Towing Scams in Pacific Northwest

[5Toes]

Junkyard would get $300 for scrap.

Or sell just engine and transmisson likely for $600. Hmmmmmmmm

[87e30]

This is pretty fucked. I'm a little surpsised by this...

Nothing I like more than my tax dollars paying to tow a car, and then paying to reimburse improperly towing a car... brilliant.

[Erik]

Wow that is so extremely fucked up. I'm really sorry to hear about this! This is certainly bullshit and you should absolutely be compensated for this horrible fuck up.

[djjerme]

In all seriousness, talk to a lawyer. It's illegal.

IMHO private towing companies are the scum of the earth. They are leaches, and should be shot on site if they go near your car.. Vultures, scam artist, etc.. Normally, I don't condone frivolous law suits, but I have had close calls with shady companies, and even had one guy point a gun at my head when I asked him "WTF?" But you should really take legal action..

[Eric]

To start off, if anybody knows anything or has had any issues concerning Bill's Towing in Tacoma, WA I would really appreciate any info.

My situation goes as follows. I am currently a student in Tacoma and I left my black two-door 1985 325e on May 15th in front of the house I am renting this year to be watched over by my friends moving in on the 1st of June. The car was parked legally at the side of the road, and according to the officer who ticketed it, no street cleaning was scheduled, and the car was not in any other violation.

I was not aware of this at the time, but Tacoma has an anonymous hotline for abandoned vehicles, which is to be called if the car is in violation or has been in a spot for 7 days or more (my hometown Chicago's is two weeks so i felt relatively safe), but my car was tagged by the officer just 2 days later on the 17th. He assured me when I talked to him, that he did not know who called in and that he did not know whether the car had been there for fifteen minutes or fifteen days. Because the move in date was not until the 1st, only one of my friends was in Tacoma, though he was a few miles away staying with another friend. The Car, according to city policy, was picked up 7 days after the flagging, on the 24th, by Bill's towing, who then impounded it.

I received no notification of this as all the letters were sent to my campus mailbox, even though my registration is listed in Michigan and legally the company is required to contact the original/home address. For 30 days the only attempt to contact me was made to my campus address, so everyone was left in the dark for some time. I had contacted the house a couple times just to check in, and there was no mention of anything wrong, as they didn't know it had been towed in the first place. I had gone away at the end of June for a few days, so at the beginning of July when I got back, I called again and asked how she was driving this time, and they replied that the car was not there (my stomach sank like lead). They spent a couple days searching and found nothing by the tenth.

I immediately began contacting all the towing services in the Tacoma/Seattle, until Bill's said they "had" it. I asked what the woman meant "had," and she replied it had gone off at auction on the 6th as they had had it for more than 30 days. Keep in mind, this is dulled down, I had never been that furious and upset, and I am still steaming. They casually told me it had been sold to a scrap yard, and I demanded to know where, to which I got a fat "can't tell you that." I am not going to go into detail, but I let out what I had to say, eventually having her give me her word that she would notify me when she got in contact with the yard. Ten minutes went by and I was frantic so I called every scrapyard I could until a man told me who usually bought from them. I called Lacey's Auto wreckers on his recommendation and the owner said he remembered the car, and that they had shredded it a few days before and that it was now being melted down. This is and was my breaking point, my heart got torn out of my chest.

My mother bought that beautiful car new in Stuttgart in 85' while she was at art school and has driven it halfway around the world. It has been in our family's possession for 26 years, though it was in storage for a couple, and I recently brought it to the west coast after driving it around the midwest for five years, still running without any problems. I loved that car more than I'll ever be able to say, and I feel like I'm missing an arm.

I have been researching Washington state law and have been working with a friend's mother who is a Chicago judge, and we seem to have a small claims case together against the towing company and city as scams like this seem to be common under the loosely constructed Washington private towing laws. The car was listed at 5K NADA value and had 129k miles, but I never wanted to sell her in the first place. Even if there is no settlement, I want the court to get wind of this, as I'm positive this was some shady business.

If anybody else has run into trouble with these scumbags I would really appreciate your story and any other info I can use, as I will not let my baby go in vain. If you can imagine your car getting ripped out from under you without knowing, send this around, I know I'm not the first to be abused by a city contracted towing company. I sincerely appreciate any help and comments.

Thank you.

Man I really feel for your situation, so instead of flaming you for the gigantic wall of text, run on sentences, etc, I decided to break up your megagraph into paragraphs; a self-contained unit of a discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea.


With that out of the way, I can't believe the sequence of unlucky events that took place with you car. That really is a shame man, and I hope something can be resolved between the parties involved.

[djjerme]

Trollz be trolling today..

[Mlarsen]

Yeah, Bills towing is pretty shady. You most definitely have a legit case, you should sue them. Get in contact with a local lawyer. You probably are going to have fly back and forth and will dragged out in litigation for awhile. Sue them for cost of car, lawyer fees, travels, and my personal favorite mental anguish.

Bills towing sucks. I've dealt with some of there drivers and there fucking dickheads.

[E30SPDFRK]

Holy shit man, I can't even imagine how mad you must be. I got mad reading it.

I have no suggestions, but I'm sure there must be a way to get reimbursed for the personal memorys and such that you lost. Good luck to you.

[ck_taft325is]

Fucking all of them. Every last one of them in WA state is a scam. There was this one place around Black Diamond... they charged me $900 to get what I thought was my sold 1973 Mercedes 280 SEL (with the 6.3L 500 SEL big block V8) out of their yard. Before any cash exchanged hands I asked if it ran. "Yup, it runs like a top. Just moved it around the yard yesterday morning". Handed him cash and he's all like, "Oh, the transmission's out..."

Not only that, they had a cop posted right outside waiting for the expired tabs cars to pull out. They have knack for not sending you a notice until after the car's tabs have expired. I know it's illegal but the tow truck driver's actually stop and talk with the cop at the end of the street. Fuck tow yards.

No offense, Archie ;)

[europeanplates]

Did you file a police report for the car being stolen?

How did they have your campus address?

Your buddies moved in June but did not know the car was gone until you called in July.

Sounds like the you need some new friends.

BTW I do think this sucks but if this was in your family for 26 years and you just left it on the side of the road?

Tyler

[Mlarsen]

you just left it on the side of the road?

A lot of house around campus don't have driveways. Most people park on the road.

[PNWDan]

I say that we all take turns calling that tow company and jamming their phone lines up and pissing them off.. fuckin ass hole tow companys. Im so glad I have my own house and garage

[europeanplates]

Lomis, Thomas
tlomis@aol.com
1210 S Sprague Av
Tacoma, WA 98405

253 2729393

Here is someone who is on charge of there website.

[TwoJ's]

It's not nearly on your level, but I had a run in with a towing company once. I had a blowout at about midnight, so I eased in to a gas station, parked it and had a friend pick me up as I didn't have a spare with me. I got up at 7:00, went and bought a wheel and tire and went down to change the tire and get my car back. It was gone, and the gas station attendant told me she had called and had it towed.

I thought that was a bit quick, but whatever. When I went to the tow yard to get the car, someone had pryed the passenger door open, stolen my deck and a few random things in my car -- specifically my lug key. I was fucking pissed off, but went to the tow guy and told him I couldn't take the car at the moment because someone had stolen my lug key. He told me he might have one, and pulled out my EXACT fucking key.

It was pretty obvious that the towing company had broken in to my car and taken my shit, but I couldn't prove it as the car was sitting for a few hours before they had towed it. I wanted to burn their fucking building down, but alas, I did nothing.

[LJ851]

imho private towing companies are the scum of the earth. They are leaches, and should be shot on site if they go near your car.. Vultures, scam artist, etc....

except archie



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