And I thought I was scared of being towed before (kinda long)
Apr 24, 2007, 04:31 PM
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And I thought I was scared of being towed before (kinda long)
http://equaltimeradio.org/?p=193
The Puget Sound area is suffering an epidemic when it comes to auto thefts. It has gotten so bad that the state legislature has been working on legislation that would increase penalties for such crimes. (Currently, a person would have to commit up to seven felonies before he or she ever saw the inside of a prison for auto theft)
Why am I bringing this up?
This morning, at about 3:45 in the morning, my roommate banged on my door to tell me that someone was stealing my car with a tow truck. My great little Audi A-4 spends its night in my car port, out of the weather. I pamper it, making sure it stays clean and meticulously serviced. There isn’t a dent or blemish on the car — it is my baby.
I immediately jumped up out of bed, and called 9-1-1 to report my car stolen. My roommate took off in his car to follow the tow truck and attempt to head it off at the pass, so to say. A few moments later, he calls me to tell me he made contact with the tow truck driver — who works for a repossession company called Western Automotive Recovery of Washington, Inc which goes by its acronym, “WAR”.
The driver had been looking for a 2001 Saab that the bank had listed to repossess. Instead he latched on to my 1999 Audi A4 only because the color matched what he was looking for. When that revelation was brought to the driver’s attention, he told my roommate that this was only a “prank” and that he would promptly return the car.
A few moments later, he arrived back at my house, backed the car back into my car port, lowered it and sped out of my driveway, almost dragging the car behind it as he sped off. Immediately, a Snohomish County deputy pulled him over, and I ran down the street yelling that I wanted to press charges for auto theft.
The officer told me to go back to my house to see if there was any damages to my vehicle.
When I tried to start the car, it wouldn’t start. The bumper had been pulled away from the corner, and there was a small dent in the right front fender. Those were the obvious damages, and I let the deputy know this.
My Audi is an all-wheel-drive car. It cannot be towed without damaging the transmission. Not even for a short distance. The car had been towed for about five miles while it was still in park.
The deputy refused to arrest the driver, telling us that the driver “was only doing his job”. He would make a police report, but he wasn’t going to do anything further than that. He wouldn’t give me the name of the driver, or the contact information for the company he worked for, until he completed his report sometime the following night.
After a lot of phone calls and searching the internet, I was finally able to track down this company. I called the manager, “Rich”, who hadn’t heard from his driver about this as of 8:30 this morning. He told me that he knows if his driver screwed up, his company was liable for damages, but first he had to talk to his driver. I gave him the police incident number, telling him that he didn’t even need to talk to his driver since the sheriff’s department caught him in the act of returning the car. (I mean, what more proof does he need?)
He told me that he was going to send a ‘flatbed’ truck over to pick up my car and take it to a shop to be examined. He would also pay for a rental car during the time I would be without a car. That was at 10:00 this morning. Now, five hours later, he is ducking my phone calls, and telling me that he is going to wait for a copy of the police report. [NOTE: he received a copy of this police report at 7:36 am this morning when I faxed it to him]
Since that time, I was finally able to start my car. However, the transmission doesn’t shift properly, and there is still the matter of the bumper that was pulled away from the car.
As far as I can tell, this is a totally unregulated industry. You would expect, when dealing with expensive private property, there would be some sorts of protections in place to prevent things like this.
For example, requiring positive identification of a vehicle before it is taken. In this case, a simple check to see if even the make or model matched the information on the repossession would have prevented this from happening. License plates could be switched, but at least verifying the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) should have been mandatory. The fact that none of this was done takes it far beyond what anyone could consider an “honest mistake”.
And what if nobody had seen this driver take my car? What if my roommate hadn’t caught up with him? Would he have quietly slipped my car back into my car port and driven off with nobody being the wiser? Would he have simply unhooked the car down some quiet street and pretended like it never happened?
What do you think the chances of him coming up to my door and telling me he had made a grave mistake and that his company would foot any bill for damages up and to making complete restitution for any losses I might have incurred?
Why aren’t these repossession people required to notify the police that they are going to take a vehicle prior to them doing so? It would at least protect them from pulling the wrong car and then getting caught with it. You know, call the local cop shop, tell them you have legal repossession paperwork and that you have spotted the vehicle and have made a positive identification that it is, in fact, the correct vehicle.
There is way too much room for abuse and mistakes, and the innocent person whose car was snatched by one of these people end up having to pay the price while the repossession companies get away with committing crimes.
So here I am, over twelve hours after I became the victim of a crime that the police refuse to prosecute, and the company trying to duck their responsibility under the guise of “looking into it”. I have been deprived of the use of my property, which is now damaged goods.
I do have some recourse available to me. My insurance company will cover the cost of the repairs, but only to the point of the value of the vehicle, and when that value is exceeded, the car then becomes “totaled” They are then only likely to give me the retail value of the car, which is less than the cost I’ve paid on the car.
Secondly, if the insurance company has to foot the bill for a new transmission at the cost of roughly $6500, then the car gets awarded what’s known as a “salvage title”, thereby cutting the value of the car in half — again, a loss for me.
I could sue the company itself, and attach its bond thereby taking away the ability of the company to perform business in this state, but there is nothing stopping the company from simply abandoning its bond and reapplying for a new bond under a different name.
Update: I received another police report from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department that identified the driver of the tow truck. One of my roommates actually knows this guy, and he is a real piece of work. He has a very bad driving record, and apparently the only background check Western Automotive Recovery did when they hired him was to review the forged copy of his driving abstract that HE provided. Apparently, they must have forgone the “fogging the mirror” test.
According to Richard Vollmer, the registered manager/operator of Western Automotive Recovery of Washington whom I have been speaking to for the past couple of days, the driver ditched the truck and never returned to the company.
Now Richard trying to get out from under responsibility for any of this. He doesn’t think he should be held responsible for his “negligent driver’s actions”, and gave the following analogy as his reasoning (and I quote):
The Puget Sound area is suffering an epidemic when it comes to auto thefts. It has gotten so bad that the state legislature has been working on legislation that would increase penalties for such crimes. (Currently, a person would have to commit up to seven felonies before he or she ever saw the inside of a prison for auto theft)
Why am I bringing this up?
This morning, at about 3:45 in the morning, my roommate banged on my door to tell me that someone was stealing my car with a tow truck. My great little Audi A-4 spends its night in my car port, out of the weather. I pamper it, making sure it stays clean and meticulously serviced. There isn’t a dent or blemish on the car — it is my baby.
I immediately jumped up out of bed, and called 9-1-1 to report my car stolen. My roommate took off in his car to follow the tow truck and attempt to head it off at the pass, so to say. A few moments later, he calls me to tell me he made contact with the tow truck driver — who works for a repossession company called Western Automotive Recovery of Washington, Inc which goes by its acronym, “WAR”.
The driver had been looking for a 2001 Saab that the bank had listed to repossess. Instead he latched on to my 1999 Audi A4 only because the color matched what he was looking for. When that revelation was brought to the driver’s attention, he told my roommate that this was only a “prank” and that he would promptly return the car.
A few moments later, he arrived back at my house, backed the car back into my car port, lowered it and sped out of my driveway, almost dragging the car behind it as he sped off. Immediately, a Snohomish County deputy pulled him over, and I ran down the street yelling that I wanted to press charges for auto theft.
The officer told me to go back to my house to see if there was any damages to my vehicle.
When I tried to start the car, it wouldn’t start. The bumper had been pulled away from the corner, and there was a small dent in the right front fender. Those were the obvious damages, and I let the deputy know this.
My Audi is an all-wheel-drive car. It cannot be towed without damaging the transmission. Not even for a short distance. The car had been towed for about five miles while it was still in park.
The deputy refused to arrest the driver, telling us that the driver “was only doing his job”. He would make a police report, but he wasn’t going to do anything further than that. He wouldn’t give me the name of the driver, or the contact information for the company he worked for, until he completed his report sometime the following night.
After a lot of phone calls and searching the internet, I was finally able to track down this company. I called the manager, “Rich”, who hadn’t heard from his driver about this as of 8:30 this morning. He told me that he knows if his driver screwed up, his company was liable for damages, but first he had to talk to his driver. I gave him the police incident number, telling him that he didn’t even need to talk to his driver since the sheriff’s department caught him in the act of returning the car. (I mean, what more proof does he need?)
He told me that he was going to send a ‘flatbed’ truck over to pick up my car and take it to a shop to be examined. He would also pay for a rental car during the time I would be without a car. That was at 10:00 this morning. Now, five hours later, he is ducking my phone calls, and telling me that he is going to wait for a copy of the police report. [NOTE: he received a copy of this police report at 7:36 am this morning when I faxed it to him]
Since that time, I was finally able to start my car. However, the transmission doesn’t shift properly, and there is still the matter of the bumper that was pulled away from the car.
As far as I can tell, this is a totally unregulated industry. You would expect, when dealing with expensive private property, there would be some sorts of protections in place to prevent things like this.
For example, requiring positive identification of a vehicle before it is taken. In this case, a simple check to see if even the make or model matched the information on the repossession would have prevented this from happening. License plates could be switched, but at least verifying the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) should have been mandatory. The fact that none of this was done takes it far beyond what anyone could consider an “honest mistake”.
And what if nobody had seen this driver take my car? What if my roommate hadn’t caught up with him? Would he have quietly slipped my car back into my car port and driven off with nobody being the wiser? Would he have simply unhooked the car down some quiet street and pretended like it never happened?
What do you think the chances of him coming up to my door and telling me he had made a grave mistake and that his company would foot any bill for damages up and to making complete restitution for any losses I might have incurred?
Why aren’t these repossession people required to notify the police that they are going to take a vehicle prior to them doing so? It would at least protect them from pulling the wrong car and then getting caught with it. You know, call the local cop shop, tell them you have legal repossession paperwork and that you have spotted the vehicle and have made a positive identification that it is, in fact, the correct vehicle.
There is way too much room for abuse and mistakes, and the innocent person whose car was snatched by one of these people end up having to pay the price while the repossession companies get away with committing crimes.
So here I am, over twelve hours after I became the victim of a crime that the police refuse to prosecute, and the company trying to duck their responsibility under the guise of “looking into it”. I have been deprived of the use of my property, which is now damaged goods.
I do have some recourse available to me. My insurance company will cover the cost of the repairs, but only to the point of the value of the vehicle, and when that value is exceeded, the car then becomes “totaled” They are then only likely to give me the retail value of the car, which is less than the cost I’ve paid on the car.
Secondly, if the insurance company has to foot the bill for a new transmission at the cost of roughly $6500, then the car gets awarded what’s known as a “salvage title”, thereby cutting the value of the car in half — again, a loss for me.
I could sue the company itself, and attach its bond thereby taking away the ability of the company to perform business in this state, but there is nothing stopping the company from simply abandoning its bond and reapplying for a new bond under a different name.
Update: I received another police report from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department that identified the driver of the tow truck. One of my roommates actually knows this guy, and he is a real piece of work. He has a very bad driving record, and apparently the only background check Western Automotive Recovery did when they hired him was to review the forged copy of his driving abstract that HE provided. Apparently, they must have forgone the “fogging the mirror” test.
According to Richard Vollmer, the registered manager/operator of Western Automotive Recovery of Washington whom I have been speaking to for the past couple of days, the driver ditched the truck and never returned to the company.
Now Richard trying to get out from under responsibility for any of this. He doesn’t think he should be held responsible for his “negligent driver’s actions”, and gave the following analogy as his reasoning (and I quote):
Apr 24, 2007, 05:02 PM
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Just a note for anyone who could be in a situation like that and the cop doesn't want to arrest or press charges. Have him imediantly call for his supervisor on duty and have him come out right away.
Apr 25, 2007, 09:38 AM
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^true........ on another note... when i used to repo cars... we would always check the VIN... how this guy took the wrong car is beyond me!? he musta been on some drugs/alocohol or somethin... infact we rarely ever got the license plates for the car... usually the make/model/VIN# and addresses home/work.... thats it!... and if the car is awd.. we would get a flatbed.... you should get this guy fired and press charges... imo... and speak to that lazy cops boss!! lol
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Apr 25, 2007, 05:11 PM
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***EDIT***
This is not my story. This happened to someone in in Washington state. A friend passed the article on to me, because I'm always talking about how scared I am that my car will get towed in Philadelphia
***EDIT***
This is not my story. This happened to someone in in Washington state. A friend passed the article on to me, because I'm always talking about how scared I am that my car will get towed in Philadelphia
***EDIT***
http://equaltimeradio.org/?p=193
The Puget Sound area is suffering an epidemic when it comes to auto thefts. It has gotten so bad that the state legislature has been working on legislation that would increase penalties for such crimes. (Currently, a person would have to commit up to seven felonies before he or she ever saw the inside of a prison for auto theft)
Why am I bringing this up?
This morning, at about 3:45 in the morning, my roommate banged on my door to tell me that someone was stealing my car with a tow truck. My great little Audi A-4 spends its night in my car port, out of the weather. I pamper it, making sure it stays clean and meticulously serviced. There isn’t a dent or blemish on the car — it is my baby.
I immediately jumped up out of bed, and called 9-1-1 to report my car stolen. My roommate took off in his car to follow the tow truck and attempt to head it off at the pass, so to say. A few moments later, he calls me to tell me he made contact with the tow truck driver — who works for a repossession company called Western Automotive Recovery of Washington, Inc which goes by its acronym, “WAR”.
The driver had been looking for a 2001 Saab that the bank had listed to repossess. Instead he latched on to my 1999 Audi A4 only because the color matched what he was looking for. When that revelation was brought to the driver’s attention, he told my roommate that this was only a “prank” and that he would promptly return the car.
A few moments later, he arrived back at my house, backed the car back into my car port, lowered it and sped out of my driveway, almost dragging the car behind it as he sped off. Immediately, a Snohomish County deputy pulled him over, and I ran down the street yelling that I wanted to press charges for auto theft.
The officer told me to go back to my house to see if there was any damages to my vehicle.
When I tried to start the car, it wouldn’t start. The bumper had been pulled away from the corner, and there was a small dent in the right front fender. Those were the obvious damages, and I let the deputy know this.
My Audi is an all-wheel-drive car. It cannot be towed without damaging the transmission. Not even for a short distance. The car had been towed for about five miles while it was still in park.
The deputy refused to arrest the driver, telling us that the driver “was only doing his job”. He would make a police report, but he wasn’t going to do anything further than that. He wouldn’t give me the name of the driver, or the contact information for the company he worked for, until he completed his report sometime the following night.
After a lot of phone calls and searching the internet, I was finally able to track down this company. I called the manager, “Rich”, who hadn’t heard from his driver about this as of 8:30 this morning. He told me that he knows if his driver screwed up, his company was liable for damages, but first he had to talk to his driver. I gave him the police incident number, telling him that he didn’t even need to talk to his driver since the sheriff’s department caught him in the act of returning the car. (I mean, what more proof does he need?)
He told me that he was going to send a ‘flatbed’ truck over to pick up my car and take it to a shop to be examined. He would also pay for a rental car during the time I would be without a car. That was at 10:00 this morning. Now, five hours later, he is ducking my phone calls, and telling me that he is going to wait for a copy of the police report. [NOTE: he received a copy of this police report at 7:36 am this morning when I faxed it to him]
Since that time, I was finally able to start my car. However, the transmission doesn’t shift properly, and there is still the matter of the bumper that was pulled away from the car.
As far as I can tell, this is a totally unregulated industry. You would expect, when dealing with expensive private property, there would be some sorts of protections in place to prevent things like this.
For example, requiring positive identification of a vehicle before it is taken. In this case, a simple check to see if even the make or model matched the information on the repossession would have prevented this from happening. License plates could be switched, but at least verifying the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) should have been mandatory. The fact that none of this was done takes it far beyond what anyone could consider an “honest mistake”.
And what if nobody had seen this driver take my car? What if my roommate hadn’t caught up with him? Would he have quietly slipped my car back into my car port and driven off with nobody being the wiser? Would he have simply unhooked the car down some quiet street and pretended like it never happened?
What do you think the chances of him coming up to my door and telling me he had made a grave mistake and that his company would foot any bill for damages up and to making complete restitution for any losses I might have incurred?
Why aren’t these repossession people required to notify the police that they are going to take a vehicle prior to them doing so? It would at least protect them from pulling the wrong car and then getting caught with it. You know, call the local cop shop, tell them you have legal repossession paperwork and that you have spotted the vehicle and have made a positive identification that it is, in fact, the correct vehicle.
There is way too much room for abuse and mistakes, and the innocent person whose car was snatched by one of these people end up having to pay the price while the repossession companies get away with committing crimes.
So here I am, over twelve hours after I became the victim of a crime that the police refuse to prosecute, and the company trying to duck their responsibility under the guise of “looking into it”. I have been deprived of the use of my property, which is now damaged goods.
I do have some recourse available to me. My insurance company will cover the cost of the repairs, but only to the point of the value of the vehicle, and when that value is exceeded, the car then becomes “totaled” They are then only likely to give me the retail value of the car, which is less than the cost I’ve paid on the car.
Secondly, if the insurance company has to foot the bill for a new transmission at the cost of roughly $6500, then the car gets awarded what’s known as a “salvage title”, thereby cutting the value of the car in half — again, a loss for me.
I could sue the company itself, and attach its bond thereby taking away the ability of the company to perform business in this state, but there is nothing stopping the company from simply abandoning its bond and reapplying for a new bond under a different name.
Update: I received another police report from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department that identified the driver of the tow truck. One of my roommates actually knows this guy, and he is a real piece of work. He has a very bad driving record, and apparently the only background check Western Automotive Recovery did when they hired him was to review the forged copy of his driving abstract that HE provided. Apparently, they must have forgone the “fogging the mirror” test.
According to Richard Vollmer, the registered manager/operator of Western Automotive Recovery of Washington whom I have been speaking to for the past couple of days, the driver ditched the truck and never returned to the company.
Now Richard trying to get out from under responsibility for any of this. He doesn’t think he should be held responsible for his “negligent driver’s actions”, and gave the following analogy as his reasoning (and I quote):
The Puget Sound area is suffering an epidemic when it comes to auto thefts. It has gotten so bad that the state legislature has been working on legislation that would increase penalties for such crimes. (Currently, a person would have to commit up to seven felonies before he or she ever saw the inside of a prison for auto theft)
Why am I bringing this up?
This morning, at about 3:45 in the morning, my roommate banged on my door to tell me that someone was stealing my car with a tow truck. My great little Audi A-4 spends its night in my car port, out of the weather. I pamper it, making sure it stays clean and meticulously serviced. There isn’t a dent or blemish on the car — it is my baby.
I immediately jumped up out of bed, and called 9-1-1 to report my car stolen. My roommate took off in his car to follow the tow truck and attempt to head it off at the pass, so to say. A few moments later, he calls me to tell me he made contact with the tow truck driver — who works for a repossession company called Western Automotive Recovery of Washington, Inc which goes by its acronym, “WAR”.
The driver had been looking for a 2001 Saab that the bank had listed to repossess. Instead he latched on to my 1999 Audi A4 only because the color matched what he was looking for. When that revelation was brought to the driver’s attention, he told my roommate that this was only a “prank” and that he would promptly return the car.
A few moments later, he arrived back at my house, backed the car back into my car port, lowered it and sped out of my driveway, almost dragging the car behind it as he sped off. Immediately, a Snohomish County deputy pulled him over, and I ran down the street yelling that I wanted to press charges for auto theft.
The officer told me to go back to my house to see if there was any damages to my vehicle.
When I tried to start the car, it wouldn’t start. The bumper had been pulled away from the corner, and there was a small dent in the right front fender. Those were the obvious damages, and I let the deputy know this.
My Audi is an all-wheel-drive car. It cannot be towed without damaging the transmission. Not even for a short distance. The car had been towed for about five miles while it was still in park.
The deputy refused to arrest the driver, telling us that the driver “was only doing his job”. He would make a police report, but he wasn’t going to do anything further than that. He wouldn’t give me the name of the driver, or the contact information for the company he worked for, until he completed his report sometime the following night.
After a lot of phone calls and searching the internet, I was finally able to track down this company. I called the manager, “Rich”, who hadn’t heard from his driver about this as of 8:30 this morning. He told me that he knows if his driver screwed up, his company was liable for damages, but first he had to talk to his driver. I gave him the police incident number, telling him that he didn’t even need to talk to his driver since the sheriff’s department caught him in the act of returning the car. (I mean, what more proof does he need?)
He told me that he was going to send a ‘flatbed’ truck over to pick up my car and take it to a shop to be examined. He would also pay for a rental car during the time I would be without a car. That was at 10:00 this morning. Now, five hours later, he is ducking my phone calls, and telling me that he is going to wait for a copy of the police report. [NOTE: he received a copy of this police report at 7:36 am this morning when I faxed it to him]
Since that time, I was finally able to start my car. However, the transmission doesn’t shift properly, and there is still the matter of the bumper that was pulled away from the car.
As far as I can tell, this is a totally unregulated industry. You would expect, when dealing with expensive private property, there would be some sorts of protections in place to prevent things like this.
For example, requiring positive identification of a vehicle before it is taken. In this case, a simple check to see if even the make or model matched the information on the repossession would have prevented this from happening. License plates could be switched, but at least verifying the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) should have been mandatory. The fact that none of this was done takes it far beyond what anyone could consider an “honest mistake”.
And what if nobody had seen this driver take my car? What if my roommate hadn’t caught up with him? Would he have quietly slipped my car back into my car port and driven off with nobody being the wiser? Would he have simply unhooked the car down some quiet street and pretended like it never happened?
What do you think the chances of him coming up to my door and telling me he had made a grave mistake and that his company would foot any bill for damages up and to making complete restitution for any losses I might have incurred?
Why aren’t these repossession people required to notify the police that they are going to take a vehicle prior to them doing so? It would at least protect them from pulling the wrong car and then getting caught with it. You know, call the local cop shop, tell them you have legal repossession paperwork and that you have spotted the vehicle and have made a positive identification that it is, in fact, the correct vehicle.
There is way too much room for abuse and mistakes, and the innocent person whose car was snatched by one of these people end up having to pay the price while the repossession companies get away with committing crimes.
So here I am, over twelve hours after I became the victim of a crime that the police refuse to prosecute, and the company trying to duck their responsibility under the guise of “looking into it”. I have been deprived of the use of my property, which is now damaged goods.
I do have some recourse available to me. My insurance company will cover the cost of the repairs, but only to the point of the value of the vehicle, and when that value is exceeded, the car then becomes “totaled” They are then only likely to give me the retail value of the car, which is less than the cost I’ve paid on the car.
Secondly, if the insurance company has to foot the bill for a new transmission at the cost of roughly $6500, then the car gets awarded what’s known as a “salvage title”, thereby cutting the value of the car in half — again, a loss for me.
I could sue the company itself, and attach its bond thereby taking away the ability of the company to perform business in this state, but there is nothing stopping the company from simply abandoning its bond and reapplying for a new bond under a different name.
Update: I received another police report from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department that identified the driver of the tow truck. One of my roommates actually knows this guy, and he is a real piece of work. He has a very bad driving record, and apparently the only background check Western Automotive Recovery did when they hired him was to review the forged copy of his driving abstract that HE provided. Apparently, they must have forgone the “fogging the mirror” test.
According to Richard Vollmer, the registered manager/operator of Western Automotive Recovery of Washington whom I have been speaking to for the past couple of days, the driver ditched the truck and never returned to the company.
Now Richard trying to get out from under responsibility for any of this. He doesn’t think he should be held responsible for his “negligent driver’s actions”, and gave the following analogy as his reasoning (and I quote):
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