QuestionHi Richard my name is amina and i stay in kalamazoo michigan and i had a question
1. In michigan what are the consumers rights when they have been towed for example if i wanted to file a claim against the towing company, how long do i have to file that claim
2. Are there any regulations when towing like, is there a limit on their DROP FEE
3,Can they charge you MORE than half the towing expense
to DROP your vehicle for EXAMPLE their towing expense 118 drop fee 110
4.If the towing company makes a verbal agreement stating that they will wait for you to bring the money for the DROP FEE back, and you return to find them gone, can you take them to court for breech of verbal contract?
5. If the towing company damages your vehicle, but states that they will not take care of the damages can you take them to court for that
AnswerWell I tried to research Michigan laws and I find a few different rules and stuff like that...
First of all you did not mention if the vehicle was towed for illegal parking in a place like a business or apartment complex. There are a few different things involved in these kind of tows verses a police ordered tow for something like a drivers arrest...
That being said, it also appears that the police can also have the vehicle impounded from private property just like the property owner can... SO that gets back into a few different issues again.
As a rule, when the Police order / authorize the tow, there are generally contracted rates for the service which the tow company has to follow. That means rates might be set in price.
Now if it is truly an impound for illegal parking called in by the owner or manager of the property then the rates are usually set by the tow company and there are no controls or guides as to what they charge.
Now as to the drop fees, generally they follow 2 different rules when dealing with private property tows (generalizing here also), if the tow truck is there and is partially hooked up, then it would be about 1/2 the normal hook up rate, but if they were ready to go (road ready, complete hook up) then it can be full price. Again this is also up to the tow company policy.
Now as to the "verbal agreement" on bringing back the money, well that is a gray area. After all if you are going to go get the money how long do you think they should wait. Is the bank ATM around the corner, 1 mile away or 20 miles away. Time is money in this part of the issue and while I (myself) give about 10 minutes to get the money some will give 5 minutes, some 15. Again company policy.
There was no real law that I found for Michigan on this subject, but I did not do a complete search of all 9,670 hits on the subject.
I did find that some areas (cities) have special regulations on impounds and that is normal at times. Some are more detailed than the state laws and others are just plain basic.
here is just one information source from Canton Michigan which does detail some of the laws which apply. You might find more information on it to help with your answer.
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:xz88clbqs5gJ:www.cantonpublicsafety.org/asse...
Hope this helps
