Last year, I had a car that was towed into an autoshop to see if the damages could be repaired. We agreed that the damages were beyond repair. I told the manager at the autoshop that Wheels For Wishes would be coming to pick up the vehicle in a few days. I payed them for looking at the car and for the towing fee. Yesterday I received a letter from a collections agency claiming I owed them $1400 for the towing company. I started calling around and found out that Wheels for Wishes never picked up the vehicle, nor did they have any records that I had called and made the appointment. The autoshop called my car into the towing company claiming it was abandoned without ever letting me know that my car had never been picked up by Wheels for Wishes. The towing company pulled up the file on my car and said that they sent a certified letter three times in March 2007 and that each time it was returned to sender. The guy said that the car was junked and sent to the scrap yard in June 2007. He said that the issue was no longer in the hands of the towing company and that I would have to deal with the collections agency. If I ask for validation of debt, should I be able to get out of this mess?
Why didn't you follow up to make sure the vehicle was picked up? You can send validation, and they are going to respond back with the paperwork, then it will probably be back in your hands.
Well there isn't a real valid reason to dispute that I can see, you didn't follow up to make sure the company did what they said they were going to do. The best thing probably would be a settlement.
It all depends on your situation. You can send a dispute letter explaining your position and try to work out what you feel would be reasonable. Depending how old this debt is going to determine the amount they would be willing to settle for.
It's about a year old. I find it odd that the autoshop never called me prior to let me know what was about to happen since they had my information on hand. I'll see what I can do. Thanks again for your help.
So you would just roll over and pay $1400 for a car to be towed? Where was it towed (as in how far?) How much of an offset are they giving you for any payments made by the scrap yard? Whether I settled or not, I would certainly be getting an accounting for that kind of money.
It's really not about how far it was towed. Most of it was for sitting in impound for 60 days. I would like to get out of paying any of this because the way I see it, the only service the towing company could provide me is to give me my car back, but since the car no longer exists they have nothing to offer me in return for the money they say I owe them. That's the way I feel anyway.
Ask them for copies of the certified mail receipts showing they attempted to notify you of the car's status. You want to make sure you had the opportunity to mitigate damages (not accumulating storage fees). If they had the wrong address because they can't read - that wouldn't be my problem. (Or at least I would argue it). If they won't provide the CMRR receipts, then one has to wonder if they did attempt to notify you. And you still need to see how much they were paid for the scrap value of the car - make sure you were given offset credits. You are one of the classic reasons the VALIDATION process is in place. Don't listen when they say you have nothing to dispute. You are simply disputing it for lack of proof, and they need to prove proof, not so much that they have the right to collect, but they need to prove the accounting of the debt.
