Towing Issues: car towed and sold but still asked to pay for storage, dmv office, dmv website

Question
MY car was towed a few months ago in San Francisco,CA;but i didn't retrieve it. The towing company already got rid of the car.Now I receive a call from a collection agency that told me that even though the towing company got rid of the car already,I still have to pay for storage fee for 90 days. My question is, can they do this?Is this how it really works?Because from what I know, if you don't retirieve your car, they get to keep the car.What I didn't know is that even though they kept the car, they still can ask me to pay for storage.

Answer
Yes they can do it...

California law states that you the vehicle owner are responsible for all towing and storage fees owed...

Now for example if your vehicle was towed and sold at auction for $ 100.00 and the towing and storage fees at that point came up to $ 1000.00 then there is a $ 900.00 deficit... Of which the tow company can either "eat" or turn over to a collection agency...

Keep in mind that towing companies (even if they work for the police department) are private businesses and as such have to cover expenses and make a profit to stay in business.



Now I recently had a computer failure and I lost access to lots of saved information, I used to have the link to this issue from the California DMV website. But I have not found it again (in the 1000 or so sections of laws)...

But if you want to surf though and see what kind of information is there you are welcome to... That or you can call the DMV office and ask then what section applies...


http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/vc.htm