Towing Issues: Personal property in a towed vehicle, ford pinto, legal notifications

Question
I live in Kentucky.  Can a towing company refuse to give personal items out of a vehicle upon impound or accident (when there is no insurance) when the tow bill and any storage fees are outstanding?

Answer
well I am trying to recover from a major computer failure and loss of information so this may not be the answer you want...


I have at times tried to find specific Kentucky laws regarding vehicle liens and such, but have not had much luck...  Generally when I can not find the information it tends to involve the police departments doing the legal notifications and such...


That being said, as a rule the tow company is in business to make money for the services they provide (they are a private business not taxpayer supported like the police and fire departments), and as such they want to get paid...

Now if your vehicle (example here) is a 1976 Ford Pinto was wrecked and went off a hillside, and the tow company had to get it out of there and take it to their yard per police department request spent the better part of the morning they would have a bill (example price here) of say $ 900.00..


Now if you had the big fancy rims, the 3 million watt boom box stereo system in it and those were worth 5000.00 you would want it back and you would pay for the rights to get them...

But if the car was only worth 100.00 and you did not have insurance (you mentioned this) and you wanted your belongings back, you know that you will not pay for it and as such the tow company will incur more expenses following the legal procedure to gain the needed state paperwork in order to legally dispose of your vehicle... Remember you say its wrecked and that lowers the value of it..


Now holding the property is the most common method of trying to recover any money there is. After all if it is worth something to you, then you place a value on it... That is what the tow company is banking on...

At times you can surrender (give them) the title to the vehicle, and you might have to pay some of the fees, but that generally does work in getting your property back and also disposing of the vehicle, which by law the registered and legal owners are responsible for any and all towing and storage costs (in most every state)...


Sorry I can not provide a better answer and point you to the actual laws, but I am trying to rebuild my reference links as we speak...