Towing Issues: Towing company drove my car instead of towing it!, rear windshield, police garage

Question
I live in Niagara Falls, NY. My car was stolen from my driveway, and later recovered by police. It was riddled with bullet holes, and had the rear windshield blown out. We were told that it was being kept in the police garage for further investigation, and that we when they were finished, we could only have the car towed because our insurance had lapsed. Two days later, my car was spotted driving down a city street by a relative of mine. They followed the car to a local city residence, and phoned me. The police dept stated that the car was still in their garage, so I went to see if in fact the car my relative saw was mine. It was. After several phone calls, we determined that the towing company, who was called in by police, threw a dealer plate on the car and drove away! According to the towing company, they were driving it to their yard, and it was smoking everywhere, so they brought it to his home which was closer. He then informed us that he wants $125 or we aren't getting our car! I refuse to pay for a tow that didn't happen, and I assume that this guy was using his dealer plate illegally. There must be something I can do about this, but don't know where to start.

Answer
Well, first of all I am sorry for the delay as I wanted to check out a few things about this issue...  Not that I was able to gain a lot of information but I found a few things out..

First of all, depending on the original ordering law enforcement agency who recovered the vehicle, it depends on where the tow truck would of taken it... Some agencies have a separate storage yard of their own to which the tow company tows the vehicle and leaves it...

Now from the sound of it, the vehicle was either towed to the police station or their yard, but not an actual tow company... That is how I read your question..

OK, next issue is that you are questioning the charging of the $125 for towing... First of all, the vehicle was towed to the " police garage" and when it was released it would of been taken to the tow company office.. That sounds like when your relative seen it being driven... Ok, now not that its illegal to drive the vehicle (but you stated it had to be towed because of insurance reasons), it seems real strange that they would drive it. But then only the police and you would of known the insurance issue.

Now if he was driving it under his dealer plate, they it would of been covered under his insurance.. That issue is something that I do not think you can do anything about...

Now my research shows that there are about 4 or 5 tow companies up in that area that do police towing, and that 2 of them are a bit on the shady side... However one of them is also VERY POLITICALLY CONNECTED, so if it was that one you would have a hard time fighting the issue with the city...


My suggestion is to talk to the local police department up there who recovered the car and see what they will tell you in terms of any contract terms which were broken in driving the vehicle to "their yard"...

I know that area is having a few cities change rules and regulations regarding towing, due to issues with prior towing companies, or department policies... One area City is doing a complete rewrite of the towing contract to prevent further issues and to bring the contract up to date... You would be amazed at how lax some areas are in what is allowed by towing companies...

I also believe that the NY department of motor vehicles regulates tow trucks and the use of dealer plates, and they would be worth looking into, so you can see if they did violate the law...

BUT word to the wise, is if this involves the "politically connected " tow company you might find more trouble than not for fighting this issue...  It could not hurt to discuss this with a lawyer as they might know something that I overlooked or read wrong.

Hope this helps...