What to do to the wrecked car after a severe accident?

[davidave]

What is the name of your state? California

I am not sure if I am posting at the right place because my question is not involved with any law suit or claims, at least not yet. What I am looking for is how to handle the vehicle properly after a severe accident.

My father had a single car accident himself on his trip to Las Vegas in late February. The car was wrecked pretty bad from the accident and stored at somewhere near Barstow. The car is registered under my name and I am still paying for the installments. Unfortunately, the car didn't have a full insurance covered so I went to the storage place to pickup some belongings, license plate, and paid for towing and storage fee as well as a cost for the lien sale. They said "that's it" so I assumed there won't be anything coming back to me. I filed a Planned Non-Operation on the car and I didn't do anything after that but keep trying to pay off the car payment.

And then two weeks ago, I received a Notice of Stored Vehicle / Credit Protectin Agreement and a Notice of Pending Lien sale for Vehicle Valued $4000 or Less from the same tow shop addressed in Barstow saying that they are going to sell the car because the towing and storage bill has not been paid and if the sale price is not satisfied, they will charge me for all the fees or pay almost like the same amount to protect my credit and stuf.....because I am still the last owner on the DMV record. I learned that there is this Release of Liability that I might need to turn in to avoid this whole thing but that's seems to be for selling a operational vehicle.

The sale is still a week ahead but I really have no idea about what to do besides waiting for a further notice, which is kind of predictable like charging me much much more....., sigh. So I hope there is anyone who can suggest me what to do best to protect myself.

Any suggestion would be great.

Thanks!

davidWhat is the name of your state?

 

[outonbail]

What is the name of your state? California

I am not sure if I am posting at the right place because my question is not involved with any law suit or claims, at least not yet. What I am looking for is how to handle the vehicle properly after a severe accident.

My father had a single car accident himself on his trip to Las Vegas in late February. The car was wrecked pretty bad from the accident and stored at somewhere near Barstow. The car is registered under my name and I am still paying for the installments. Unfortunately, the car didn't have a full insurance covered so I went to the storage place to pickup some belongings, license plate, and paid for towing and storage fee as well as a cost for the lien sale.

After you paid the towing, storage and lien fees, it would have been best to sign the vehicle's title over to the tow company, so they could dispose of it. Unfortunately, if I'm understanding your situation correctly, the problem you have is that even though you are the "legal" owner of the vehicle, the finance company is the "lien holder" on the vehicle's title. So you can not sign the title over to the tow company unless you pay off the loan and the finance company signs off as the lien holder.
Hence, you should have found a way to have the vehicle removed from the tow yard, after having paid the fees which accumulated up to the day you were there to pick up your fathers personal belongings. But it sounds like you paid these fees and then left the vehicle sit in the tow companies storage yard.

They said "that's it" so I assumed there won't be anything coming back to me.

I don't understand what you mean by there won't be anything coming back to you, perhaps you can clarify what would ever come back?

I filed a Planned Non-Operation on the car and I didn't do anything after that but keep trying to pay off the car payment.

So you filed a non-op, but the vehicle was in the tow companies storage yard? Was there some reason you thought the tow company was going to be storing your car for you free of charge? I'm sorry if I'm reading this wrong, but it doesn't make any sense.

And then two weeks ago, I received a Notice of Stored Vehicle / Credit Protectin Agreement and a Notice of Pending Lien sale for Vehicle Valued $4000 or Less from the same tow shop addressed in Barstow saying that they are going to sell the car because the towing and storage bill has not been paid and if the sale price is not satisfied, they will charge me for all the fees or pay almost like the same amount to protect my credit and stuf.....because I am still the last owner on the DMV record.

Well, you claim you already paid for the towing and the cost to run the lien sale, as well as the storage charges up to the day you were at their yard, so realistically, you only owe the charges due for the storage of the vehicle since the day you were there. You should know what this amounts to by looking at the receipt you received from them when you were there. Probably between thirty five to fifty dollars a day times however many days it has been since you were there. But they can not charge you again for the towing and lien sale costs.

I learned that there is this Release of Liability that I might need to turn in to avoid this whole thing but that's seems to be for selling a operational vehicle.

You filed a non-op on the vehicle which means you planned on keeping the vehicle but not operating it on the road or highway. You could have filed a release of liability if you had signed the title over to the tow company, but you would need to have the title to have done this. If you still owe money on the car, the finance company probably has possession of the title.

The sale is still a week ahead but I really have no idea about what to do besides waiting for a further notice, which is kind of predictable like charging me much much more....., sigh. So I hope there is anyone who can suggest me what to do best to protect myself.

Any suggestion would be great.

Thanks!

davidWhat is the name of your state?

You need to contact the tow company and discuss it with them. Ask them what you can do so they do not pass the debt over to their collection agency after the lien sale has gone through. Remind them that you have already paid the towing and lien sale fees as well as for the storage due at the time you were there. Also tell them that you misunderstood what was required of you and you thought that the car was just their's to dispose of after you paid the fees the day you were there. They don't have to let you off the hook for the storage fees due, but they may. or at least come to a settlement agreement with you. But you have to realize that they could not legally get rid of the car without the signed title or a completed lien sale, this is why the storage continued until the lien sale is over.
By the way, they rarely actually sell the vehicle, they usually just end up with it being their wrecked car. Then they will get about $150 to $200.00 for the thing at a wrecking yard. If it's really destroyed, then they may get less than that from a metal recycler. Then you will be held responsible for the storage due above what they get for the car.

The next letter you will receive, will most likely come from a collection agency, so don't wait for this to happen. Try to work something out with the tow company so they don't turn it over to the collection agency. Call them and explain the situation!

 

[lwpat]

Does your father have insurance?

 

[davidave]

First of all, I would like to let you know that I called them but didn't get to talk to the main person so I will call them back again. However, there seems to be something we can arranged so I will post again once we have come up something.

Thanks a lot, outonbail!! And, lwpat....unfortunately, my father's insurance is not a full coverage so I had to deal with it myself....., but I am really glad to see you guys giving me suggestions, really appreciated!!

Due to my misunderstanding and lake of knowledge, I really had hard time figuring out where to go and what to do. In fact, nobody really had the similar situation so the help I got was really limited. I have asked around as well as my insurance company but they only told me what's on the surface kindda things.

The main problem to me is that the car is still under the finance company so I can't really do much with it myself. The things I said would come back to me are things like the notices I received or anything that's about the car because the person at the storage lot was so sure that I won't need to do anything else with the car, and told me that they will take care of it. From outonbail's explanation, I would accept for the storage cost but charging me again the towing and lien sale costs is really not reasonable.

At around that time, the license sticker renewal notice from DMV was due like within a week or so......that's why I filed the Planned Non-Operation. I did know that tow company would charge for car storage but didn't know that they would add up like crazy.... Since it was an accident situation....not I am going to have a party at their lot or something.... Guess it's really just so naive of me.

So again, I will call them again and hopefully something can be arranged. Thanks again!

 

[davidave]

I would like to update the result of my situation.

Eventually, I talked to the same person I spoked to when I was at their lot and she told me that all the notice come in as a package from DMV so even though I paid for what I owed I would still receive the notice letters. I mentioned about the ownership and she said that they will have document filled out with the finance company. And good thing is she verified that I have paid what I needed to so I don't need to worry about it. Again, I hope that "there won't be anything coming back to me."

Thanks again for the suggestion!!!

Sincerely,

david

 

[outonbail]

I would like to update the result of my situation.

Eventually, I talked to the same person I spoked to when I was at their lot and she told me that all the notice come in as a package from DMV so even though I paid for what I owed I would still receive the notice letters. I mentioned about the ownership and she said that they will have document filled out with the finance company. And good thing is she verified that I have paid what I needed to so I don't need to worry about it. Again, I hope that "there won't be anything coming back to me."

Thanks again for the suggestion!!!

Sincerely,

david

I would certainly feel better about the situation if I had something in writing, or at least I suggest you follow up your phone conversation with this person by sending a letter, confirming what you agreed to and send it certified mail.
Chances are this will not come back and bite you in the ass, but it can't hurt to make sure all the bases are covered.

Also, if they don't need the lien to go through in order to dispose of the vehicle, you can send the paperwork you received concerning the lien, back to the DMV in order to stop the lien sale process. There is a section on the back of the lien forms you received you can do this with. Once the DMV receives the signed paperwork from you, contesting the lien, the sale is stopped. If there is no sale, you can not be held responsible for any money they lose by selling the vehicle for next to nothing. So if they are telling you they received something from the finance company, which allows them to dispose of the vehicle without having to wait for the lien sale to be completed, then they shouldn't mind you stopping the lien. But make sure you check with them before you do this, because if they need the lien sale completed in order to dispose of the vehicle, they are going to be pissed at you stopping the sale. Then they have to take you to court in order to get a judgment to dispose of the vehicle and will probably hold you for the additional cost and storage while they go this route.
So check with them first and let them know if you plan on contesting the lien on the grounds that you have paid the money owed to them already. If they have no problem with it or are willing to confirm what you agreed to in writing, or send you some sort of release for any and all future charges relating to this vehicle, then don't worry about it.