hey guys, i have a quick question for you, my car was impounded about 3 months ago, for having expired tags. so it was towed. they said i needed to pay a whole buncha money to get the car out and pay for storage and yadda yadda. they basically wanted like 800 dollars to get the car out. but the car wasnt even worth that, so i said id let it go. and just went to get my stuff out of it. and bid the car farewell. then about a month later they sent me a letter that the car was gonna go as a lien sale and they were gonna sell it or whatever. no today i just got a letter saying i owe 3k in fees to the towing company. am i missing something? i never received any other letters from the tow company after the notice of lien sale. so im wondering, can i just let the car go? what im wondering is, even if i did pay the fees, they probably dont even have the car anymore, so what am i paying for? every site ive looked up says that i can let the car stay at the impound lot and let it get sold. anyways im looking forwards to your thoughts. thanks

You should be able to have it sit there and they will sell it...When I got my car impounded, I put it in my dad's name and since the 30 day hold was under my name, he went and got it out the next day, but then again I had just bought the car and it wasn't in my name to begin with.

Please don't tell us this is the Camaro though.

nah. i could never let my camaro go to waste like that. its my DD. this is just tripping me out though. a bill for 3k in the mail never feels good.

especially around the holidays...

The 3K to the tow company is legit!

Unfortunately, when you left the car at the impound yard the storage fees kept on adding up. Since the car was in your name, you are responsible for them. At some point the tow company can attach a lein to the car's title. When the amout of your bill equals or exceeds the vehicle's worth the tow company can get the title and sell the car. When the car title is "changed" then the storage fees stop. This does not release you from your storage fees prior to that point. The sale price should be deducted from the bill. All paperwork fees incurred by the tow company to accomplish this can be added to the bill.

A similar example:

Car gets stopped for speeding and found with no insurance on friday night.
Car gets towed and enters the storage yard prior to midnight.
Since the tow company office is not open until Monday, storage fees are assigned
for four days (friday, saturday, sunday, monday)

Now proof of insurance must be shown at the sherrifs office and a release of the car must accompany you to the tow yard. In addition, since the car was towed at the request of the police, the state sets the price of the tow - and that will have to be paid beore the car is released as well.

After 90 days @ $40 a day storage the bill reaches $3600 just for storage.
The tow is set at $175.
The fees to get the title so the car can be sold is $250.

That comes to $4025.
The car no longer starts and the tow company chooses to not repair it.
It is over 20 years old and not in perfect condition, beyond blue book!
The tow company junks it and gets paid $200 for it, that is subtracted.

The bill would come to $3825



Your state may differ a little from this, but basically this is why you owe what you owe.

When you retreived your stuff and decided to sy bye to your ride, you should of signed it over to the tow company to pay off your bill at that time. Since you retrieved your personal belongings, you knew where the car was and how much at that time your bill was - no further notification was necessary.

Find a lawyer, have him/her review everything to make sure everything was done properly, if something was missed you may not owe that much or anything at all.

BTW: I used to help out driving a tow truck a few years ago, if you were wondering.

Gotabekidding is correct. Your are the proud (well not so much) owner of those fees accrued on YOUR car. If they aren't paid, the can opt to report you to collections and that then effects you credit. As much as it hurts, you are gonna have to try to work out some sort of payment plan to work this out. I'm sorry to hear about this unfortunate turn of events for you.. but as the old saying goes.. its cheaper to keep her! Good luck

Life is full of mistakes. This is a slightly expensive one. But now you know and will not do it again. and thank god it wasnt a 3rd gen....

My advice is usually terrible so I wont say what I would do

but in your situation, should try to make a payment plan with them, if that doesnt fly then you probably have no choice then to let it go into collections, and then you can make payments, or let it go until you get sued and then fight it in court for another 1+ years.

My sentiments exactly on all accounts.

i dont understand how that makes sense. i went over to the tow yard to pickup my belongings from the car. and i signed over the car saying i no longer wanted it back. got my stuff and left. why would i be given the option of just leaving the car there for example because i dont wanna pay the 400 bucks to get it out. only to wait a month, to have them say, "well now you gotta pay 3k because we kept it for a month". i dont understand the purpose of leaving the car there be an option if you have to pay eventually. seems like a way for them to just get 3k instead of 400, at the expensive of my lack of knowledge

Welcome to "the lack of american business ethics, class 101"

Greed is legal, now.

I can sympathize with your situation. Most knowledge is learned by mistakes.

Make sure a lawyer looks over all the paperwork in this process.
If they overlooked something, it could go in your favor.
If you can't afford a lawyer, there is usually a "free legal clinic" thing that can probably look over the documention.

Being taken advantage of once, silly you
Being taken advantage of twice, stupid you????

Good Luck
Keep us posted, just curious how it turns out

If you signed it over, and can prove that you signed it over (kept a copy?) you've got them by the *****. It was theirs & they had no rights to be charging you for it being there.

The fee's are maybe before for he signed the car over to the tow company

they didnt give me a copy of any paper. i simply went and they asked me whether i wanted to pay the fees to get the car out, and i said no, that they could keep the car. then signed a paper, to which they led me to the car and let me remove my belongings from it.

paying 3k on this really bums me out. at 21 this isnt that kinda **** i need weighing me down. is there any way of getting around this?

oh and i didnt even wait very long before signing that paper. i went the next day to pick up my stuff

#1, you should have INSISTED on a receipt/paper copy....SOMETHING to show you signed it over.

#2 and this may take a little work by a lawyer who knows the ins & outs & how to get things done.....Their system WILL have a copy that you came in & signed it over, unless some lazy clerk never entered it, or if they are crooked enough to have deleted the records of that transaction.

what kinda lawyer handles these sorta things? i know what to look up.

Make sure a lawyer looks over all the paperwork in this process.
If they overlooked something, it could go in your favor.

Most lawyers volunteer some of their time to help some that can not afford them.
These are called "free legal clinics". They can probably look over the documention.
The legal department at a local college will know where one is.
Most police know where they are.

I am sympathetic to your situation, but you really need a lawyer.

I do not know the specifics of California, San Francisco Bay area's laws
I lived there for about 4 years, in the past.
3K is a stout amount, regardless of age.

I see it the same way as u do,,,i would talk to a lawyer and ask him...MMMMMMHHH, then again is it worth paying a lawyer 3 K to safe 3 K ???

Unless u know one ???

But seriously, as soon as u signed the car over ..I WOULD SAY ITS THEY'R PROBLEM NOT YOURS !!!!!

Actually, having worked for a tow company to make my way thru college, you have a case. IF the facts actually are as you stated. With no signed paperwork, you had a verbal contract that will stand up in court. And you are going to have to go to court, so start studying up on it. The courts do NOT favor the tow companies. You might even have a case against them for a counter claim, but it dosn't sound like you have the funds to persue this.
You will need to hire a lawyer or call KGO and talk to the talk show lawyer host Glenn Tillem??? or however he spells his name. You made an agreement to hand over title ownership of your vehicle in TRADE to cover the cost of the towing and storage up to the minute you stepped into the tow office and made the transaction. A lawyer will have his paralegal draft up a letter stating the date, time, location, person's legal name you made the transaction with, the correct law citation, etc. that you will have to hand over to the tow company's legal department.

Do not be lazy and let this appear on your credit report. Once it lands in computer land it will stay there most likely for the legal reporting limit; which if it's legally paid and both parties agreed too, I think is still a minimum of 3 years? If you just let it sit, it will sit for 7 years. Can you afford something to ruin you for the next 7 years? Nitro-Nicky