car towed - got scratched
01-28-2004 | 01:34 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 427
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From: San Antonio, TX
car towed - got scratched
i got towed from my own apartment parking lot because i had a photocopied decal because my roommate has two cars and we just made a photocopy of my decal so he could keep his second vehicle at the complex. in return he payed the original $25 for the parking decal.
so now he's paying half the $80 charge for the towing, which i think is fine. the ****ty part of this deal is that there are now 3 very noticable scratches on the car from the towing company. and of course the tow company was total a$$holes and said they didn't do it and refused to give me their insurance number.
so i called the cops and the officer basically told me this happens all the time and to just try to buff the scratches out because taking them to civil court ends up being a huge deal and not worth it.
anyone have any good advice?
so now he's paying half the $80 charge for the towing, which i think is fine. the ****ty part of this deal is that there are now 3 very noticable scratches on the car from the towing company. and of course the tow company was total a$$holes and said they didn't do it and refused to give me their insurance number.
so i called the cops and the officer basically told me this happens all the time and to just try to buff the scratches out because taking them to civil court ends up being a huge deal and not worth it.
anyone have any good advice?
01-28-2004 | 02:03 PM
#2
Race Car
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 4,220
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From: Washington, D.C.
Depends on the scratches? Can they be buffed a bit and then touched up? Or is it WAY past the primer or just disgustingly huge? If they are just in the clear you should be able to fix that cheaper and with less headache than pursuing it.
01-28-2004 | 02:06 PM
#4
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Joined: May 2001
Posts: 6,915
Likes: 70
From: Kansas City
Advice? Don't park illegally... but that is not what you want to hear. Police are required to make a damage report in cases like this, just in case you do decide to take it to court. Small claims court is pretty much the only legal solution.
I would assume that you have the car back home by now. If that is the case, there is not a whole lot you can do except to suck it up or try and prove it in court. That will be hard because there was no damage report taken while the car was still at the towing facility.
A similar thing happened to me right after I bought my car. I had it parked (illegally) next to my friends apartment. A short time later we heard a tow truck outside. They had the *** end up in a sling and drove off. When I got to the towing company, I knew that the front end would be all screwed up, and sure enough, they wore through the center of the bat wing.
They denied any damage, so I called the police on the spot. I got the same speech from the cop (small claims blah blah), but I made him do the damage report anyway. 1 month later I have a $680 check in hand for a new batwing and fasteners.
I would assume that you have the car back home by now. If that is the case, there is not a whole lot you can do except to suck it up or try and prove it in court. That will be hard because there was no damage report taken while the car was still at the towing facility.
A similar thing happened to me right after I bought my car. I had it parked (illegally) next to my friends apartment. A short time later we heard a tow truck outside. They had the *** end up in a sling and drove off. When I got to the towing company, I knew that the front end would be all screwed up, and sure enough, they wore through the center of the bat wing.
They denied any damage, so I called the police on the spot. I got the same speech from the cop (small claims blah blah), but I made him do the damage report anyway. 1 month later I have a $680 check in hand for a new batwing and fasteners.
