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I have a very dear friend who has fallen on hard times. Her car was recently repossessed and all of her info was in the car -- credit cards, social security card, IRS documents -- all of it. She called the towing company, and they said in order to get her documents back it would cost $50. Is that even legal? I have never been in such a situation, but it seems really not legal in a way that I cannot really explain. Anyone have any insight on this kind of thing? Mods, please move as necessary -- weird situation, not really sure where to post it, I just did it here, because this is where I usually am (way to much!! ).
Yes its legal to charge an administrative fee to gather items from the vehicle
Seriously? That is COLD! I would figure that you could at least get your social security card and any personally identifying info.... Wow. Thanks for the info. I figured she may have some kind of legal recourse for those kind of items, but sounds like not. I hoped I could find good info to help with at least that.
That practice is not legal in every state. But since the towing company has fees in place already I would assume in your state it is in fact legal. In a state this practice is not legal in your friend would have the right to sue for damages only if they were not returned.
@PandiferBear wrote:Seriously? That is COLD! I would figure that you could at least get your social security card and any personally identifying info.... Wow. Thanks for the info. I figured she may have some kind of legal recourse for those kind of items, but sounds like not. I hoped I could find good info to help with at least that.
If you think of the praticality of the alternative, there would have to be rules that documents of type A, B and C would have to be returned on demand but not other things, and more to the point the towing company would then have to search the contents, which would cause lots of other concerns. And even something like "return all contents" would have some difficulties of requiring them to find them. So much easier to say "You didn't pay as promised, if you want your stuff that you stored in OUR vehicle, pay the fee and come and get it."
@Anonymous wrote:That practice is not legal in every state. But since the towing company has fees in place already I would assume in your state it is in fact legal. In a state this practice is not legal in your friend would have the right to sue for damages only if they were not returned.
Thanks. I will do a google search to see, but I bet you are right, since she said they have a specific fee. Just sad, because she has way too much bad going on right now. Sometimes you want to find a ray of sunshine, but it is just a stormy day, nothing you can do about it.
@longtimelurker wrote:
@PandiferBear wrote:Seriously? That is COLD! I would figure that you could at least get your social security card and any personally identifying info.... Wow. Thanks for the info. I figured she may have some kind of legal recourse for those kind of items, but sounds like not. I hoped I could find good info to help with at least that.
If you think of the praticality of the alternative, there would have to be rules that documents of type A, B and C would have to be returned on demand but not other things, and more to the point the towing company would then have to search the contents, which would cause lots of other concerns. And even something like "return all contents" would have some difficulties of requiring them to find them. So much easier to say "You didn't pay as promised, if you want your stuff that you stored in OUR vehicle, pay the fee and come and get it."
True, and I can see the slippery slope of the matter. But I just feel that certain identity-centric items (e.g. social security card, IRS docs) should be surrendered to the SSN holder. It is not like you can sell them (can you?). I do understand that that is just my feeling, though. Which does not carry any weight, and is worth about as much as its weight. Just a sad situation. Albeit, avoidable.