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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
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    2

    Default Billed for Towing and Impound Fees Over a Car I Sold

    My question involves collection proceedings in the State of CA.

    We sold a car almost 10 years ago to my brother in law. It was a cheap crappy geo but ran. I filled out the title stuff and gave it to him to finish. Apparantly before moving to Hawaii he left it at a church parking lot giving the keys to the leader for anybody who needed a car. Then the parking lot got repaved, they forgot who gave them the car, and the car was towed. I didn't know this until today because the a towing and impound place towed the car, sat on it for 6 months declared the car salvage, conveniently found my wife's phone from the title (because my lazy bro-in-law never re-registered it) and now they want 5k in towing and impound fees. They sent a letter but it went to an address we lived in 10 years ago, and hence got returned. The first we heard of any of this was a phone call today.

    Any idea of my legal recourse given I would have taken the car to the dump years ago had I known we still owned it? I surely don't want to pay 5k to a questionable towing place which my be predatory without exploring my options.

    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    18,340

    Default Re: Sold Car, Buyer Didn't Title, Notified of 5,000 in Fees for Towing and Impound

    Can you prove you haven't owned the car for 10 years?

    Did you file the required sold notice with the DMV? Did you keep a copy?

    Did you fill in your BIL's name as buyer and make a copy of both sides of the title?

    If no to all those questions, then you still own the car.

    However, if the towing and impound fees were incurred more than 2 or 3 years ago, the statute of limitations has likely run out and you should be safe to tell the towing company to pound sand.

    Next time you sell a car, pay attention to what I wrote above and make sure you keep the documentation in your permanent file.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Sold Car, Buyer Didn't Title, Notified of 5,000 in Fees for Towing and Impound

    Quote Quoting adjusterjack
    View Post
    Can you prove you haven't owned the car for 10 years?

    Did you file the required sold notice with the DMV? Did you keep a copy?

    Did you fill in your BIL's name as buyer and make a copy of both sides of the title?

    If no to all those questions, then you still own the car.

    However, if the towing and impound fees were incurred more than 2 or 3 years ago, the statute of limitations has likely run out and you should be safe to tell the towing company to pound sand.

    Next time you sell a car, pay attention to what I wrote above and make sure you keep the documentation in your permanent file.
    I always have paid attention to this when I sell a car, this was something my wife did with her brother to basically give him a car to help him out (and thus put too much trust in him to turn in the paper work). No good deed goes unpunished. I think the car was only towed in Jan. of this year only (as the person in charge of the church parking lot let it sit there for years). I'm annoyed (but ok) with the idea of paying a couple hundred bucks for the towing. I can't stand the idea of paying 5k in storage fees for a $600 car when we just heard about the towing today. I would have paid for it to be recycled years ago had I known we still owed the car of course.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    18,340

    Default Re: Sold Car, Buyer Didn't Title, Notified of 5,000 in Fees for Towing and Impound

    Quote Quoting awesome0
    View Post
    I always have paid attention to this when I sell a car, this was something my wife did with her brother to basically give him a car to help him out (and thus put too much trust in him to turn in the paper work). No good deed goes unpunished. I think the car was only towed in Jan. of this year only (as the person in charge of the church parking lot let it sit there for years). I'm annoyed (but ok) with the idea of paying a couple hundred bucks for the towing. I can't stand the idea of paying 5k in storage fees for a $600 car when we just heard about the towing today. I would have paid for it to be recycled years ago had I known we still owed the car of course.
    Then it's still within any statute of limitations for a lawsuit.

    You might still want to deny ownership and refuse to pay and see how far they take it.

    No guarantees, of course.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: Sold Car, Buyer Didn't Title, Notified of 5,000 in Fees for Towing and Impound

    Quote Quoting adjusterjack
    View Post
    Then it's still within any statute of limitations for a lawsuit.

    You might still want to deny ownership and refuse to pay and see how far they take it.

    No guarantees, of course.
    I agree. The car hasn't been registered under your name for 10 years. I think that the tow company would have a hard time proving that you are the owners and liable. On top of that, 5k in storage fees is totally ridiculous. They should have claimed the car as abandoned long before running up those kinds of fees.

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