Illegal towing/ Car stripped by towing company

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LILCEE4

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"A few weeks ago my car was parked in the lot of my old employer, initially I was told I could leave my car there while in a company rental vehicle(I've done it many times before.)However there was a mix up with the rental vehicle and I'm assuming the location manager became upset with me, and had my car towed. There are signs up that say private parking violators will be towed etc. But this is when it gets kinda shady. My car was not towed by the listed company on the sign..it was towed by some other company. My car was parked in Burbank CA but the company which did the tow was in Los Angeles approx 45mins away. The tow was never reported to the police, when asked management the whereabouts of my car they just gave me a name and no additional information no number, location or anything. I looked for my car myself, called tow companies in the area, police depts etc with no luck, I then reported the car stolen after two days. A week later I actually found information on the tow company and went to the yard to pick up my car to find that it had been stripped the radio was pulled out the electric door locks windows etc were not working, the car would not start either. The tow company had no written authorization no type of documentation or anything in regards to the tow, in fact they told me I could just take the car! I refused, one because the car had been stripped two because the car wouldn't start and three because I wanted to get advice on the situation. The following day however the tow company notified the police and the police said it was a stolen recovery and towed it to their impound yard, And I was told I could pick it up from there at my own expense! However I had no means of doing so nor did I have the funds to do so, so now I'm out of a car. I am now having to rent a car to get to school everyday and I'm going to probably default on my auto loan because I cant afford to rent a car at 700 a month and pay my existing auto loan! Do I have grounds to sue both parties?? For damages to my car, rental fees, damages to my credit if I default on auto loan and punitive damages because the property manager acted out of malice in my personal opinion.
Thank you your input is appreciated! "
 
I'm missing a very key part of this story -- where did the towing company say that they towed the vehicle from? They have no records whatsoever? Start with the police who took the police report from the tow company, which seems to be after you contacted them! Let's first get to the bottom of the story before we determine who may be potentially liable.
 
The towing company said the car was picked up from Burbank at the place I left it, they said they were called by the manager. The manager also agrees that they towed the car from his location.
When I showed up at the tow yard one of the guys made the comment that he didnt think the car belonged to anyone. They had the car for the complete week, but failed to ever report it to anyone. They claim the car was stripped when picked up but they dont have any pictures or anything proving that it was.
They have no documentation at all, no written authorization, they didnt even have an invoice for me to sign or anything. They're exact words were "go ahead you can take the car...its no charge". I asked several times are you sure you dont have any type of paperwork.
 
The towing company said the car was picked up from Burbank at the place I left it, they said they were called by the manager. The manager also agrees that they towed the car from his location.
When I showed up at the tow yard one of the guys made the comment that he didnt think the car belonged to anyone. They had the car for the complete week, but failed to ever report it to anyone. They claim the car was stripped when picked up but they dont have any pictures or anything proving that it was.
They have no documentation at all, no written authorization, they didnt even have an invoice for me to sign or anything. They're exact words were "go ahead you can take the car...its no charge". I asked several times are you sure you dont have any type of paperwork.

So they claim that the car was stripped on the original lot? Only your car? It sounds like your case may be against your old employer, especially since it seems that he called a towing company in Burbank. It sounds to me like he was trying to get even with you and perhaps in small claims court he can explain (1) why a towing company located almost an hour away was contacted instead of the usual ones they call, and (2) how your car got stripped on the lot with no other cars being affected, and (3) having knowledge about your car there could be a stolen car report filed by the towing company they contacted.

I'm sorry to hear about this... good luck with this problem. Get as much documentation and proof of what occurred prior before going to court.
 
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