In responding to usacomplaints.com by a person who was in an accident and found out a year later that she owed Riker's for towing it and storing it.
Ma'am: much of your complaint reveals your ignorance of what happens to a car after an accident. There is no fault in being ignorant, but you shouldn't blame the tow company because your car didn't disappear into the ether after you totaled it. I used to work for Riker's and I work for them again now. Just so you know where I am coming from.
When a car is towed away from an accident it builds up debt, either from a body shop, a mechanic, or in this case a tow company. The owner is responsible for this debt. Even if the car is totaled. The car was towed to a storage yard where it was stored for a month or more waiting for the owner to tell their insurance company where the car is so they can come and look at it and process it from there.
When you called you spoke to Hilde, who was rude. I do not doubt that by the end of the phone call she was rude. But try to look at it from her point of view. She has a deadbeat on the phone who had to be forced to meet their financial responsabilities. She knows that whatever she says she will be berated by someone who feels that it is somehow her fault the car has accrued such debt.
By the way, the way we keep track of cars here is by the last 6 numbers of the VIN. Unless you can tell her those numbers she can't find the information you both need to move forward with your business.
Hilde is rude, but she got that way from dealing with people who were towed away from a club or an apartment complex and are angry they got towed away and willing to blame Hilde for it. She didn't park their car in a tow away zone but she's the one who gets yelled at by the people who did. It is always Hilde's fault, never theirs.
Also, The towing business is a HIGH overhead business. It costs a lot to be in the business, The truck is expensive, so is the paint job. So is the special equipment you need to tow cars. Not to mention things like Insurance, payroll, office staff, uniforms, yellowpages adds, real estate to park all those cars. What little the company got from selling the totaled vehicle was probably less than 300.00 dollars and was not full recompence for the expense of dealing with the car.
After a certain number of days the tow company by law must attempt to contact the owner and tell them what they owe and where their car is. The tow company retains proof of this attempt to contact the owner. If the owner has moved or changed their name in the interim that letter might not reach the owner. We are a tow company not a private investigations Company. We get your last known address from the government and send you the letter. Meanwhile your vehicle continues to accumulate debt.
The tow company does what it is asked to do. We tow vehicles and store them and we deserve to be payed for both things. This person was not ripped off. P.S. The piece of paper the cop gave her after the accident told her where the car was and who had it. It was her responsibility to take care of her property.
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