The good news. Received a call today from the King County Police, my truck has be recovered and in excellent condition.
The bad news. The kid driving my truck when it was found was at a Seattle convenience store parking lot. He had no license and and was issued a ticket for driving without a license. In the city of Seattle, anyone driving without a valid license has their vehicle impounded for 30 days. The kid was given a ticket and let go. A tow truck was called and my truck was towed to an impound yard. It was after the truck was in impound when it was discovered to be stolen. I was given the imformation about where the truck was located and went to get it.
The operator of the impound lot informed me before I could get my truck back, I would have to pay the 30 days of storage fees, a $350 impound fee, and some assorted other costs. Total, $1495.36. WTF, get me the police, this is like being robbed twice. A Seattle cop came and told me that the operator was following the law, pay the money or lose my truck. I called my insurance company for advice and was told because the truck was involved in illegal activity (a car thief without a drivers license), they would not pay the fees. But they would assist me in recovering the money from the person responsible though.
I have already missed 2 days of work because of this, can’t afford to burn up vacation time on this. I don’t have that kind of money laying around. I don’t have any rich relatives either. My wife talked to a neighbor and he agreed to loan me the money. This was going to mean 3 more 45 minute drives just to get my truck. I came home, got the money, called the impound yard and got a answering machine. I called the impound operators cell phone (it was on a business card he gave me) and he had left the office to go play golf this afternoon. He will drop by the impound yard about 6 or 7 tonight so I can get my truck back.
At least I get my truck back in one piece. I looked it over and the only damage is to the steering column. The plastic cover was broke off to gain access to the ignition switch. Also, a metal rod that goes from the key tumbler to the switch is bent. What really pisses me off is that the truck had never been smoked in. The ashtray is full of butts and there are cigarette ashes everywhere. The truck was my gift to me when I quit smoking. It still runs good and even has a full tank of gas. It has almost 1000 mile more on the odometer, the thief must have been on the go. He also left some dirty clothes and a bunch of empty Big Gulp cups. My prescription sunglasses are fine and nothing from the glove box is missing. There was even a little metal pipe for smoking pot stuck under the front seat.
The penalty for car theft in this state is a slap on the hand. I called the King County police to get more information and was told that a warrant will be issued to the theif. If caught and convicted, he might get 30 days in jail depending on his record. He will also be order to pay restitution but that I shouldn’t expect to see any of it. I told the cop that if they gave me 10 minutes with the thief I would be happy. He said he would gladly do it there are some dogooders out there that would raise a stink. Oh well, at least I get my truck back.
That is fucking lame. I can’t believe the cop didn’t clue in when he was pulled over that the vehicle might be stolen with a broken column… Cripes, did he not even run the plate???
My advice: Pay it and then sue the kid. I am not sure if there is a minimum age, but if you can’t sue him then sue his parents. The cops can probably provide the info you need. You should be able to get some info from a lawyer for a nominal fee, or maybe your insurance co can help you in this regard with advice.
Little bastard. You just know that kids got a real bright future… I get mad just reading shit like this. AARGH.
that sucks! sue the kid, his family and anyone who looks him. sue your own insurance company, to boot! (by the way, the perp’s name and address should be on the ticket issued or the police report, and, well, you know how “accidents” happen…)
i had a motorcycle stolen and i WAY lucked out on the recovery. Some kid sat on it for a year, took it out and crashed it the first time he tried to ride it. (it was a way-fast RZ 350. I had just tricked it out and put a bunch of new stuff on it EXCEPT tank and bodywork. it had beat-up old racing tank with dents and stuff) When Shithead crashed, it smashed the clutch perch with the lever in the engaged postion, and would not release! He couldn’t ride it further.
I was out of town for about 3 weeks, and when i came home, got the message that the bike was recovered THE DAY BEFORE! I paid ONE DAY inpound, got the bike back with very little damage and COVERED IN THE ASSHOLE THEIF’S BLOOD!!!
still got that bike, and the bloody tank is hanging in my garage!
Yeah, this would be great on one of the small claims court tv programs, like People’s Court. This
would look just marvelous. You can ask to be on that program. They have a big fund you share
with the other party but you get what they owe from their share if you win.
If I were driving a stolen truck and I got stopped by a cop, I might just say I didn’t have a license (even if I did) and give him some less than reliable information to write down on the ticket.
Maybe the kid is profoundly stupid and gave the cop his real name and address but I wouldn’t count on it. If he had given the real information I would think the cops would have already driven to his house to pick him up on the felony warrant. Easy way to get yourself a felony bust.
Definitely take someone to small claims court. You should not have to pay this. That is absolutely ridiculous. I suppose the purpose of the law is to keep the person who was driving without a license from simply doing it again the next day, but since they let you take the car (after paying for 30 days worth of storage) that would negate the purpose of the law anyway. The person who stole the car wouldn’t have an opportunity to drive it unless they stole it again. It is just absolutely ridiculous.
Damn racer, I feel for you, having had three cars stolen myself. You’ve got a crappy insurance company to boot. Who are they?
I’m going to suggest, as chorus, that if you can positively ID the perp, you sue him. If he’s under 18, you sue his parents, and win. They may have some assets or insurance that will cover it. If he’s 18 or over, he’ll likely not show and you’ll get an automatic judgement.
A favorable judgement alone doesn’t mean you’ll recover anything. I’ve gotten such against an unresponsive defendant and have had the sheriff go out to recover what property of value they could. You may never see a penny of it, but that judgement will cause the perp to (depending on how you want to look at it): a.) reflect a bit on his thievin’ ways and the trouble they cause, or b.) carry that weight a long time if he makes any kind of attempt to straighten out his life.
Admittedly, if he’s the sort who’s on a fast burn and has committed an additional 7 or so felonies since stealing your truck, this approach is a little bit like bringing a .22 to the Battle of Midway. In that case there’s not much anyone can do, besides the cop who finally either pops him for the big one or shoots him.
But it’s probably the best you can do. It gives you some shot at redress, and lacking recovery, at least you’ve done what you legally can to impress upon this wayward soul the error of his ways. And it beats the hell out of you going to jail for pounding (I must watch my use of that word) the crap out of him.
Back in the winter of '93-'94, a friend and I drove out to Pittsburgh to visit a friend over the New Year. The night we got there, the car (a Cavalier convertible) was stolen and used in a drive-by shooting. The young pricks had lowered the top and buzzed by in 1st gear while doing this. Now, the transmission needed to be reconditioned because the driver didn’t know how to drive stick, but that wasn’t the worst of it.
Think. It was late December. In Pittsburgh. The vinyl top had been put down. Yep – cracked like a mutha.
It took 3 and a half weeks for them to get a new top, install it, then take it off and install another because they’d put the wrong top on it.
During that period, it snowed. Every day. The shit was piled so high that chainlink fences and iron gates were no longer enough to keep people out of particular properties.
I also got a really bad case of conjunctivitis, and was oozing pus from my eyes for a week.
When we finally got the car back, we barely made it out of Pittsburgh before we discovered the last present the state of Pennsylvania had to offer us. The mechanics who had worked on the car passed their time by listening to the car’s radio. They never bothered to run the car or to recharge the battery. They’d run it down so far as to damage it, and it could no longer hold a charge. I had to push-start the car, in snow and ice, three times on our trip back to Troy, NY.
I was thinking the same thing. Your vehicle is stolen, and then you have to pay a huge sum of money to get it back? What the effing hell? How friggin’ insulting that they’re saying your vehicle is supposed to be impounded for 30 days, since the guy who was driving it DIDN’T OWN IT.
If there isn’t a provision in the law for a waiver of this for stolen vehicles, there damn well should be. If the impound operator needs to get money for their services, the county should be paying that. You shouldn’t be punished for a crime someone else committed.
Well I have to tell you that I sympathize. Here in Winnipeg (the car theft capital of Canada btw) I just had my Intrepid stolen recently. When talking to my insurance guy he politely informed me that Chrysler vehicles are the most often stolen. Apparently it has to do with the ignition system that they have been using in all of there vehicles for the last 8 years… They haven’t changed it at all. When the police did recover it they did tow it to their impound lot but after they were done dusting for prints etc. they had it towed to the repair facility of my choice. Not really a bad deal. Just a pain in the ass because of all of the hassles. I have been told that the only way to prvent my car from being stolen again ( it’s #1 on their list) is to get an Imobilizer. There was a time when I hoped that they would find the car wrapped around a telephone poll with some Dip-Sh!t dangling out of the front window all bloody beacuse he was too stupid to fasten his seatbelt.
I don’t understand why you would have to pay for 30 days of impound fees if the truck isn’t in the lot for 30 days. I can understand having to pay the tow truck driver and lot for however long it WAS there, these people are private citizens too, and shouldn’t be required to lose money on these services. The fact that the thief “didn’t have a licence” is irrelevant, your stolen truck should be returned to you immediately, and you shouldn’t have to pay for 30 days that you didn’t use.
Where were the damn cops in all this? A driver with no licence, car with broken steering column, and they don’t check to see if it is stolen? I think you need to speak with someone in charge at the PD. They are the assholes that cost you all this money, they didn’t do their damn jobs.
Sue the cop for not doing his job properly and checking the rego before ordering the tow truck. You’re more likely to get money out of the police department than out of some drug smoking, car stealing kid.
Seriously, that’s a really tough break. I don’t know who you should be complaining to, but someone needs to look into this, preventing people being robbed twice.
I saw the thread title and though “Oh no, this can’t be good…” and I guess I was right. I’m glad you got your truck back, and in decent condition, and I wish you much luck in recovering the cash associated.
FWIW, it’s such an asinine situation/policy, that I’m sure somebody will see your side of it if you can make enough phone calls from work or something.
