Complaint Review: Johnson's Wrecker Service

First of all, Ramon, I'm sorry for your loss. As an employee of Johnson's I'd like to give you all some information you may not be aware of. We are THE contracted impound yard for the Orlando Police Department as well as 1 of 3 for the Orange County Sheriff's Office. We run in rotation for the Florida Highway Patrol. The rates that are charged are set by these agencies. Florida law mandates that certified letters are sent to last know registered owners, lienholders and insurance companies. We get this information from the Orange County Tax Collector.

In this case, these registered letters were sent out on the fourth day that the motorcycle, a 2006 Suzuki, was in our impound. This letter tells where the vehicle is impounded, the impounding agency, fees that are accruing, as well as what will happen if it is not picked up. The investigation that takes place is almost always complete by the time that these letters are sent out.

If the vehicle is not picked up within 50 days if it is 3 years old or newer (37 days if it is older than that) the State of Florida grants us a Certificate of Destruction which allows us to destroy the vehicle. Any money we receive from the crushing of the vehicle is applied to the bill that is owed for storing the vehicle.

Any remaining monies owed is still the responsibility of the registered owner. The state allows us to recover some of that money in the form of an administrative lien, which prohibits the owner from registering any vehicle until this amount is paid. The lien is in the amount of the initial recovery and 7 days of storage.

If this does not cover the amount owed to us, the rest will be turned over to a collection agency. I hope you understand that we have rules and regulations that we have to follow just like you do and more importantly, we don't work for free.

I have operated tow trucks in FL and NV and in both states there was a similar procedure in place.

About half of these requests come back as undeliverable. Then a month or so later you have the irate PREVIOUS owner looking for the car that was already crushed or sold at auction.

I have a vehicle on my lot, I must send in a "request for owner information" to the state, This takes approximately five days. That is the ONLY address I am allowed to send any paperwork to. This paperwork has to be mailed certified with a signed receipt returned to me. If that letter returns to me "nondeliverable" I automatically request the title for the car immediately after running a one-day ad in the legal section of the paper. I do this because if I don't, I'll be buried in cars in no time.

What does happen a lot is that the owner will show up after the car is shredded, wanting the car back, threatening to sue, saying there were valuables in the car, etc. Some really go ballistic. What they really wanted was free parking for their car while they shopped around for a shop, or decided to buy a new car. They'll say they had moved and had never received notice. Too bad, they are required to keep DMV informed of their proper address for just this reason. I went through this scenerio twice today already. Cars are gone and owners are pissed.

The owner was killed. The girlfreind was notified of this by the sister, right. The girlfreind knew on day one the bike was towed, right?

The problem here is that the girlfreind and the sister did nothing to protect their rights.

The notification was the POLICE REPORT. This will indicate who ordered the tow, and who towed it.

Sometimes people just have to pay attention and use some common sense. The way i do my math, this is about $25/day plus the towing cost. Police rotation calls in FL have rates set by the state. They are all the same.

I guess the tow company is supposed to work for free, or store someone's vehicle for free.

And, I bet the tow company sent certified notices as required by law. This is automatic. I also would bet they got returned as undeliverable.

There is much more to this story.

In Florida, for some odd reason, you are not required to have motorcycle insurance if you have either health or life insurance set to a certain amount (I think it's $10,000). However, I have a couple of questions regarding towing fees if anyone can help. This accident took place on 10-13-2006. The owner was not notified until 10-25-06. 1) Can the towing company charge the owner for this period of time even though the owner was not notified? 2) According to section 713.78 of the Florida Statues there is a maximum number of storage days that can be charged to the owner of a "Class A (under 10000lbs)" vehicle for a tow that was authorized by the police department and not by the owner of the vehicle. What is the maximum storage fee or the maximum number of days that can be charged by a towing company in Orlando, FL? Just curious.

Florida law, as put forth by Robert, is similar to the laws here. If you get caught without insurance, a "lien" (of sorts) is put on the registered owner. What is amounts to is a bond paid to the state before you will be allowed to drive again because you scammed both the insurance company and the state. This is usually in the thousands of dollars, and may affect everyones' insurance rates in the household for some time. This may be what's affecting the girlfriend.

In FL, if you have an accident and had no insurance they will sanction your license.

This explains why the bike sat there. Insurance does pay towing and storage as a result of an accident.

Now, with the girlfreinds name on the loan/title, her license would be affected if there was no insurance on the vehicle.

What about it? Lets hear about the insurance.

In NC, the deadbeat customer can actually keep the mechanic/tow company from ever getting their money, or at least slow the process by as much as 6 months. Maximum storage fees are $5/day. Big friggin' deal.

In Fl, I can charge $25/day storage, and take possession of the vehicle within 30 days. In some cases, as fast as 7 days. This is great. It means I can work on the vehicle, or tow it, and actually get paid for my services.

If the customer chooses to NOT pay, I place a lien on the vehicle, and get the title. Just because I have the title, does not mean I cannot still be paid for the work. If the lien is not satisfied, because the vehicle is worth less than the bill(lien), the customer still owes $$. If that is not paid, their licenses ARE held hostage. They cannot renew them, any of them, nor can they renew the registrations on any other vehicles they own, until I get paid.

You may not like it, but it doesn't affect you if you pay your bill.

I agree with Steve about the value of the wrecked bike though. A bike that has been "laid down" is usually torn up. One that was involved in a fatality, is destroyed. It's worth scrap prices.

The registered owner needs to work a deal with the tow company.

In NC, the deadbeat customer can actually keep the mechanic/tow company from ever getting their money, or at least slow the process by as much as 6 months. Maximum storage fees are $5/day. Big friggin' deal.

In Fl, I can charge $25/day storage, and take possession of the vehicle within 30 days. In some cases, as fast as 7 days. This is great. It means I can work on the vehicle, or tow it, and actually get paid for my services.

If the customer chooses to NOT pay, I place a lien on the vehicle, and get the title. Just because I have the title, does not mean I cannot still be paid for the work. If the lien is not satisfied, because the vehicle is worth less than the bill(lien), the customer still owes $$. If that is not paid, their licenses ARE held hostage. They cannot renew them, any of them, nor can they renew the registrations on any other vehicles they own, until I get paid.

You may not like it, but it doesn't affect you if you pay your bill.

I agree with Steve about the value of the wrecked bike though. A bike that has been "laid down" is usually torn up. One that was involved in a fatality, is destroyed. It's worth scrap prices.

The registered owner needs to work a deal with the tow company.

In NC, the deadbeat customer can actually keep the mechanic/tow company from ever getting their money, or at least slow the process by as much as 6 months. Maximum storage fees are $5/day. Big friggin' deal.

In Fl, I can charge $25/day storage, and take possession of the vehicle within 30 days. In some cases, as fast as 7 days. This is great. It means I can work on the vehicle, or tow it, and actually get paid for my services.

If the customer chooses to NOT pay, I place a lien on the vehicle, and get the title. Just because I have the title, does not mean I cannot still be paid for the work. If the lien is not satisfied, because the vehicle is worth less than the bill(lien), the customer still owes $$. If that is not paid, their licenses ARE held hostage. They cannot renew them, any of them, nor can they renew the registrations on any other vehicles they own, until I get paid.

You may not like it, but it doesn't affect you if you pay your bill.

I agree with Steve about the value of the wrecked bike though. A bike that has been "laid down" is usually torn up. One that was involved in a fatality, is destroyed. It's worth scrap prices.

The registered owner needs to work a deal with the tow company.

Steve, I agree with you completely. I was somewhat bewildered when I read the original complaint. There is no such thing as a lien against a license. A lien can be placed against a vehicle so that the title cannot be transferred until the lien is satisfied. If you are going to junk the motorcycle or sell it for parts, this would not even be a factor.

The lien laws in Florida are completely irrational. For example, a subcontractor can put a lien on your house for work done, if the contractor does not pay him, even though you paid the contractor in full. I think any rational person would agree that the sub-contractor's business relationship and contract is with the contractor who hired him, not with the homeowner.

At any rate, the towing company does not have the last word. If you really think you have a case, take this to small claims. If the judge agrees that the girlfriend is being ripped off, he will order the lien dismissed.

Or just sell the bike to someone for parts and the towing company's lien won't matter anyway. I sure wouldn't want to keep the bike that a loved one had been killed on.

Having operated tow trucks in FL, I can tell you that the tow company only has 2 options in getting paid for towing and storage fees on a vehicle.

The first is placing a lien/notice of sale on the vehicle itself [not anyones driver's license].

The second is filing a small claims lawsuit for excess costs not covered by the sale.

There is no such thing as putting a "lien" on anyones driver's license.Only the DMV can sanction your license and only after getting an order from the court to do so.

The only sanctions you will get on your license is for non moving violations such as parking tickets, etc which must be paid before you can renew. The private profit of a tow company is NOT enforced by this method.

Furthermore, the police are responsible for any charges for services forced on the owner for purposes of investigation. The only charges that can be forced on the owner are state regulated fees as allowed by law for the "rotation" call onscene and the transportation from the scene to the tow companie's impound yard, and storage fees.

What happened here is that the police dropped the ball, and never released the vehicle, since the owner was deceased.

Info for Ramon, The tow company is not auctioning the bike for "additional profit" as you stated. It is unlikely that any bike wrecked that bad will bring the $1000+ in fees that are owed to the towing company. they cannot double dip. The proceeds of the sale of the bike must be taken off the amount owed.

If the girlfriend was indeed a co-owner of the bike, she is equally at fault for not making contact sooner to find out what was going on.

This was her responsibility.

Pay attention...Florida ONLY notifies the OWNER of the vehicle, nobody else.

If she wasn't the owner, NOBODY in this state would be notifying her of anything.

And Marc is correct about the various reasons people get the vehicle put into someone else's name.

In this state however, the mechanic/tow truck company can sell the vehicle for as much as they can get, profit and all.

Unless the girlfriend IS listed on the title/lien.

It seems to me that Ramon may be next of kin and would be entitled to that information. Although, I am not sure why Ramon (or the girlfriend) would even want the bike back at this point.

No-one wants to pay for the services because they are "too high" but that's not the truth. This was a fatal accident, so I'm sure the tow company was on scene for quite a while and there are a lot of cleanup tasks involved, plus a lot of waiting. We get paid for those services. There are a lot of flags that go up from reading your post. Bikes are put into girlfriends' names for a reason, and it's usually that boyfriend doesn't have a license, is wanted by the cops, or some other shady reason. I'm sure the insurance company is being scammed in some way, at the minimum. Could be the police notified her and she's scared to come forward because she's of interest to the police also. You have no say in this matter, it's all up to her. The towing company cannot talk to you about it, only to her. I know in my state we are not allowed to profit at these auctions, just recoup our expenses. The rates are most likely set by your local government and the towers must meet their extra requirements. That costs money.

I can understand the lien theory. I was just confused as it doesn't state that she was the owner.

It is BS if the police ended their investigation much earlier and didn't notify anyone so they could retrieve the unit before the exhorbitant(sp?) fees built up.

The registered owner is the one responsible for the lien. If the lien is not satisfied, the owner's licenses(all of them), and other registrations, are pretty much held hostage until the lien is paid.

It sucks, but it does allow the mechanics, and tow truck companies to get paid for their efforts.

Its pretty sad how some people will do anything for a buck. Complete deadbeats!

Best of luck

My condolences on the loss of your brother.

If his girlfriend is listed on the bike's title, they were legally equal owners. She may have become full owner automatically upon his death. If she co-signed for the loan to purchase the bike, even if it has since been paid off, she is very likely still also on the title. Being the only surviving owner of the bike, it is her problem now.

Now if she isn't on the title, there's no way they can legally do anything to her, unless she SIGNED something taking responsibility after the crash.

Assuming she is an owner, the next thing to do is investigate the legal maximum fees that can be charged for involuntary towing. Every state and locality has a law about that. Also I don't see how "storage" could be charged if the police were not making the bike available to pick up. If it were being held by the police, it would be stored at a police facility for security purposes, not a private lot.

If Collision insurance was in force, it will pay for towing, etc. after a crash.

Unless it was a rare or special model, the bike is probably not worth $1000 now. If you think it is you should find a buyer who has the cash to redeem it. If the towing place sells it, they will fudge the numbers so it looks like she still owes them money.

Seems you should not have to pay storage on a vehicle that is being held in an investigation that was not ordered by you.

Second, what's a lien against a license? And there would be no way to even attempt to do that to another person, much less a non-relative.

What goes on down there in Fla.?