Nov 19, 2009 8:02 pm US/Central
Auto Owners Say City Tow Firm Damaging Cars
Few Complaints Are Reimbursed, However, When Owners File Claims
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Getting your car towed is always a pain. But some impound lots are making things worse by damaging your car once it gets there.
And as 2 Investigator Pam Zekman discovered, good luck trying to get them to pay for the repairs.
Mary Grisey got a surprise when she went to pick up her car from this city auto pound.
"It was marked on the driver's side window 'Do not start,'" she said.
Grisey says her Beetle was running fine before it was towed. When she got it back, the oil pan was ruptured.
Grisey was also alarmed by the way cars were being moved around by
a fork lift at the pound. She said a brand-new BMW "just fell off the fork lift."
When Grisey questioned a supervisor about her damage, he refused to admit liability. CBS 2 went with Grisey on her second visit but was denied entry into the impound lot.
Her mechanic confirmed the oil pan was ruptured. The repair cost: $500.
"It's ridiculous," Grisey said. "I'm a student, I don't have, you know, I don't have income to pay for this."
The city auto pound is run by a private company called United Road Towing, under a $10 million a year contract with the city.
At the two auto pounds it operates, car owners have filed more than 1,000 damage claims in the last two years, but only $21,000 were paid -- about 26 percent.
The damage claims aren't surprising when you watch how United Road's forklifts move cars around. One white van almost fell off.
Vonzell Franklin is still waiting to be reimbursed for the broken axle and other damage done to his car in 2007. The damages totaled $2,000.
"The whole bottom of my car was tore up from the fork lift," he said. "I filed a claim here, with the city. I mean, it was just a whole runaround."
Matt Smith, spokesman for Chicago's Department of Streets and Sanitation, says problems such as these two cases are rare but promised more scrutiny of the company.
"We want to make sure their process is as above-board as possible," he said.
Smith insists the number of damaged cars is very small, compared to the number of cars towed into those two lots. He says new procedures will be implemented to make it much easier for people to file a claim.
In response to Zekman's inquiries, the company reimbursed both Grisey and Franklin for the damage done to their cars.
Smith says other auto owners can file a claim at the auto pound lot and should be given a copy of a discrepancy report at that time.
Processing the claim can take four to six weeks, and steps will be taken to make sure car owners are given all the information they need to follow up on it.
The owner of United Road did not return phone messages.
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