QuestionHi, I live in California and have a question about towing charges. Yesterday I went to visit my sister to the apartments where she lives. I got there at 11:30am and my car was towed at 1:45pm. When I went to pick it up they charged me $192.50 for all this weard charges that add up to that total. This were the charges to be more specific. Towing fee $85.00 Labor fee 35.00 advance fee? 10.00 (1 picture taken of my car)storage fee 20.00 and gate fee 42.50. I just want to make sure if all this charges are justified. I drive a 96 Honda Civic and have never gone through this before. Thanks for your help.
Answer Ok this is one subject where there are lots of complaints and inquires. First of all what happened is you got towed for a Private Property Impound ( PPI ), which basiclly in a nut shell is a property owners rights to control access and parking on there property.
Apartment houses are a virtual goldmine for this to the towing company and a virtual diaster to the property owner.
Most apartment complexs have parking for tenants and areas assigned for vistors. Now chances are either your sisters apartment has reserved or assigned parking.
That is most likely the reason the Honda was towed.
Honda Civic, is a front wheel drive and that is most likely the reason for the $ 35.00 labor charge, To either use Go Jacks to get it out to allow them to hook it up from the front to prevent damage to the drivetrain, that or to use tow Dollies ( the small wheels you see on tow trucks )
Advance fee ? not sure there but if they are taken to show the alleged violation I am not really sure that you can get charged for that. That kind of sounds like it would be be a CYA type of picture for the towing company.
Storage fee, well it is usually charged for any part of the day that the vehicle is in the storage yard. That covers part of the costs ( shared between all the cars impounded ) for having to either rent or buy the property, fence it, insure it and your vehicle while in there control and possession. Also the personell that are there to release your vehicle (although some might say it is ransom back)
Gate fees are usually charged for any time a vehicle is released after normal business hours. Which tend to be Monday though Friday 8 AM to 5 PM.. Remember yesterday 1-16-06 was Martin Luther King day, Now Gate Fees are charged for holidays, nights and Weekends.. Towing companies tend to follow the holiday schedules that banks and the US Government do.. If those people get the day off for holiday its considered a holdiay..
Now the hookup (towing fee) That fee of $ 85.00 is fairly low industry wide for a Impound tow. Now some locations regulate the fees charged for this service. I bet you also had to pay cash for all the fees, and the reason for that is that if you wrote a check or presented a credit card for the service, what do you think the odds of you stopping payment or disputing the charges.
Towing companies are trying to make sure that they do not work for free for jobs done at the requests of property owners or managers. The same reasoning applies to vehicles towed for drunk driving arrests and such. Hard to cancel cash...
Now if you feel that you were unjustly towed, you can always go the Small Claims court route, but the charges do look normal and legit to me ...
