Complaint Review: Steve's Towing - lake elsinor California

I don't know what loco weed you smoked this morning but you must have gotten a bad batch.  So once you come down off of what ever trip you are on, perhaps you should follow your own advice about knowing what you are talking about.  Instead of making a lot of assumptions and leaps.

First you apparently didn't even read my post as I specifically mentioned both provisions that got you so wound up.    This isn't a case of me not having read the regulation, this is a case of you making several "assumptions" about what the OP really meant.

 1st A tow truck may not stop and solicit a tow unless summoned. Tow truck may have not been the one sent by AAA. Even though the OP says it was. I have seen this same crud on the road over and over durring the last 30 years. And way to often the towing company gets away with it.

- First of all the OP gave every indication that it was AAA, and in the context of the rest of their report it was taken in context that this was probably the AAA tow truck.   If  you want to automatically "assume" that the OP is mistaken and it was impossible that it was AAA, then go right ahead.  But that is not any proof of me not reading the law...especially when I mentioned it in my post.

2^nd Tow truck may not charge more than quoted amount. They did this. AAA tow is No-Charge unless coverage exceeded. This situation is specifically mentiond in the law. Law says this must be Quoted and approved before Tow happens. This is definitely where the law was broken.

- You said the key words "unless coverage is exceeded".  We have no idea if the coverage was exceeded, or what level of coverage they even have.  As the basic coverage only allows up to a 7 mile tow, 4 times a year.  And the OP had a Truck AND trailer...was that covered under AAA?  So again you are ASSUMING that they must have been charged more.

But the final nail in what ever point you were trying to make to discredit me comes in this statement you made...

Law says this must be Quoted and approved before Tow happens.

The driver DID in fact attempt to get approval BEFORE the tow...from the OP.

About 15 min later he calls us while we were about 15 min away and said we are going to charge you $370. If you don't want to pay we will leave your truck and trailer on side of road. 

Sp while that comes off as "rude", rude is not a RipOff.  But it does show that the driver attempted to get approval BEFORE the tow.  The member had a choice to accept that cost or call back AAA and get a new company.  Or are you going to say that the poster was mistaken and the tow truck driver had already towed the vehicle and was willing to just leave the truck on the side of the road with the bill being unpaid?  If you really believe that show me one tow truck driver that will release a vehicle without the bill being settled?

The only 3 people that know exactly what happened are the father, the son and the tow truck driver.  Everything else by everyone else as to the "facts" that must have occured is strictly an assumption.

All of this does bring up one more question.  If this rate was so outragous and the driver apparently hadn't towed the truck yet, why did the OP agree to the tow instead of calling for another company?

So if the OP would like to come back and clarify the sitution to your satisfaction and answer the detail questions I had posted then I hope they do.

1st A tow truck may not stop and solicit a tow unless summoned. Tow truck may have not been the one sent by AAA. Even though the OP says it was. I have seen this same crud on the road over and over durring the last 30 years. And way to often the towing company gets away with it.

2^nd Tow truck may not charge more than quoted amount. They did this. AAA tow is No-Charge unless coverage exceeded. This situation is specifically mentiond in the law. Law says this must be Quoted and approved before Tow happens. This is definitely where the law was broken.

If you are going to call out an Original Poster at least know what you are talking about Robert.

Your report failed to list some specifics that could be very important.

Such as what specific provision of AB1222 did they break?

Did they attempt to tow it without his concent?

Did they stop and attempt to solicit the tow?

The answer to both of those is of course No...because you stated you called AAA and they were the ones who came.

There is really only one provision in AB1222 that has anything to do with rates, and even then it is not a specific amount but limits it based on the "approved" amounts.

So what was the breakdown(No pun intended) of the fees.  That is what were you charged for the "Hook-Up", "per mile" and how many miles.  What was the "approved" fees for your situation.  What do YOU think you should have been charged?

Also, one other thing you seem to just slip in.  You were trying to tow a truck AND trailer, so this isn't some sub-compact you were trying to tow was it.  Did they need a bigger truck or heavier equipment?  That usually means more money.

I also took a look and the closest Ford Dealer I saw to Fallbrook was either in Vista or Temecula, both of which are around 15 miles away.

So yes $370 is a bit of money, but just based on what you did post it sounds like it could be well within a "normal" range for the situation.

Oh and NO I do not now or have I ever worked for this or any other tow company.