Towing Issues: Illegal Tow and Damage, exhaust muffler, small claims court

Question
I work at a State College in Massachusetts and my car was recently towed over the weekend.  I am getting reimbursed from the College for the towing expenses because I was rightfully parked in a Staff Lot and they thought it was a students car because there was an old Commuter Decal on the car from when I was a student. However, during the tow my exhaust & muffler must have been damaged.  The muffler is at a 45 degree angle, no bracket on the exhaust pipes and they are hanging a few inches off of the ground.  Also incredibly loud exhaust so I assume there is a crack/leak.  Part of my exhaust pipe was fixed a week or two ago so I know this was definitely caused by the tow.  Is there a legitimate claim here and to whom?  What steps should I take?  I feel helpless!

Answer
I would assume from your question, that the towing service is releasing the vehicle back because of a mistake.  But the damage issue does happen during towing from time to time unfortunately.

I would contact the towing service and discuss the issue with them and see if they will help you with it. If they did or did not do the damages, you have to ask them to investigate and see if they did the damage or even if it was possible that they could of done it.  

Sometimes you will find they will step up and admit it happened when they were towing the vehicle, sometimes it could not of been done during the tow. Never can tell what happened.

If you had some work done on the vehicle just a short while ago they should also know about that during them checking to see if they did damage the vehicle as it will sometimes help determine if it happened during the tow.

BUT at times towing services will not admit they caused damages and you as a vehicle owner are forced to go to the small claims court and see if the judge agrees with you or the towing service.  

Try the towing service and see what happens when asked about the damages.  Keep in mind though that being calm works best, yelling and screaming do not work, and you might get further... saying you are going to sue the towing company is always something they hear, and as such they tend to say " go ahead" as its a bluff most of the time.


Hope this helped.

Richard