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Towing company is illegally overcharging, need advice
Houk
NipplesThe EchidnaRegistered User regular
NipplesThe EchidnaRegistered User regular
I'll try to keep this short, but it involves some legal crap, so bear with me.
Back in May, I bought a new car and parked my old junker on a public street until I decided what to do with it. It had brake problems, transmission problems, oil leakage, etc. I wasn't sure if I wanted to donate it, sell it as-is, try to fix it up, whatever.
Anyway, a few days go by and I go out to the car, only to find it gone. Turns out, cops decided it was abanonded and had it towed. I can't find out what tow company works the area so I just wait for a call or something.
About two weeks later I get a notice from the tow company that they're gonna sell off the car unless I pay for towing, storage to date, and other crap. All total it comes out to about $400. Now I figure I'd get maybe that much if I sold it myself, and between the headache of getting the cash and trying to drive it home myself (believe me, it was a wreck), I get lazy and decide to let 'em keep it and get it out of my hair.
Fast forward to a couple days ago, when I get a letter from them charging me $1246 for total storage, minus $400 that they got for the car, so a grand total of $846 they claim I owe. They cited California Vehicle Code 22524, which reads in part:
"The abandonment of any vehicle in a manner as provided in Section 22523 shall constitute a prima facie presumption that the last registered owner of record is responsible for the abandonment and is thereby liable for the cost of removal and disposition of the vehicle."
Now I'm fine with paying whatever I owe, but this seems a little excessive. So I look up the mentioned Section 22523, which has a section that reads:
"(e) The costs required to be paid for the removal and disposition of any vehicle determined to be abandoned pursuant to Section 22669 shall not exceed those for towing and seven days of storage. This subdivision does not apply if the registered owner or legal owner has completed and returned to the lienholder a "Declaration of Opposition" form within the time specified in Section 22851.8."
And nothing I saw contradicts this passage. The Section 22669 it references basically just explains under what conditions cops/tow companies can legally tow a car they determine to be abandoned, so that doesn't really affect my situation. Now, the cost of towing and seven days storage, according to the first bill they sent me, is $126 towing plus $25/day storage, for a grand total of $301. Subtract the sale of the car and I should owe them precisely zip.
I went to their office and tried to work it out, but they basically said this didn't apply because "I abandoned it at the towing yard" and that "it only applies to Section 22669", which didn't make a like of sense. So from what I can tell, they're just plugging their ears and hoping I pay up.
So my question is, what do I do now? The codes are all listed here and here and seem to be up to date. I'm gonna contact both of them to see if they can help, but I don't know any lawyers and can't really afford one for something this size. So any help you guys could give would be awesome.
Oh, and they also mentioned that this goes to a collections agency August 13, so if I don't get this sorted out by then, any advice for dealing with collections would be great, too.
tl;dr - towing company is charging more than legally allowed. When I call them on it and show them the laws, they don't back down. What do I do?
Back in May, I bought a new car and parked my old junker on a public street until I decided what to do with it. It had brake problems, transmission problems, oil leakage, etc. I wasn't sure if I wanted to donate it, sell it as-is, try to fix it up, whatever.
Anyway, a few days go by and I go out to the car, only to find it gone. Turns out, cops decided it was abanonded and had it towed. I can't find out what tow company works the area so I just wait for a call or something.
About two weeks later I get a notice from the tow company that they're gonna sell off the car unless I pay for towing, storage to date, and other crap. All total it comes out to about $400. Now I figure I'd get maybe that much if I sold it myself, and between the headache of getting the cash and trying to drive it home myself (believe me, it was a wreck), I get lazy and decide to let 'em keep it and get it out of my hair.
Fast forward to a couple days ago, when I get a letter from them charging me $1246 for total storage, minus $400 that they got for the car, so a grand total of $846 they claim I owe. They cited California Vehicle Code 22524, which reads in part:
"The abandonment of any vehicle in a manner as provided in Section 22523 shall constitute a prima facie presumption that the last registered owner of record is responsible for the abandonment and is thereby liable for the cost of removal and disposition of the vehicle."
Now I'm fine with paying whatever I owe, but this seems a little excessive. So I look up the mentioned Section 22523, which has a section that reads:
"(e) The costs required to be paid for the removal and disposition of any vehicle determined to be abandoned pursuant to Section 22669 shall not exceed those for towing and seven days of storage. This subdivision does not apply if the registered owner or legal owner has completed and returned to the lienholder a "Declaration of Opposition" form within the time specified in Section 22851.8."
And nothing I saw contradicts this passage. The Section 22669 it references basically just explains under what conditions cops/tow companies can legally tow a car they determine to be abandoned, so that doesn't really affect my situation. Now, the cost of towing and seven days storage, according to the first bill they sent me, is $126 towing plus $25/day storage, for a grand total of $301. Subtract the sale of the car and I should owe them precisely zip.
I went to their office and tried to work it out, but they basically said this didn't apply because "I abandoned it at the towing yard" and that "it only applies to Section 22669", which didn't make a like of sense. So from what I can tell, they're just plugging their ears and hoping I pay up.
So my question is, what do I do now? The codes are all listed here and here and seem to be up to date. I'm gonna contact both of them to see if they can help, but I don't know any lawyers and can't really afford one for something this size. So any help you guys could give would be awesome.
Oh, and they also mentioned that this goes to a collections agency August 13, so if I don't get this sorted out by then, any advice for dealing with collections would be great, too.
tl;dr - towing company is charging more than legally allowed. When I call them on it and show them the laws, they don't back down. What do I do?
Houk on
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I had a landlord file a false claim on me once. I ended up telling him and the collection agency to go fuck themselves for a year or two. It was a pain. So if you can afford counsel, do it.
*One local tow company is so predatory, they have to change their name about once a year. They have also been fire bombed.
So yes, absolutely contact a lawyer or courthouse. They towed you because the police called it in, so the police SHOULD help you.
The courthouse thing is probably the best idea. I'm in Orange County, so no calling the radio dude (though the chance to publicly deride these shitheels would be incredible), and it looks like there's something like half a dozen different courthouses here. So I'll call around on Monday and if nothing works out I guess I'll have to start looking for a lawyer.
The other reason I'm pretty sure they know this is bullshit is that their bill threatens "court action" if the bill isn't paid, but they don't give any due date or payment methods, and they offer a 20% "discount" if you pay within 5 days (i.e. pay quick without asking any questions). That just doesn't sound on the level at all.
Seems pretty straightforward- either you abandoned it on the street, or they stole your car. Since a cop kicked off the whole fiasco that's pretty clear-cut evidence that it was pursuant to 22669.
Give them a call and tell them you'll take them to court if they send off your bill to collections. Cite 22669 and 22523, tell them you'll be happy to send them a letter to document the situation, and make it clear that your next course of action will be to contact the Better Business Bureau, hire a lawyer, and they can let a judge decide what the damage to your credit history and the associated harassment is worth.
If you're polite (although they certainly don't deserve politeness) and clear with your intentions, I'd bet they'll back off. It's always good to give 'em one more chance to back down before you spend any money on defense against what's pretty clearly a cut-and-dry civil suit.
This isn't as clear-cut as it looks, which is why he needs a lawyer to handle this situation. Not to nag, but the OP shouldn't have simply let the situation drift the way he did, and let the towing company do all the work to dispose of his vehicle. While I think he's right that his vehicle falls under 22669, and therefore he's only responsible for the towing costs + 7 days storage (which may mean the OP will still owe the towing company, but not $800), the towing company is not simply going to give up if they receive one angry letter.
The towing company's obviously trying to scare this guy into paying up money he doesn't legally owe. In my experience it's best to let these people know you're going to take them to the mat ahead of time. Most often they know they're trying something illegal and back off before they get in trouble.
towing + storage - amount they got sounds fair. The only thing is it appears he might fall under some law saying they can only charge 7 days for storage instead of however many they did charge. CoJoe is just saying to be prepared for a lawyer, because it'll probably take more then just one angry letter.
water spirals the wrong way out the sink
Thank you.
Once I confirm with the courthouse/some cop that I'm in the right, I'll go talk to them one more time with everything printed out and hopefully a quote from someone official-sounding and see if they back off before I go to a lawyer.
But considering how they just brushed me off and insisted I owed them without explanation the first time, I'm not exactly hopeful.