QuestionQUESTION: Hi! I believe this was unlawful tow by park ranger dispatcher who I clearly communicated my situation and plan - my suv broke down on a sunday on washington state hwy 101 which runs through olympic national park about 200 miles from my destination/home/seattle. got ride to nearest town - port angeles, wa - 50 miles away, where I was able to charge phone -arranged how to get home &determined alternator was the problem &decided it would be best to return asap with part and mechanic to repair at location of suv to avoid $$$ tow fees, at 11pm notified park ranger dispatcher of location/mile marker & that suv was not an abandoned vehicle & of plan to return asap to repair. I told ranger I was calling to make sure it was ok to leave suv that was legally parked & not obstructing traffic. ranger never offered any time limit/warning info regarding when or if it would be towed. ranger said nothing except ask for my name and phone number, I asked ranger to pls notify me if this were a problem since he asked for #, thought he might use it...but he never did. didn't get home till 5am monday,slept,bought part,arranged to return to repair tuesday when mechanic/friend got off wk. on tuesday @9pm when couldn't find suv called ranger who said "it was there too long so it was towed" did not offer port angeles tow co. #, I got tow # which was closed. we returned to seattle, and wedneday 9am called tow co. - fee was $511 @ $341 per hour & 1 day storage @ $59 day= $618.43. we returned to port angeles wed. before tow co. COB, paid fees, moved to street & installed alternator which took 30 min, & returned to seattle. now seeking to sue ranger for tow fees because of ranger's failure to inform me of when he planned to tow suv, whereas I would have changed the plan if had been informed - he basically gave me no chance to avoid tow fees when I explained that was my main objective - now the high tow fee of $341 per hour for a 50 mile roundtrip - wondering if that is a inflated fee or a normal rate? at 1st didn't have issue with tow company as ranger ordered tow -they just did job -if fee is inflated wonder if tow and ranger are working together ripping off tourists - which I was not - but most travelers are .... and probably do not contest... I am filing against ranger but having quite a time finding correct court to do so - lol. wondering what you think about this mess?
ANSWER: Well in reading this I see a few things that might of affected the towing of the vehicle.
First of all, US 101 is a Highway owned by the US Government (in name) and they do control a lot of things.
State Patrol does patrol the highway and as such do order tows for abandoned vehicles under their guidelines.
Add in that some times the County Sheriff does order tows on highways also.
Now I am not sure who ordered the tow but the rates suggest that it was done under the WSP contracted rates (but did not know they charged 341 per hour) for light duty towing. The rates are the same state wide (as far as I know, and that is based on when I used to work in Seattle back in 1988 - 1992)
Now you should be able to go to any tow company in the Seattle area and see the rates which are required to post. I used to have a link to the rates, but it way out of date and I am having trouble finding a current rate sheet.
Now, that being said, Washington State has a "tow hearing form" which you can get and fill out to contest the legality of the tow. That would be worth checking into.
As to suing the Ranger, I am not sure if you can since there seems to be "immunity" at times for things that Government employees - Law Enforcement do in the scope of their actions.
Small claims court might be the place to start and you can do it where you live usually. They would have to come back and appear there.
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QUESTION: Hi and thank you for your answer - I will respond favorably to the rating but I want to make a comment or respond to the info you provided.
I did receive a form regarding the tow hearing which expired in 10 days - and didn't do that because the ranger ordered the tow and the tow company was just doing what was requested - but the rate is questionable - I did some research and inquiries regarding filing a complaint against the ranger and ended up filing a complaint with the attorney general's office as I really feel that the ranger did not fulfill his duty to inform me as a visitor to the park who had a stalled vehicle - by informing me of my obligations and if and when my vehicle would be towed, as he did not offer any information in that regard. I also found the rcw regarding law enforcement and impound of vehicles on a highway and what the procedure is - which was to tag the vehicle - which the tag should have had the date time name of officer or ID of some sort - and that the officer or his office was to identify the owner by the registration and make a reasonable effort to notify the owner that the vehicle had been tagged etc. the rcw also stated that the time limit was 24 hours with the exception that if the vehicle was not obstructing traffic, and the owner made contact regarding moving the vehicle - it could stay longer than 24 hours - so with that information I now really feel that I was setup as the ranger working the dispatch that night asked for my contact info and name - and said nothing else. my question is why would he ask for my info if he did not intend to use it? and when I asked to please be notified if this was a problem anytime before I arrived - and I told him of the plan to return and repair which is exactly what we did once we got the vehicle out of tow - it took about 30 mins to put in the alternator and I was back on the road - he ordered the tow 5.5 hours before I arrived to retrieve my vehicle. I was not even given a chance -if he had said - "you have 24 hours to move it or it will be towed" - then I would have at least had a chance to changed my plan -by being informed - I also told him that i wanted to avoid the expensive tow fee - I was parked legally in an area provided for visitor vehicles - not blocking or obstructing - I did everything possible to fully informed him of my intentions - that is why I want to go after him as he did not do his job which is to provide information - to park visitors etc. simply informing me of the park rules was all that was needed. So, I also asked attorney general in which court I would file a complaint for damages - so I will see what kind of answer I get there. I know parks have immunity clauses as far as injuries etc but he was basically a law enforcement officer and I do not think immunity in that respect applies but we shall see.
AnswerGood luck and hope things work out in your case.
I would go check the WSP tow rates at a tow company so you can determine if the rates are to high or not.
But then again, there might be a contract between the tow company and the park service which would not show up in any online records.
