Complaint Review: Carnes towing - Moncks Corner South Carolina

On 6/14/18 about 3:30 pm a tire popped on my truck sending me and the truck through a ditch and into a tree. No one was hurt, no other vehicles were involved and my vehicle was 15-20 ft off of the highway. After contacting and meeting with a Berkeley county police officer at the scene of the wreck, and scheduling a tow truck(collision recovery) through my insurance we were advised to sit and wait on the tow truck and everything was handled. At around 5pm the tow truck called and told me that my vehicle could not be located. I then went to the scene(3 miles from my house) and my vehicle had already been towed by carnes towing. At around 6pm a highway patrol officer (R.G. Elliott) contacted me and delivered me a "towed vehicle report” explaining that he thought the vehicle was abandoned. When asked why, the corporals explanation was "no one ever relayed the information to him and that I should contact carnes towing to deal with trying to get my truck back.” Since carnes towing was closed at this point I contacted Bobby(owner) by phone at 1:00pm on 6/15/18 and was told that my bill was 219 for towing. I explained to Bobby that my wallet as well as the paperwork for the vehicle were in the vehicle and that I needed access to my vehicle in which he replied, "219.00 cash.” And hung up the phone. After contacting my insurance & setting up another tow truck to deliver my truck to me, I was told by Bobby when I called around 4:30 that it was already too late and that I had all day to do this and to call back on Monday.

On Monday when I contacted Bobby I was told that the bill had now been raised by 264.00 for "special cleanup.” On Tuesday 6/19 my wife attempted to resolve the issue and pay the bill of 219 +264(special cleanup) in which she was told by Bobby(owner) that she was not on the title and that I would have to come by there and sign a waiver for the vehicle to be delivered. On Thursday 6/21 at around 3:30 pm I went to carnes towing to sign the waiver and once again attempt to pay my towing bill so that I could have my truck towed to my land, when Bobby(owner) told me that in order to have access to my vehicle at this point I needed to sign the title of my vehicle over to him. At that point I contacted the highway patrol and ask for help getting my vehicle back. At which point the new bill of $219.00 now including a 264("special cleanup”) + 264 ("storage”33.00/day) + 175.00("title fee”) even though I had stayed in contact throughout the process trying to get my vehicle back with no need for a "title fee”bringing the total bill from $219.00 to $922.00 in less than a week. On Friday 6/22 I was finally able to get my vehicle released with escort from Berkeley county police department after paying the 922.00 + 65.00 towing fee from the other tow company to have my vehicle brought to the location that I originally designated within 30 minutes of my collision a week before.

This system and how it is applied is completely flawed giving advantage to tow companies to literally commit highway robbery without any repercussions. The decision on what to do with my vehicle was stolen from me and then handed over to the tow truck company (carnes towing) by the highway patrol. The system is designed to have a person get frustrated by the lack of assistance and just sign away their vehicle and rights to the tow company allowing the tow truck company to collect salvage money as well as whatever fees the tow truck company can squeeze out of a person.