel end at first (see 3:00):
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZmHRElAArc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZmHRElAArc)
You can see the right-side front wheel rotating backwards. This shows the parking pawl is holding. The action of the differential is the reason that one wheel turns one way as the other side turns the other.
Even is the E-brake is on, most people (including myself) don’t normally apply them hard enough to keep the wheels from rolling. A good E-brake can lock up the 2 wheels it acts on, but generally it must be applied **really** hard to do so.
As for why the car stays on the tow truck, the arms that go around the tires leave the tires sitting in big holes. The tires won’t roll up and out of those holes unless the drag from the tires still on the ground is high enough.
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