Car illegally towed and overcharged?

[Stargazer]

My brother was driving my car and he broke down in a K-Mart parking lot. He was not bothering anybody but just trying to get the car to start and thought if he let it sit there for a while that he could get it to start. He said he was there for about two days, perhaps a day and a half, and then a cop showed up and told him he had 24 hours to move the car then half an hour later another cop shows up and says the car MUST be moved right away and was mean to him.

The manager at K-Mart had called the cops without telling my brother that he had to move the car. The cop called a tow service 15 miles away to tow the car. No papers were signed when towing the car. My brother calls me up and tells me that he is now stranded and tells me the story. I go down there to pick him up and we stay the rest of the night since the tow service was going to open back up in just a few hours.

I go to the tow business and they want $110 plus $15 storage fee per day. I asked how come so much and they got very grumpy towards me. One guy that works for them states that they only make like $5 (I knew right away that they were liars). I talked to someone outside that seemed very polite and asked me if I needed a ride home. He said that they will try to stick you and said that someone else around there only charge $50. If the guy down the road can make $50 and make money then I am sure that guy is making a big wad at $110, a LOT LOT LOT more than $5, more like $50-75+storage.

My brother recalls of no signs on the premises and he was on the K-Mart parking lot. I think the second cop called that particular tow service because he gets a kickback for calling them. Why else would I get charged $110 and my car be hauled 15 miles away?

I need to know where I can find some towing laws in WV to see if my car was towed illegally and that the situation was not handled correctly. The tow service said that they had to work on the car or I had to get it removed or pay the $15 a day storage fee or lose my car. They wanted $40 minimum to start looking at my car and $40 an hour. They also said it was the fuel pump which is $320 and $120 labor if it did not take more than 3 hours if they had no difficulties with it plus $30 for the fuel filter and $8 for some other part I forgot what it was called. I feel as if I am getting taken advantage of and have not much of a choice seeing how my car is broken down there about 60-70 miles away from my home.

 

[Claude Greiner]

First of all there is lots of money in the towing business, we actually used to have a tenent in one our buildings who did Police towing and it was very good business to be in.

They are out to literally screw you over, I know your a little pist off right now, but the best thing to do is don't get into a pissing match and get your car out of there ASAP. If you piss off the tow company, they can make your life hell and find a reason not to release your car, and at the same time charge you a storage fee for keeping it on their lot. The towing company works with the Police and the city, so if you get them involved, chances are they are not going to side with you. Eventually if you don't pick up your car in like 30 or 60 days the car is considered abandoned, they can go to the state and get the title and sell it for a profit.

For example, we do U-haul truck rentals. One of our trucks where stolen, the towing company recovers it and since U-haul is a big company the right person didn't get notified that they could pick up the truck. The tow truck company ended up auctioning it off for $25,000.

I think there is little you can do, the Kmart parking lot is considered Private Property so therefore if you are not there to do business with Kmart I think they would have the right to call the city and to have it towed away.

The only thing I can think of is that the Cop came around and gave your brother 24 hours to move the car, and then half an hour later another cop shows up and has it towed away.

I think the solution to this would to take the city to small claims court, from there they can find the two officers and haul them into court to testify.