Some people's Lack of Integrity... A Rant... With a happy ending...

[okcwizzard]

I know it's rather long.... Cliff notes at the end....
I redacted all names of the Driver, The Towing Co, The Body Shop, And The Towing Co's GM...
As I'm not sure if it's kosher to names names here or not...

So, On 11/22/2012 Aprox 7:00pm... Thanksgiving eve....
(We)The Wife, Our youngest daughter, Stepdaughter, Are all in the kitchen,
Doing the pre Thanksgiving day cooking and baking.
The rest of the kids and friends are in the front room, Practicing songs for a Church event.

So anyways, The stepdaughter has to run to the store to pick up yet another forgotten item.
As she is getting into her car (legally parked in the street in front of our house BTW)
She sees that the front drivers side fender is all dented in and scratched up.
One of our neighbors from across the street (neighbor-a-) Comes outside about that time and
tells us that our other neighbor from across the street (neighbor-b-)
has hit my stepdaughter's car while backing his Rollback tow-truck into his driveway.


And that (neighbor-b-) had told (neighbor-a-) He had to leave to run an errand, And would get a hold of us when
he (neighbor-b-) returned. He (neighbor-b-) Had also told (neighbor-a-) that he had tried to knock on our door to
let us know about the accident but he got no answer (music playing in front room).maybe, maybe not, who knows.

Okay so we just have to wait for (neighbor-b-) tow-truck driver to return so we can get his Co insurance info to
file a claim for the damages to stepdaughter's car.
So he (neighbor-b-) pulls up, jumps out of his tow-truck, and says he is sorry he hit her car,
He just didn't see it in the street as it was dark out, and the car is a dark color so it must have blended into
The grass, and also that this car isn't normally parked in front of the house. But, that it wasn't a problem
because He would get the damages fixed and all would be good.

When we asked for his towing co's insurance info He replied "Well, This is how we deal with things like this, we
(Towing co) have you take the car to our body shop (gives us the name of body shop), and fix the damage in house,
So no need for insurance info, just tell them (his name) sent you."

We tell him that's all well and good, But we would feel better having his insurance info... just in case..
So he goes to get from his truck, After apox 10 mins he comes back, says he is having no luck finding the
insurance Info and, that if the claim is turned into the insurance co, that they may just total her car,
and then she would get next to nothing for her car, And he would really hate for that to happen.

This on a car that although it is an older car (1998) and it has some paint fade, Had up until now no other
body damage... I told him we would roll the dice with the insurance co anyways because at worst there’s like
$600.00 or so in damage to the fender.

So back to his truck he goes to find the info card, Aprox 30 mins later he decides that being as he is still unable
to find the info card, And he just can't waste any more time on the issue at hand and will just deal with it
later..
I told him he needs to call his boss for the info as we are dealing with it now..
He calls his boss, Boss tells him he is on his way, And that he (boss) should have been called at the time of the
Accident anyways.

Aprox 15 mins later the boss(GM of towing Co) rolls up on the scene, Talks to the tow driver for a few mins, The
Tow driver tells his boss the same tale (backing into driveway, didn’t see car parked at curb, Swung wide,
Heard/Felt the truck hitting something, Stopped truck, Sees damage to car)

Now during all the waiting we have taken pictures (this comes into play later) of the damage to the car, And the
damage to the tow trucks front bumper (tow trucks front driver side bumper slightly pushed in on the edge, And
paint from the car scuffed into the bumpers finish) As well as pictures of the whole truck, And of the tow driver.

So now we are talking to the GM of the towing co, As the tow driver had a call out or something. He (GM) takes
pictures of the damage to the car, And agreed that there is Aprox $600.00 or so damage to the car unless there is
some unseen damage.
And then starts in with "This is what we will do" Take the car to "********'s body shop,
Tell them I (his name) sent you, And we will cover the repair bill, This is how we deal with things like this all
the time, As we don't want to file a claim against our (towing co) insurance as it will just cause the rates to go
up and we pay too much as it is.. Because "It takes a special kind of Idiot to be a tow driver"... Now this isn't
"Just any Two buck Chuck with a truck" This is supposed to be a major Towing Co.. Nice to know how he feels about
his drivers.

Now I can get why he feels this way about filing a claim against his insurance,
And at this point really don’t care if his insurance or his tow co pays for the damage to the car,
As long as the damage to the car is fixed..
But did ask again...just in case.. for his Co insurance info.. At this point he gets a bit huffy about wanting the
insurance info still, And lets me know in no uncertain terms he is an honest man. So, my wife tells our daughter to
call the police since he does not want to supply the insurance info. At this point he went and got his insurance
info so we could copy the info down, And gave us his business card in case there were any questions at the body
shop.

Okay. We take the car to ********'s body shop on 11/26/2012 to have them look it over. Tell the body shop guy
what’s going on, Show him the name of the towing co and the GM's name.. He says that it’s no problem, That the
owners of the Towing Co are the parents of the owner of the body shop. He writes down all the info,
Gives us an estimate for repairs, And tells us to bring it in at opening on 12/03/2012
And they will do everything they can to have it finished by closing the same day..
Couldn't ask for a nicer bunch of guys.

So... 8:00am 12/03/2012 we show up to drop the car off, The Owner of the body shop says there is a problem, It
seems Mr ***** **** (GM of the towing Co) has called the body shop and now won't authorize the repairs to the car.
The body shop owner gets Mr ***** **** (GM of the towing Co) on the phone so we can discuss this in person.
Mr ***** **** (GM of the towing Co) tells me that after thinking it over, And having us all (my wife,
Stepdaughter. And myself) investigated, (Odd, As he didn't even get my wife’s name, Or mine)
That we are all a "bunch of scammers, Trying to get the damage to the car repaired on his dime.. And that said
damage was all "pre existing" (We have pictures of the car pre-accident that show no pre existing damage to the
car)
While talking to the owner of the body shop, He says this isn’t the first time they have had problems dealing with
Mr ***** **** (GM of the towing Co)
And that if the towing Co wasn't owned by his parents, He wouldn't even use that towing Co.
And if needed he would sign a statement that the damages to the car are in fact new and not pre existing and that
he hopes that this wouldn’t cloud us doing business with him later.

Now we call the Towing Co insurance Co.. Nice people, They take our statements, Set a time to have a local adjuster
come out and look at the car, Work up an estimate. All going well so far. We email back and forth, Many phone calls
back and forth, Wanting any pictures taken at the time of the accident..
Insurance rep tells us she has spoken to Mr ***** **** (GM of the towing Co) and that he has stated he has witness
statements that say his driver didn't cause any damage to the car, And that one witness states he had seen the
whole thing from his porch, Oh and that the tow driver never hit the car (pictures at the scene show you can't even
see the car from his porch as the truck would have been blocking his view)

 

[okcwizzard]

The Insurance Rep tells us that she is unable to reach the driver for his statement, And that Mr ***** **** (GM of
the towing Co) has told her that the driver is off work due to emergency family leave for a few weeks, (Funny as we
see him driving the tow truck every day) and let the insurance Rep know this, She asked if we had any pictures of
him with the truck during this time frame, As a matter of fact we do, We even have a video of him backing out of
his driveway at a high rate of speed while talking on his cell phone, Then running the yield sign.. so we sent that
and some other pictures of him out working on his tow truck while she was on the phone with us..

After Aprox three weeks of this "unable to reach the driver for his statement" deal, The Insurance Rep tells us she
will give Mr ***** **** (GM of the towing Co) one more call, And if he won’t answer, Or return her call she will
have no choice but to go with the evidence in the file and accept liability for the damages..

Three hours later she contacted us that she has cut the daughter a check for the damages to the car and
will foward all the info she has from us, The local adjuster, And her own to the insured's carrier.

What has this taught us?
Well
Number One, Don't trust anyone "to do the right thing" No mater who they are.
Number Two, The more someone Tells me they are honest, The less I'll believe them.
Number Three, Always get it in writing. Always!
Number Four, Always get pictures, Video, And a Voice Recorder is a must!
Number Five, Never tell you're daughter, He is one of the good guys, I think we can take him at his word.EVER!

Cliff notes.....

Tow truck driver dents daughter’s parked car. While backing up the street.

Towing Co's GM says he will cover the damages, Don't file an insurance claim.

Towing Co's GM refuses to cover repairs when taken to repair shop.

Towing Co's GM calls my family "a bunch of scammers" Said he "Had us all investigated.

Towing Co's GM claims all the damage is "pre existing damage"

Claim turned into Towing Co's insurance Co..

Towing Co's GM tells insurance co he supposedly has "Signed witness statements" That state that not only didn't tow
driver damage car, That said tow driver now never even hit the car.

Towing Co's insurance Rep has damage on car looked at, Finds no pre existing damage.

Tow driver can't be reached for one reason or another for his statement by insurance co for 3 weeks.

We have pictures,Videos,Recorded statements that were shared with towing co's insurance Co.

Insurance Co Rep calls us to let us know that "Due to Towing Co's GM's lack of response",
That they are accepting liability based on the evidence in the file,
And have cut daughter a check as they are tired of dealing with Towing Co's GM.

 

[JB Books]

That sounds like THEY are the scammers. What a d-bag company.

 

[tharper]

Scumbags.

 

[kroberts2131]

I think calling the police from the get go would have saved a lot of grief. Glad it's fixed now

 

[nobuttbrian]

I say out the towing company so we can " boycot" them

 

[okcwizzard]

yeah, in hindsight, calling the police at the start would have been a good idea, But that being said, The last time we called the police for an accident they told us if no injury, and no major damage, don't bother calling... but yeah. I should have...

And as far as outing the towing co... I'm not too sure how that would go over as they are rather well known.

And I'm not sure it's the towing co itself thats a low life, Or just the GM. The owners may not be aware of how the company is being ran....yet....

 

[bigchuck83]

i'd say sounds like driver leaving after hitting the car would be reason enough for me to call police.

 

[FullAuto]

It's not libel if it's the truth. What's the tow company and the body shop? I know it's not the body shop's fault, I'm just curious of the relation since I deal with body shops for a living.

 

[Wild Weasel]

Leaving the scene of an accident, no matter how small, should have called police they would have reacted totally differently