Towing And Storage

[gilibeirt]

 About one month ago I had a rollover car accident, without any damage to other vehicles or any injuries, but the car was totalled. California Highway Patrol called a towing company and the car was removed. Next day(within 24 hours), the towing company charged me towing plus 2 day storage of $45 per day, which were paid. They also asked me to sign on the back of the title for the car and give it to them, saying that they will not charge anything else,  will electronically arrange the transaction, and the car will go to scrap. The car had North Carolina title, North Carolina registration, and temporary California operating permit. I did not notify DMV about the change of ownership.   Today, they send me the notice of auction sale and charged me for storage for whole time starting the day after I signed over the title. The notice states that this was not a tow authorized by public agency, even though the previous receipt has "CHP-CALL" written on it.  Even before I received this notice, I was asking California Highway Patrol office about the rate agreement with the towing companies and the 2 day charge for 24 hour period, but they told me they know nothing about the 24 hour rules(section 3068.1 of civil code), if they apply to me, and what are the daily charges the towing company may receive in my case.  Is towing company trying to charge me for the car that they legally own, and is it possible to request the copy of the CHP agreement?  

[Godwine]

Well, Since I am not in California and as such am not 100 % up on all the rules and regulations there. From what it sounds like, you signed over the title to the tow company instead of paying any towing and storage fees.

I hope you have copies of paperwork that says as such. Now I think(hang on do not yell yet at me) that the towing company in question is fairly large and processes a huge ammount of abandoned vehicles at one time.  Now with some of the software that the towing industry has, letters are automaticly generated if vehicles hit certain days, or even if a mistake is made in vehicle status.

Now if the title was signed off to the company they should of cleared all entries and disposed of the vehicle with no lein processing or notifications to last registered owner(s). Now have you talked to the towing company, since you mentioned you paid all towing and storage fees, before you signed over the title. That means that all of the outstanding charges are cleared. I think that this might of been an error in entering the information into the computer or however they do lein paperwork. The 2 day storage fee ? now according to the CHP agreements, if they have the vehicle for less than a 24 hour period it is one day.  

Go check out http://www,chp.ca.gov  and look at the FAQ section for towing.   There are copies of the towing agreements and also sections where they discuss the review boards which oversee towing companies.  

There is also an appeal process which you can follow to see what is supposed to happen.

I hope you find the information there, if not contact the California Towing Association as they might be able to direct you to the proper location to file complaints or whatever you need to do..  they can be reached at http://www.ctta.com/

let me know what happens if you can.  I would be interested in knowing the outcome