The Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud Prevention Authority is warning drivers in Pittsburgh to watch out when ceding their automotive to tow truck drivers after a crash. The metropolis has been coping with unscrupulous towing corporations that overcharge drivers after accidents, when persons are most susceptible and least more likely to pay shut consideration to charges on an bill. In some instances, crash victims have paid over $10,000 to get their automobiles again, in accordance with CBS News Pittsburgh.
The metropolis is asking these tow vehicles drivers “wreck chasers” as a result of they pay attention in to police scanners and rush to crash scenes. Once on the scene, they provide to tow crash victims’ automobiles reportedly with out disclosing charges or briefly doing so amidst the chaos of the crash. When house owners attempt to retrieve their autos from the towing corporations, they’re advised they (or their insurance coverage corporations) should pay 1000’s of {dollars} to get them again.
One Pittsburgh driver, Emily Burton, had a invoice totaling over $11,000 after wrecking firm Vince’s Towing transported her automotive lower than three quarters of a mile. Per CBS News:
She says proprietor Vince Fannick advised her he’d hold the automotive except the invoice of $11,780 was paid.
“You’re taking advantage of someone when they’re vulnerable,” Burton stated. “I was confused. I didn’t know what I was doing, and then you’re charging me $11,000 to go less than a mile.”
While by no means offering Burton an bill, Fannick gave her insurance coverage firm a breakdown over the telephone: $4,380 for the tow, a $4,250 restoration price, a $1,200 gate price, a $1,200 administrative price and $195 a day in storage charges.
This shouldn’t be an remoted case. A dozen invoices obtained by KDKA Investigates present these charges are normal working process with Vince’s Towing. KDKA-TV discovered the identical charges charged in tow after tow amounting to whole prices of $7,000, $8,000, $9,000, $10,000 and $11,000 for towing and associated charges. But Vince’s Towing shouldn’t be alone.
The proprietor of the towing firm insists he did nothing unlawful, and added that the excessive charges are justified by elevated prices of doing enterprise. Emily Burton possible signed the bill for the tow on-scene on the crash, however it’s unlikely she reviewed it beforehand. CBS News cites Fannick saying that he doesn’t cost house owners, and as a substitute payments their insurance coverage instantly.
But these charges inevitably trickle right down to automotive house owners. After CBS News reached out, Fannick agreed to scale back the price from $11,780 to $10,280, which Burton’s insurance coverage firm ended up paying to get her automotive again. And whereas these wreck chasers’ practices should not strictly unlawful, they’re clearly unethical.
Pittsburgh metropolis officers say they’re drafting laws to stop tow truck corporations from overcharging crash victims. They try to place in a rotation system to stop opportunistic tow truck drivers from speeding to scenes within the first place. And they’re additionally making an attempt to stop exorbitant charges.
In the meantime, the Insurance Fraud Prevention Authority says crash victims ought to by no means signal clean tow invoices. And Pittsburgh police claims that drivers can request their very own tow through AAA, or request that town’s contracted provider, McGann & Chester, be referred to as. That towing firm prices a flat price of $180 for a flatbed and storage charges are $25 per day. That’d possible whole to a couple hundred {dollars}, which is a hell of so much higher than a couple of thousand.
Source: jalopnik.com