So last night I got off of work late maybe midnight I was tired, I have been sick all week. I get to my apartment complex and no parking spots are available, I usually park further away but because I was exhausted I parked in someones reserved parking right in from of my apt. (big no no). I wake up in the morning and my roomate tells me that there is someone about to tow my car. I go outside and he has equipment ready about to tow from the front has it on the floor around the tires nothing is locked yet, he hasn't lifted it yet and I tell him hey I don't want you to tow it. He said that is fine but I have to charge you $40 bucks because my equipment is down. That sounded fishy to me so I said can I call your boss to verify he gave me the number and before I went inside I said "DONT LIFT IT UP YOU WILL DAMAGE it" I will take care of this. (The car sits low as it is now and he's towing from the front I knew he would damage it

So I call to verify and when I'm walking outside I see him finishing up the bolts and beginning to lift it. As i come out I see this I get angry of course and i throw my credit card and tell him wtf I told you not to lift it. He then gets in my face saying you have no right to talk to me like that. I told him that I was going to fix it and not continue to lift up my car, he calls the police. As we wait for him to come I notice some damage some of the undercarriage plastic is being torn off. I tell him please put it down you damaging my car he refuses. I wait for the police officer and file a report. My question could i take the company to small claims court maybe get money for damages? Or do I have zero chance because I do admit I should have not parked their, but I told him don't lift it and he continued to do so.
pics on the bottom and thanks for any input

 

what did the police say?

 

pretty much that I could get some money for damages but I would have to take it to small claims court because he did nothing "illegal" I think they were buds or something because he was totally biased towards him and he acted like his buddy which he is supposed to be an unbiased mitigator. He pretty much said call that number...

 

the towing company has no right to damage your car no matter what you've done, and you have good documentation.

 

Hell yea you can. Not only did he try and get $40 bucks out of you, but he also damaged your car after claiming he would not tow it.

 

Towing is a fishy business overall...they are like sharks looking for prey. Make them pay for the damages since you have evidence for mishandling property.

I have no experience in this kind of matter...just a suggestion.

 

Oh the cop also made me pay him the $40 dollars ....I really think they were connected some how. (He was like what do you want to do you can either pay $40 dollars or pay the $120 at the wrecking place)...

 

You never pay cops outright, it's always a mail-in thing when it comes to being given a ticket/fine/charge.

I can't say about the towing company, but paying upfront to the driver generally means he just pocketed your 40$.

I'd go to court with it

 

did you get a receipt from the driver?

 

btw, i have a really, really super awesome story about sticking it to a towing company, but i will divulge it only if fkoolaggie is ok with a threadjack.

 

na payed it to the tow truck driver with a credit card and I received a receipt. And thread jack away. I figure ima drop this. I will take a heat gun or something and bend that bottom lip back and place and screw the flaps back on. I skipped all my classes and filed complaints with the BBB and went to talk to the police dept in person. The police dept is useless no one knows wtf there doing, and when I tell them the police officer that came to the scene was really unhelpful on my next step with the police report they totally blow it off. soo lesson learned watch were you park...

 

I do have the biggest question though. The way I parked it he had no access to the rear wheels only the front. He lifted the front when I came out and I asked how are you going to tow it I because its rear wheel drive and the E brake was up as well...he said he could disable something. WTF are they allowed to actually tinker with you car....that is crzy.

 

I bet you he was just going to tow it with your tires screaching down the street

 

I like this thread so I can watch out for my 8 in the future.

Oops...I'm retarded, I just quoted myself.

 

alright...

i live on a farm in knoxville, tennessee. we have a lot of trucks; a dump truck, and old tow truck, some jeeps, tractors, etc.

one night a few winters back it was ***** cold outside and i was leaving for work at 9pm. it was snowing, and beginning to pick up. as my garage door was going up, the power suddenly went off. long story short, some drunk bitch plowed through some power poles in my front yard (which is quite a ways down) took out about 40' of our fence and actually left the top half of the telephone pole hanging from the wires. the bottom half was blocking out driveway. he car, an accord, was upside down in our field.

she was drunk, but fine, out walking around.

in comes the towing company. by the time they got there, it was late and pretty dark out. i didn't see them tow the car away, because i had gone on to work but the next morning my dad noticed that they had left her spoiler, rear quarter panel, hub with tire and wheel attached, a door panel, and spare tire (?) in our field. he wasn't very happy about that, so he called and told them to come pick it up. the woman on the phone was kind of nonchalant... sort of "oh well, i'm sure they left a few pieces around. i'll send someone over to pick them up later."

and they never came.

so the next morning (saturday) my dad got me up real early (i was 17 at the time). we went down to the field, gathered up all of the parts they had left, and put them in the back of the dump truck. we drove over to the towing company, packed up to their front ******* door, dumped it all out literally on their doorstep, and drove off.

 

epic lol

 

call the owner of the tow company first. explain that if he doesnt pay to have the repairs done at the shop of your choosing then you'll be forced to take them to court. Explain that you have pictures and documentation regarding all of the damage.

Most companies will pay the costs of repairs instead of paying for the hassle of going to court. If you have any lawyer friends now is the time to call in a favor and have them send something out with their letter head.

 

They yank the car out of the space then grab it from the back. Some of them even have dollies they can put under the wheels so they don't even have to drag the tires.

 

The cops would have been prying my off the F**king Tow Driver's throat...

 

you can tow a rwd car from the front. they put these little dollies under your rear wheels. I saw a tahoe getting towed from our lot last year and the guy never secured the car, the tahoe swung out behind the tow truck and almost hit 2 other parked cars. I really dislike tow truck drivers, luckily I never had to deal with one.

also, what if you get in the car when he is about to tow it. he is not allowed to tow the car with you in it, and when the police come how can they prove you were not in the car to begin with?

 

I couldn't help but chime in on this one... what a fucktard. Do whatever you gotta do to get it fixed on their bill and teach him a lesson. That was totally unnecessary and he was just being an *******, violation or not... I probably would have ended up in jail after I kicked him in the *****.

Anyways, good luck.

 

ya don't eat the fix-it repairs. **** the tow company and billy-bob the driver. you told him not to tow it and that you'd take care of it. he acknowledged it and lifted you anyway. you've obviously got evidence as well as his cop buddy as a witness. I know you might be thinking "why the hell use the cop as a witness?" Hell ya i would. Force the cop to stick to his legal obligation which will force him to **** all over his buddy billy-bob.

 

Yeah so after talking to my parents and driving to work with that plastic hitting the payment which sucks I will be going to the body shop and getting an estimate tmrw. Its just horrible how the police officer handled this. He could have cared less. He literally made comments against me. I always sign my name with a scribble never legibaly and I guess the tow truck driver felt I was being rude when I signed the receipt so he made a comment to the police officer see he's acting like a like a child. And the police officer just said in front of me "Oh he's digging his own his own grave" the he wants proof of how i sign my name which I showed him with credit card receipts..eeesh..this system is corrupt

 

I'm having the front spoiler replaced on my car from being hit by tire tread. The estimate to replace the lower front spoiler was $1200

bring the pictures to the tow company, WITH AN ESTIMATE on the damage. and tell them you either want them to pay the damages OR you're taking them to court.

 

Wow thanks appreciate the info. Would it be best to drive the car there? at the moment the plastic stuff is rubbing the ground the sound is horrible..