impound charges?

[cabingirl]

What is the name of your state? WA

My sister was recently in an accident. Her vehicle was towed to an impound lot; the other driver was cited at the scene for failure to stop at a stop light. My sister contacted her own insurance company and was told to contact the other driver's insurance company. The other driver's insurance company disputed my sister's claim that my sister was not at fault - they are in the process of obtaining a copy of the police report. In the meantime, my sister has received three notices from the other driver's insurance company, the latest of which states that they will not be responsible for "storage" charges at the impound lot and that my sister needs to move her damaged vehicle to a location with no storage fees within five days. What should my sister do? We do not have a regular mechanic or shop. Is she going to have to pay the (now over $1000) storage fees at the impound lot?

 

[moburkes]

She should pay to have her vehicle removed before more charges rack up.

 

[alnorth]

Your sister has a duty to mitigate the cost as much as reasonably possible. Its not fair to the insurance company to just let it sit in storage for weeks with the thought of "to heck with it, its not my money, I'll let them pay for storage". If there was no other driver or insurance company and she needed the car, she likely would have found a way to get it out sooner to avoid high storage fees.

 

[ecmst12]

Call the insurance company and see if they can suggest a shop that will not charge storage fees. Shops that have a deal with the insurance company usually do not charge storage.