Wife's car towed from outside car rental place where she was a customer.

[mede]

Washington State here.

My wife rented a car from Enterprise Rent-a-Car and while she was their customer she parked her personal car outside their location. They gave her an "Enterprise Customer" sign to place in her windshield and told her the car would be safe parked outside the location. Then when she returned to the car, it was gone, and it turned out the car (with the "Enterprise Customer" sign in the windshield) had been towed from outside the Enterprise location. She asked the car rental staff about it and ultimately discovered that it was the nearby hotel who owned the parking spaces in front of the Enterprise, and they had towed the car. According to the car rental staff, they were supposed to switch out the "Enterprise Customer" sign every week or something, but they forgot to do so. She spoke to the manager at the hotel, and he told her to go eff herself. We got into contact with the tow truck company and explained the situation and they said they would hold the car without increasing the charges while we dealt with Enterprise and got them to pay it; however, while we were trying to set up a meeting with Enterprise to get them to pay to get the car back, they promptly sold the car at auction without telling us. Then they sent us a letter stating that the amount the car sold for was less than the profits they wanted to make and that we needed to pay the extra. Then a couple of days later we got a letter from a collection agency regarding the amount (so apparently my credit is ruined now on top of everything else.) We are still trying to set up a time to talk to Enterprise, but they don't typically return calls.

What are my chances of being able to recover any of these losses?

 

[HighwayMan]

...they promptly sold the car at auction without telling us.

How long did the tow company have your car? You're making it sound like it was sold in a matter of days after the tow.

I probably would have gotten my car ASAP and then dealt with Enterprise for reimbursement.

 

[mede]

How long did the tow company have your car? You're making it sound like it was sold in a matter of days after the tow.

I probably would have gotten my car ASAP and then dealt with Enterprise for reimbursement.

That would have been a wiser course of action. It was auctioned within a couple weeks, I think.

 

[justalayman]

That would have been a wiser course of action. It was auctioned within a couple weeks, I think.

You think? It's your wife's care and you don't know how long the tow company had the car and when it was auctioned?

And this debt for whatever has been refused to be paid by you long enough the tow company has turned it over to a collection agency?

How long ago did she park the car?
How long until she realized it had been towed?


And why havent you simply walked into the enterprise office and say;
We need to talk


You won't get anything from this beyond the cost of the tow and the storage up until the time you discovers where the car was. While it appears enterprise is at fault for the original towing, once you were aware of where the car was and failed to claim it, the rest is on you. You failed to mitigate your damages.

 

[Zigner]

I'm curious as to why the wife rented a car for an extended period and simply parked hers in the parking lot outside the rental agency.

ETA: I'm aware there are perfectly valid and rational reasons for doing it, but I'd like to hear the reason in this instance.

 

[mede]

And why havent you simply walked into the enterprise office and say;
We need to talk

She did.

I'd have to look it up to see if they gave us an exact date of the auction, however I'm very skeptical that it matters if it happened in 14 days or 15 days. The car had been parked there for several weeks while she was an Enterprise customer.

She had been making a series of trips out-of-town at the time and wanted a better car for those trips.

 

[Zigner]

She did.

I'd have to look it up to see if they gave us an exact date of the auction, however I'm very skeptical that it matters if it happened in 14 days or 15 days. The car had been parked there for several weeks while she was an Enterprise customer.

She had been making a series of trips out-of-town at the time and wanted a better car for those trips.

So, it sounds like at least two weeks passed between the time you found out about it and the time it was auctioned. Now, can you tell us how long it was that the car was sitting there before it was towed? And then, how long between the tow and when your wife found out about it?

 

[mede]

So, it sounds like at least two weeks passed between the time you found out about it and the time it was auctioned. Now, can you tell us how long it was that the car was sitting there before it was towed? And then, how long between the tow and when your wife found out about it?

She found out pretty much immediately after it was towed. It had been there for several weeks, perhaps a couple of months.

 

[Zigner]

She found out pretty much immediately after it was towed. It had been there for several weeks, perhaps a couple of months.

Now, the last piece of the puzzle. How long after she left it was it towed?

 

[mede]

Now, the last piece of the puzzle. How long after she left it was it towed?

It had been there for several weeks before it was towed.

 

[Zigner]

As I think about this more, the more I'm sure that you're leaving something out...either unintentionally, or intentionally (in order to elicit the response you want to hear.) In any case, you don't seem to really know what happened, so perhaps it would be better for your wife to sign on. That way, we can get actual information, and not a bunch of "I don't know...a week, a month, something like that".

 

[mede]

Yeah, it could have been seven weeks, eight weeks. I don't know exactly.

 

[Zigner]

Yeah, it could have been seven weeks, eight weeks. I don't know exactly.

Right. If you don't know, then there's really no way we can help. I do suspect, however, that you (or your wife) WERE properly notified and that you (or your wife) either didn't realize that the notice wasn't junk mail, or simply ignored it. Of course, another possibility is that you haven't properly updated your mailing address with the state.

 

[xylene]

Your wife's junky car was presumed abandoned to any rational person. The parking was for intermediate term parking, not for super long term a couple of months storage. Park a car for a couple of months and honestly you are likely to need a jump or even a tow.

 

[mede]

She had permission to be parked there.