Tow company pays up after bodycam video shows missing wheels
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- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2024
- The mystery of the missing wheels hit home with some people who saw the original Target 8 report in July. They called to offer Michael Couch their own wheels and money after his stolen 1995 Chevy Silverado came home after nearly four months in an impound lot without any wheels. (Aug. 30, 2022)
So let me get this straight, not only did they steal the wheels, but they didn't file paperwork for the man to find out they had his vehicle for several months until the time elapsed that they could send it to auction, and then didn't file more paperwork to let the police know they even had the vehicle? This is insane and they should be investigated for these practices.
To make it even worse none of them peckerwoods got prosecuted...smh
Once they win it at the auction, just put back on the wheels.
Should lose his licence as tow truck driver straight away the owner took wheels to cover the $5000 he wanted for holding truck illegally if he doesn't do the right process so owner of truck can find it tow truck owner should be charged with a crime
Useless cop should have arrested the owner for theft.
Common of towing companies in Toronto too man.
They fact they were charging $12k for a stolen car that the owner was never informed was there is ridiculous.
Like literally!
Yeah thats how tow companies work. Theres a big youtuber that does this out east and makes his videos seen like he's the good guy every time. The fact this tow company did it maliciously and the police did nothing shows the state of our legal system. I wonder how many business owners got denies insurance claims or couldn't afford insurance during the "summer of love" 2020? Ya remember when leftists robbed every business they wanted cuz things weren't fair? You get what you vote for people. Today biden was acquitted of charges cuz "he couldn't understand where he was" and hes still the pres, you people voted for.. enjoy
The towing company stole the wheels
Pretty obvious this is by design and they were just hoping to get away with it.
Clearly an investigation should be done. How many times has this company done this to unsuspecting people.
The police need to investigate this towing company and ask the public to come forward with any information about similar behavior.
If I were the cop first thing I would do is run the owner and employees names in the database. Anyone with a criminal history of theft esp involving automobiles would be immediately brought to an interrogation room.
Wheels should be permanent fixtures on every vehicle. The first wheels ever engineered included an easy off theft design, and no one ever thought to correct this glaring flaw. Rocket ships, boats and boxes are proof that wheels were never necessary, truth be known.
The cops work with them on it.
I agree
Thanks, Captain Obvious Rick!!! 🤦♂️🤦♂️
The owner only paid because he got caught. Imagine all the other times he HASN'T been caught.
I was thinking the same thing, ridiculous! Payed up to avoid criminal theft charges.
You opinion is an outlier. And a projecting one at that.
Grow up.
Tow truck owners are usually thieves I worked for a guy who used to steal from impounded vehicles somehow he still had the police contract. Cops are busy giving everyday citizens a hard time and this guy is right under their nose.
The owner probably has $120,000 of stolen goods in his garages so $3,000 is no loss.
Love how youtube deletes my comments cause we live In such a snowflake society but I worked for a tow truck company who stole from impounded vehicles all the time
The classic, "my employee did it, but he's no longer working with us."
I dunno, it seems oddly specific how he said it was exactly 1 of two employees and not one of many or just 1. Plus the fact that upon getting confirmation from the police that something was afoot, he reimbursed the man with his own money. It sounds like a believeable story, or he's just a good liar. We may never know.
@@JimsyFlimsy HE IS LYING AND YOU KNOW IT
And “that” employee will be hired back as soon as the heat dies down. Oh wait. It’s the owner. 😂
@@rainaflores779 💯
@@JimsyFlimsy😅😅 yeah okay jimsy.. does it matter anyways? Someone from that business scammed this man! He’s the victim here, he was wronged, not the tow truck company u’re sticking up for & focusing on
That towing company should be shut down. 12k for storage fees?! Seems like a rat owns that company.
no, he actually sounds like a decent guy. Made things right. Its the 2 employees that where rats. as for the towing fees, those add up fast. 80.00 per day times 5 months (150) days is over 12K
@@justaguy7477 he hired them. I'm sure they didn't just magically start doing this. He made it right because of the attention his business got due to the outcry of the public.
B.S., going rate for stored vehicle is around 25$ per day. The tow is usually around 150$.
@@justaguy7477
Except that apparently he didn’t tell the police he had the truck.
And he’s trying to say that after four months he just noticed the truck didn’t have wheels?
@@justaguy7477 He turned into a " decent guy " when the cops called B.S. on him .................
Tow companies are absolute scum. I've rarely dealt with one that treated me fairly. The worst one was when my wife's car was stolen. We had to wait 6 weeks for the insurance to pay out for the theft which I feel is fair. After a couple weeks of trying to survive commuting with one car, we had to buy another vehicle. We eventually did get a check from insurance, and a week later found out that her car had been in an impound lot less than 2 miles from our home. They sat on it just to drive up the storage fee to over $7000. When we told them to get lost becuase insurance already paid us out, they tried to tell us we committed fraud. I called my insurance agent (benefit of using a local agent, by the way) and showed them the letter we got from the impound lot that was dated a week AFTER the insurance company paid us out. My agent was livid with the tow company and filed a complaint. The last I heard that company lost their contract to do impounds for the city.
Absolutely, they’re money suckers. I had a vehicle towed in San Diego in the 1990’s and I picked it up 1 day later for $345
in your case, the only one responsible of fraud is the towing company.
As a tow operator, I apologize on behalf of us and insist it is not all of us.
Yeah, most of these towing companies thinking that they are Lord's of this world scamming people left and right.
THEY ARE SCUM. My car was found & almost the same situation happened to me except I wasn’t told where it was until it was about to go up for auction! I was 21 & on my own there was no way I could come up with what they asked & when I called with what I did have to offer they pretty much laughed then stopped taking my calls….I’ll never forget my first COMPLETELY PAID OFF car blue..she was a ford fusion
That company 100% needs investigated further great job by the reporter great job by the people trying to help.
smells like they might actually be a chop shop
@@braddl9442nah. If it was that truck would have been gone a long time before. No this was someone driving by.
This kind of news investigation is INVALUABLE. These smaller cases would NEVER get resolved if it weren't for persistent journalists helping people out. Seriously, these types of reporters are worth their weight in gold. Whatever they are paid, it's not enough. The whole COMMUNITY thanks you for your hard work, persistence and dedication. Thank you so much!!
This sounds like what reporting was like in the 80's 90's and should be like now....
And yet people scream "don't trust the main street media"
Yo thank God. I was resigned to believing all media is just bad. That doesn’t make sense, but this kind of company is hard to come across.
Unfortunately saying garbage about celebrities suspected of racism without any proof or evidence gets more clicks
They did a good job but I wouldn't trust them as much. News media always lies and makes things out to be what they are not to be.
Companies like this will DENY any wrongdoing. Thankfully the man and officers who helped him had proof. They said it was picked up without wheels and that shows that the company lies upfront...
Or employees are. That what I think 🤔
The police are just as bad as the dishonest tow company, they didn’t do anything until the press showed up
they always do, I got towed for backing into head in parking, but it wasn't on the sign for the property, and I was unloading something from the back, while we where inside a tow truck came and grabbed the SUV. I even called the cops aobut it, and pointed out the tow isn't legal because the tow sign that lays out the parking rules doesn't list head in only. Basically got told take it to civil court. Ended up paying them 300 bucks to get my car back, and I had to wait 24hours because it wasn't "processed in to the yard yet". I could have fought it, but it wasn't worth it.
That owner knows exactly what happened. He knows exactly where those wheels went.
EXACTLY
Most likely on his personal car
Yep. He basically said ok I'll cut you a deal on the impound fee by taking the difference off your truck.
The towing company should be charged with felony theft as the wheels are likely over $1000 mark.
They intentionally didn’t report the truck because they wanted that payday. I would check if this hasn’t happened before.
It will not be investigated because often it’s cops involved also … California highway patrol and couple sherif dept get caught at this.. they impound a car then tell the tow company to hide it then buy it cheap..
It has this tow truck company and members of the police department are in cahoots.
@@johnpopoff7950 this is so dumb
Its a money making scam between the police and the tow company. At the end cars get auctioned off and they both get paid
@@throatpunch4789 ... When you're actively ignorant, you make mindless statements.
Towing company knows exactly what happened to the original rims and tires or he wouldn't have settled so quickly when presented with the evidence. They need to be throughly investigated God knows how many more folks they did something similar too.
Well yeah. He knew exactly who wrote the report!
Reason why I have a beater and will only take nice car out under surpervison. Always leave you prized possession locked away. I'd even build a garage for the truck if it means so much to him.
@@dbzownz12345 It was stolen out of his drive way
@@Helladamnleet yeah, thats why i said build a "garage." When I finally purchase my home, there'll be a garage of some sort. Once you have you're dream car, or "baby" no amount of cash thrown at it is too much. 3k for rims, kinda his fault. Should have installed a kill switch & anti-theft system for 1/5th the cost of rims. Then he could invest on some rims therafter. My guy didn't play his cards right.
@@dbzownz12345 First of all, he has a garage, secondly, what are you, 12? Building a garage isn't free
One time when I was 18 my car was impounded because the registration was bad. When I went to pick it up from the tow company, I asked where my missing tools and clothes were. They said they took it to minimize their losses towing my car.
I remembered when the police take your car they do inventory of the contents. That's what saved me from losing my stuff so I thank the PD for that. I went to the cops and he said "This ain't happening in my town" and helped me after impounding me. I got my stuff back.
The cop helped after pounding you? Nice.
Nice
Them trying to justify stealing things in your property smh 🤦♀️
That's strait up theft of course the officer had to help you.
@@Questionable_creations police don’t care about theft lolol
God bless this man. I worked for a company that would pick up and store cars and trucks that had been leased. One truck had a shell on the back. The person who had leased it came to take it off the truck. It was gone. We had over 80 drivers. They found out who took it. Told him to bring it back and he would not get arrested. He did get fired also.
Of course the owner knows everything! He’s just covering himself by blaming others!
The fact that someonecs vehicle can be recovered after theft, towed, and then just be held ransom for months and thousands at the cost of the victim is ridiculous. That deserves fines on the tow company.
More likely a change in the law
That is what insurance is for, If you pay for full coverage insurance then you have the insurance to go to battle for you and to pay the bills for inconveniences like this, if you're car gets stolen and recovered, no big deal call the insurance and they'll pay for the arrangements to get it out of the impound lot that it ended up at, If you cheap out on insurance and only have liability then you have set yourself up for exactly that, the liability for that stolen vehicle recovery, It means now you are liable to pay the bill and to try to hold the thief accountable for damages and tow fees, If you have full coverage the insurance is liable for that and they need to try to recover their money from the thief if you have liability you are liable for that, Either way, the Tow company did their job and if you let it sit for months that's on you, who pays the bill is up to how you set up your insurance.
Now that's not to say this is how this situation is supposed to go because this situation has a couple things going against it. First was the theft of the wheels after the fact, and second, was the failure to notify the vehicle owner after the recovery of the vehicle.
There are a couple ways stolen recoveries can go, first being police find a stolen car, depending on the location and condition they may just contact the owner and let them pick it up, or they may have it towed to a police-owned impound lot for investigation, or they may have it towed directly to a tow companies impound lot, regardless the police are responsible for notifying the owner so arrangements can be made to pick up that vehicle before it ever reaches a situation where it sat unknowingly for months.
The second situation is like this one, the stolen car is dumped in a location and gets privately impounded, in this case, the police were supposed to be notified of the vehicle being privately impounded presumably license plate and vin in which case they would notify the owner or in this case it would likely be flagged as stolen and they would still notify the owner but they would also make arrangements with the tow company on how they wish to proceed from an investigative standpoint (whether it stays awaiting the owner to pick it up or if it gets towed to a police station for investigations).
Either way notifications are supposed to be made promptly so the owner knows where their car is so they can take care of it, So in the end if you don't have full coverage insurance you are liable but if you pick it up quickly is likely hundreds of dollars, if you wait months it's thousands, If you have full coverage then they are liable for the bill and if they decide to wait months that's on them to pay that massive bill and of course deal with you being pissed off that they let your car sit for months.
@@towtruckaj That's how it's meant to work, maybe in 1% of cases it does. Sitting at home, and heard a very big bang, looked outside and there's car in my front yard, it' had knocked down a tree and ended up about 6ft from the house. Caused a few 1000 in damages. Now, the man driving had had a heart attack and when the car had done the damage the insurance company said he was dead and it was not their problem! Had to get my insurance company to sue the other insurance company. Now this would have cost a lot more than just paying up in the first place. Did get a letter from the mans family, because we did try to save his life, CPR and the like, and thanking us. No idea how that family fared with the insurance company.
@@tallthinkev i thinking a libral woke idea ,, buy everyone a car with tax's so no need to steal one ,, i think it will work.
@@super_happy_alien509 Do we get to pick which one? If so, Rover P5 Coupe V8 for me.
This kind of reporting is exactly what what we need. To expose some shady business. When they see their business on the news doing some questionable or down right dishonest things for the community to see they know their customers will go elsewhere. Your reporting works. Keep it up.
Makes you wonder why there isn't a 24-hour a day Channel doing nothing but this kind of reporting. I'm sure there's plenty of content.
they should loose there business license
The agenda these tow business have should be dealt with.. they tow your car and hold them hostages for a ridiculous amount of money.
I’m in Houston and I watch this
My understanding is they only report on this kind of stuff once, after it's not sessional news companies don't care.
dude should NOT have settled for $3k that's ridiculous.
That tow company needs to be investigated throughly an fined for removing parts from any vehicle that doesn't belong to them just because they found it abandoned or park nk illegally, how many people have they done it too?
its quite sickening taking advantage of that poor disabled old man, that towing company should be shutdown
@@VortexStolenName employees represent the company it doesn't matter who did it the owner is responsible for his employees and His image. Ignorant enabling moranic comment
@@VortexStolenName the company should be shut down if the whole place can sit by and watch as tires go missing.
This is 2022. Im sure that storage lot has 24 hour surveilance just like every other impound lot in america, that owner knows full well where they went, and i highly doubt thats the first time.. life lesson to be learned. Every one will try and take advantage of you.
@@VortexStolenName nope rhe company should be liable since the company hired them
@@VortexStolenName The company is ALWAYS liable when something happens at work because of an employee THEY hired. They also stacked a myriad of other sickening practices on top of the issue. This entire situation was obviously deliberate and it is far from the first time a towing company has purposefully scooted around the law to scam others out of their hard earned money. Do not side with this kind of business.
Same thing happened to me. The Arizona DMV charged me a vehicle removal fee after my car was stolen, wrecked, and then towed, neither the company or the cops informed me! I only learned about the fate of my car after the tow yard had my car for 5 months when the DMV billed me! The cops and tow yards have always served each other, rarely helping victims of auto theft.
And LAPD Captain once told me the same thing and implied the graft and kickbacks was up above his level.
In this case thank God for police body cam footage. In this case the cops were trying to help
I wonder if they were trying to help or merely did so accidentally. So the police didn't "solve" the mystery of who stole the wheels and didn't charge anyone with theft. I'm sure they stopped using that yard. ...right....
@@auteurfiddler8706 , I'm gonna go with accident. Footage from a policeman bodycam who was accidently caught the truck with its nice tires before they were stolen.
I assume you had a police report that it was stolen? And they still charged you?
My brother in law got in a wreck around Christmas if 2023. He had his truck towed to my house a mile away. Tow company was NOT Happy. Told them too bad. Nothing went missing. Amazing.
Yeah they don't like that sometimes lol. I'm lucky I found a reputable towing company a few years ago. They charge 50-100% more than other companies but they're out to my location in 30 minutes or less every time and are really professional, e.g. always have the right truck, careful not to damage vehicles, friendly.
Fifty bucks says the employee stole the truck, abandoned it at a place where they have a contract with the property owner to remove unlawful vehicles, never notified the Police of the tow and then filed the abandoned paperwork just to get the wheels.
Another 50 bux says the owner or a manager directed him to perform the act.
Wouldn't doubt it
How could all of this have happened without the owner knowing
@@AntidumbisPeaceOmind also companies give “finder fees” to tow drivers
We know it
I gotta say that's really nice to see someone actually reporting on something kinda good happening.
Screw that towing company.!
In the UK, we don't have that much of a 'tow-away' set up, but it's the wheel clampers, private land parking where the real 'legal thievery' rogues operate. Most local authorities sub-contract out their parking, and many companies have been highlighted for dishonest practices and overcharging. Stay longer than 90 minutes in the local LIDL or ALDI supermarket car-park and Wham!, £100 'fine'.
I agree
I'm glad you actually reported the name of this towing company so people know to avoid them. Didnt report the car to police for months? Tried to auction it off, and when they were told they cant auction it the wheels are magically gone? Yeah. Sounds less like a towing company and more like a chop shop
To be clear the “auction” process is a necessary step for a towing company to legally get a title for an abandoned vehicle. Depending on how long the vehicle sat at the tow yard the storage charges add up and when there’s no one to pay for the truck then they look to see how they can make some money back from it hence the wheels getting sold.
@@domenicderrigo7733 Yeah to recoup the costs they created by not actually informing the police they had the vehicle for 4 months. If they don't actually inform the police than they shouldn't be able to accrue storage fees. A simple verification process is all that would be needed to make the system pretty foolproof.
1. Tow abandoned vehicle
2. Inform police
3. Police say "Roger!"
4. Wait for auction or customer, now starting to accrue storage fees.
@@3xceIIent it is not the responsibility of the tow yard to inform the police about towing a vehicle from private property. the trailer park where it was found should have informed the police first so they can run the vin to ensure its not stolen. i see what you are saying about the storage charges but when its abandoned like that the first step is finding the previous registered owner and sending them a registered letter about the vehicle. if they skipped that step before the auction process they would not be able to get a title so not really sure what the deal was there.
How are people going to avoid them? If they're doing impounds then they don't need the people affected to *choose* to use them.
@@domenicderrigo7733 the video pretty clearly said it *was* the tow companies responsibility, actually. I'm not sure why you would think it would be the property owners responsibility? Lol....
States need to crack down on towing companies. Should not be allowed to "cruise for business" - only respond if called to tow a specific vehicle that is NOT on private property. My opinon is if they come onto private property, it's trespassing regardless of the reason.
States are half the problem, They award contracts to shady tow companies and don't revoke them.
It *IS* trespassing if they come on the property unless 1.) They were specifically called there by the owner of the vehicle being towed (i.e. car died and needs a tow) or 2.) They have an agreement in place with the owner of the property itself. In the case of #2, most places also require that this be POSTED at the entrances of the parking area.
If they just drive around unrelated to either party, then it is trespassing and probable auto theft.
I remember watching 60 minutes type of show about a towing co, basically stealing peoples cars from McDonalds parking lot. Sadly the small town sheriff was in on it, so no help there, only the media busting the story saw a quick end to it. They must’ve gotten good money from this scheme by that point tho, holding vehicles hostage seems pretty profitable, some even had dogs in them! Some peeps have no shame. I’ll bet that sheriff didn’t get elected again.
He seems like a nice old man. People who treat older folks like that are pathetic. I'm glad he got his truck back at least and they paid for his wheels.
People who treat folks* like this are pathetic. Age doesn’t matter, treat everybody right
@Caffeinated-DaVinci I agree but children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable and it's worse when they are violated.
Tow companies often ransack vehicles that they tow then claim that they aren't responsible for items left inside or damages.
I had a company steal all the change from my cupholder. Pathetic people
Toe guys are a bunch of low life's anyway!
@@candymr2 ive seen people had thousands of dollars in high performance parts ripped off their vehicles, especially Hondas. Criminals see these flashy things and dollar bills start going off in their heads. And most the time yes its the towing company employees that do it, often management knows about it and has a hand, or looks the other way.
they got my leather jacket. the guy actually smiled as he said it was never there
I saw a tow truck driver STEALING things from my car after it got stolen and wrecked, did this RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE STATE TROOPER
a fire fighter told the tow driver, the owner is standing right there, as he checked an LED rechargeable flash and had put it in his pocket
the state trooper said take all my stuff out so they could tow it and get finger prints. the tow driver got in the front seat and turned the wheel back and forth messing up any finger prints so they got none
I've had to deal with so many crooked tow companies over the years, mostly when I was in the military. They need to be held accountable and responsible for any loss or damage to a vehicle they take possession of. Delaying of contacting the owner to rack up WAY over priced storage fees is one of the oldest tow company scams in the book. They need to be prosecuted for fraud when they get caught doing this. They take the vehicle it should be on their shoulders to make sure the owner is contacted immediately, not just send out paperwork to police.
I left a comment above about a towing company on Sicklerville Road Sicklerville NJ they sit way back from Sicklerville Road they ripped off an expensive watch n a battery charger. The car was scratched n the manager flipped out when he was called about the theft n said prove it!! The bank was called that had the car repoed n that also fell on deaf ears. They didn’t care they got their money. My girlfriends daughter dated a tow truck driver and he was stealing things from every car he towed. I would love to be in on setting these crooks up n getting these people/thieves and having them prosecuted and put in jail along with their managers and owners to the company. They are all in on it!!
Fees should not begin to accumulate until the owner is officially notified the company has their vehicle.
Those tow companies are the Devil, i was towed and thought my car was stolen and i kept going to the police station for a week asking for any info, finnally i called every tow yard in the phone book and nothing then a cop outside the station told me to try some unheard of dirtbag truck company not in the phone book, they had my car, everything inside gone through, the $30 bucks in ashtray change gone, 2 nice flashlights i had gone, finnally i paid over $800 to get my car out and i had to keep reminding myself what it was like at age 22 doing 3 months in prison, how i hated prison, and never wanted to be in prison again with those ruffians, i had to talk myself out of going to that tow yard and making news headlines after the tow yard operators were all killed by shotgun, i was even thinking of borrowing a glock from a cousin just in case the Shotgun jammed, thats how angry i was, i thought about my mom and sister sitting in a courtroom looking at me saying what on Earth could make me this mad to Slaughter these tow yard workers, they never have seen any indication i could do this terrible act, you heard that before, thankfully im mature now and i feel people should experience jail at an early age because it teaches them to stand down when your at a breaking point, never felt that way since, those tow yard dogs were the only people to make me feel like that.
Yea! All they do is scam! They need to be held accountable!
I would add that these companies need to be charged with extortion.
Owner should be jailed
What a racket
Solid reporting, hold these people accountable!
What about the racoons who steal the trucks every night? When are we going to do something about them?
I wish more stations would do this type of investigative journalism.
This happens way more often in towing lots than ever sees the news. Definitely beware leaving anything of value in or on a vehicle at risk of being towed.
It's more odd if it doesn't happen
Exactly, here in New Jersey you never expect to get your car back with everything if is is towed. Signs on at the storage lot say the company is not responsible for items in or on your car🙄😔
Batteries are regularly stolen from those lots
should have been 10k for the hassle
@@scottgrant2689 That's the sign of a shady business. If i see that sign, i'm out the door.
I absolutely love this kind of investigative journalism! Thank you for helping the community and getting justice for those who otherwise would not!
That check should have been 12 grand for the stolen wheels and the pain and suffering they caused by not reporting things properly and trying to charge him 12 grand because they didn't report it.
He got 30grand
@@syasyaishavingfun he got 3 grand, not 30.
"Some sort of system failure?" Yeah right, a tow employee wanted that truck probably. At least all was finally made right.
And if it a police impound,the drugs that the police miss,the towing company sells them to your children on the way to school!!
Its sad to say, but if your car gets repo'd or impounded the tow driver is gonna go through the vehicle and take what they want. In there eyes its not your anymore.
I used to tow for a company that was on both city & hwy patrol lists. Also did some repo recovery work for a few buy here and local creditors. Never once did rummage through someone’s car. I even repoed someone’s car with the payoff cash located in the glovebox. They came later, took the cash, paid off the loan and got their car back. Not all tow drivers are thieving assholes.
Made right? The man was out of a truck for 4 months and he had to pay $1,500 bucks to get it back! On top of that you still couldn't use his truck once they returned it to him because it had no wheels!
The towing company may have paid $3K but really they only paid $1500 because the truck owner was already down $1500 bucks!
Grrrrr! 🤬🤬🤬🤬
The owner is in on it. It's how they do business. I bet a lot of people had their car sold off before they were notified. My friend got his car stolen. The police recovered it and he got a notice from the police where he could pick up his car. We went to pick up the car and when we got to the lot they couldn't find the car. They had moved the car to another lot and were getting ready to auction it off, probably to themselves. They said it was just a mistake.
Tow truck companies go through your car . They go through everything and steal what is valuable. Never fails
Not always true, my mother had a Saturn that was stolen and recovered, when we went to inspect it I found a gallon zip lock bag full of weed in the glove box
Not true... I worked for a tow truck company out of Cleveland for 6 years and we always made sure customers got their stuff back even repo's we took people's stuff out and mailed them what belongs to them. Every wrecker driver wears a body camera and tow lots are flooded with security cameras
@@taylordougherty292 Yep, folks spouting "Blanket Statements". My buddy's work van was totalled in a wreck, had a few thousands of dollars work of plumbing equipment and supplies in it. Went back after two weeks of dealing with the insurance company and EVERYTHING was still there. They wouldn't help us unload it, not their responsibility, but they helped us haul all his gear to my truck.
Very helpful, professional, courteous, and patient while he dealt with the insurance. Of course they were paid for holding that smashed van for two weeks ($1200) but hey,,, that's how business works.😁
Tow companies only remove valuable stuff for safe keep, unfortunate for this guy the tow company misplaced his wheels , but there insurance company reimburse the guy for them
@@daves2822 I'm happy your mother was able to get her weed back, it would have been a shame if she lost her medical marijuana😄
What a despicable company
For every case like this where the towing company is forced to back down and pay up, imagine how many cases there are where they get away with deliberately sitting on a vehicle for long enough to auction it out and/or grab it for themselves, without ever contacting police. They will claim they sent a fax, of course, but everyone knows they never did.
I bet for every one case like this one where the towing company has to pay up there are 100 cases where they get away with it.
a really simple fix would be, the police must sign and acknowledge receipt of that fax information before anything else happens. My doctor always doesn't get faxes for some reason, you can't charge a person 12k because someone never got a fax from someone.
@@mistatk Agreed, that would be a very simple solution to this problem. But it seems like the powers that be hate simple solutions like that. They'll either ignore it or come up with a much more complicated solution that takes time and resources and costs a lot of money that still doesn't work as well as the simple solution would.
Yep, I had another car towed when I was in my early 20's, my fault not saying it wasn't, but tow company towed it. I called the police thinking it had been stolen and was forwarded the info. I couldn't afford to get the car released, would have had to wait for my next payday, but at $200/day in storage I wouldn't have been able to afford to get it back ever, and my family couldn't help. I also owed the bank on it, I assumed the tow truck company would notify the lein holder like they are supposed to do, so I didn't pay my monthly payment, thinking it was repoed, 2 months later bank called trying to avoid a costly repossion and asked me to return it. I told them where it was, and they said and I quote "I wonder why we wern't contacted"
One thing is a fax is traceable! They can determine if and when that fax was sent. I know it wasn't, but seems like the police failed to investigate those claims. Maybe because the police are usually tied in close to those guys.
@@mistatk I always call people to make sure they receive a fax. Good communication clears up a lot of problems.
I believe that the Towing Company even though they reimbursed him for his wheels, shouldn't be allowed to tow any more vehicles in that State. Because of their Employees stealing wheels or even other things off other people's vehicles.
Also their incompetence. They had the truck for months before finally contacting the owner, then they wanted him to pay for storage fees. Why not contact him right away?
Towing company actually quite often forget to report to police that they have impounded cars just so they can claim abandoned and sell it
how do you tow without tires?
Also cops allow towing companies to do this and legally steal your car it's sad.
The problem is the tow companies and the cops are all in it together, this is not hyperbole, I speak with close contact knowledge.
My brother in law was a wrecker driver and he stole stuff out of vehicles all the time, especially repos. I do not trust them!
This is what I call real journalism keep up the good work
This towing company should be shut down and someone needs to advertise in the paper that this towing company steals parts from your vehicle once they tow it and then blames it on his own employees. This owner is definitely a not to be trusted and I hope Police NEVER use their services to tow any vehicles. What a deplorable way to run a business. THIEF.
No proof of who took the wheels off the truck, the tow op reported it had no wheels when he picked it up, the pics and body cam prove that is false but STILL does NOT mean the owner knew anything!
No one will care that a tow truck company steals, lies and cheats, its expected. Find me an honest, hard working, decent tow truck driver, and I'll give you 10 trillion dollars.
@@trkr57 the thing is the truck was in their care, and the victim was paying the storage fee, that fee is supposed to be the cost of keeping the vehicle safe, otherwise it's literally just the definition of blackmail.
I’m and automotive locksmith. I work at towing lot’s several times a week and can absolutely tell you this is not uncommon. Most towing companies do things like this all the time. The fact that the truck wasn’t auctioned off and was still there 4 months later should be a red flag. They action after 2 months max unless the owner has disputed it. Washington state the tow companies have to pay anything over the owed lean on the car to the state when auctioned. A person can claim the additional money made from the auction of there car but no one does because no one knows about it. So it’s additional tax revenue for the state to allow what is essentially legalized theft of vehicles. Not saying tow companies aren’t necessary and not saying there all bad but there definitely is a bad side to them and this is just the tip of an iceberg.
Someone at the Tow company thought they had a new toy.
Washington state tow company’s are criminal check out Jim’s north gate tow yard
It's great that the owner of the tow company made it right, right after he was caught red handed by police. Great guy.
It’s understandable that the owner wouldn’t know everything about every vehicle.
If the employee lied to him and said they were gone then I wouldn’t put that on the owner… maybe I would only as far as saying “don’t hire POS” but sometimes it’s hard to tell.
I wouldn’t say “good on him” for doing the bare minimum though, either.
@@Fetidaf He's joking.
@@krishnachaitanyagv5065 I know… what?
That tow driver did NOT just happen to accidentally make a note that the truck had no wheels when he towed it - and then the wheels come up missing after verifiably being on the truck 4 months after the tow driver supposedly made that note. Somebody added that note later if that note actually exists.
Michigan law says any company ( including dealerships ) that has custody of a customers vehicle is responsible for anything on that vehicle while in their possession...
Lehto’s Law?
Facts
yup, those signs hanging say not responsible for theft etc are bs for people that don't know any better
That's the way it should be !!!!
@@SpaceRanger187 Prove that you had $$$$$ rat-holed in all your hiding spots...
This case is way too obvious regarding theft.
I grew up in the towing/recovery business. My grandpa’s shop (now my uncle owns it) did most of the cities impounds,tows,accident recovery/cleanup. Also one of my best friends family owns the biggest outfit in the next city. Trust me when I say they exactly what happen to those wheels. An employee or relative of the company wanted them. They also wanted the truck to go to auction too.
Absolutely. I worked at a tow company and this type of behavior happened weekly. The owner of the company took whatever he wanted from cars brought in and thought it was okay because he had signs posted not responsible for items left within the towed vehicles
@@edwardogomez2919 so for these people, "we're not responsible for it" means "we will steal it"?
@@agps4418that’s saying it nicely. I was part time. His full time employees were required to go thru all cars and remove anything of value. I would see those items at his house when I visited or to get equipment from his garage. Example would be his daughter’s guitar’s or guns in his safe.
@@edwardogomez2919 What a scumbag, report him to the police now, why not? You just named two items and those already add up to thousands and thousands in theft. This guy is a giant criminal.
A Hard worker man , thanks for others offering assistance.shows mans compassion still exist
It's funny how the owner claimed that the employee wrote down no wheels on the vehicle. Then 5 months later the wheels are on the vehicle. Then from that point until the owner received his truck back now the rims are missing?
I think the police should be investigating this tow company. This cannot be the first time something like this has happened with this company. And then on top of the rims going missing somehow we are to believe that the paperwork never went through.
Another news outlet had done a story similar to this one. The impound companies are holding back paperwork so after 30 days they can put a lien on the truck or car and then go from there and get the title in the impound yards name.
And then they sell it off to a number of used car lots.
Well they cannot hold a pos Pontiac 6000 or something for eternity. Where I am it is 90 days before the lien process can begin and registered owner must be informed in writing both when the vehicle is first impounded and when the lien process begins. Owner not being informed used to happen here till they legislated some common sense rules
Yep, it's no surprise that the company could make a ton of $$ off the sale of that classic truck or they maybe wanted it for themselves.
The police should check all the vehicles on their lot. The results could be interesting
Every towing company in America has camera on their lot these days. That owner knows exactly who took the tires.
Him, and the truck from in front of the man’s house! 😂
The journalists should be commended for their hard work and pursuit of justice.
Pity we can't depend on the people we all pay to do the right thing and what they're paid to do.
The tow company should have also refunded the storage fee + played for wheels stolen off of truck while at the tow yard because it is obvious the tow company was trying to steal this man's vehicle so they could auction it off instead of return his vehicle to him after it had been stolen.
Probably how he paid his business off stealing cars then sending them to auction
That whole towing thing was just to get the old man wheels period
$3,000 doesn't even begin to pay for the amount of anguish this man went through
This is the kind of investigative journalism that a community can really benefit from. Good work helping this man and hopefully keeping others out of the position he found himself in.
I know lots of storys like this happening in my area too. This is common. Best thing to do is watch and learn about all these stories so you can better protect yourself and your vehicles. I learned so far to keep a GPS tracker hidden on your vehicle and do things to your cars to make it difficult for them to be stolen.
To this gentleman's credit he didn't accept the generous offers from kind peeps. He said he appreciated the offers. All he wanted was to be made whole and to be treated right. Good for him.
Sounds like the state Attorney General should be following up with an investigation on how many complaints other car owners had with missing items.
Happens all the time in California
These people need too be held accountable
california is the place where crooks get pampered by democrats
Lying azz mother-father towing company. They sit on nice cars they know people are going to get out. $12,000? Then $5,000? They settle for $1,500.
Wow! A towing company with questionable ethics and outrageous storage fees.
Shocking!
That dirty towing owner took the wheels himself. Some employee, yeah right. He, himself, took those wheels.
And this happens constantly. Cops & tow-ers are in this whole scam together in so many locales.
If they had good fines for not filing paperwork they wouldn’t not do it.
The whole situation is ludicrous.
It's not like second-hand rims are even high in value. He just never expected somebody as poor as him to have the media and the law on his side, because those both generally are tools used by wealthier people. He accidentally messed with the wrong guy and was very unlucky in that regard. This kinds of stuff happens fairly frequently and the poor in the USA have little to no representation.
I lost a car to a tow truck company. Ever since then, the only difference I see between a tow truck company and a car jacker is one pays taxes. I loved that car, but they didnt notify me until after it accrued thousands. They towed it because one tire was flat, but it was parked at my home in it's parking spot smh.
Hope you wrote it off as a loss on your income taxes!! If you didn’t,go back and do it before it is too late !
@@dimitriberozny3729 I'll look into that. Thanks for that information.
That place would not be in business any more if it was me !!!! If you know what I am saying !!!!!!
Sounds like there is more to the story there, First off if it were your home as in you own it and it was on your property there would be no legal way for them to come and tow it for a flat tire, second if it was at your home and then towed how did you not noticed for long enough to rack up thousands in storage? Wouldn't you know the morning you woke up and it was gone? third I assume despite your comment implying otherwise that you live in some sort of trailer park, apartment complex, etc (somewhere where you have a "parking spot" that you don't own but have rights to park at with stipulations) and the vehicle was impounded due to it not abiding by the stipulations of the parking agreement in which case signs are supposed to be posted (at least in every area I know of) telling you who has the contract for towing vehicles from that lot, Either way sounds like some missing info in your story, Mainly being how did you not know your car went missing from your home until thousands of dollars in storage was racked up?
@@dimitriberozny3729 I'm pretty sure you have to itemize to report theft losses and the Trump Admin made it much harder for working class people to do that. And the deduction is only a fraction of what is lost.
Sounds like that towing owner needs some criminal charges.
I have never encountered an Honest tow truck company.
Having worked for a tow company, I can tell you this is normal, I've seen tow truck drivers steal radios,amps, speaker,cash, basically whatever they wanted out of tows. I told the boss that one driver was doing that and he said he'd talk with him, nothing ever came of it. My best advice is try not to ever have your vehicle towed in a manner that you aren't there to keep an eye on your property.
Victim blaming at its finest congratulations good job
@@jawless7616 What are you talking about?
@@jawless7616 You're smooth in the brain, aren't ya?
My car was towed about 10 years ago. Cops took it for loud music, the gave me a ride to the station and the tow company was right across the street. I paid everything that moment. The tow truck company wasn't too happy attitude and said give them a hour because they were on break b.s. they were mad they didn't get to take my system it was about 3k in sounds. Wasn't about to be out 3k place was know to disappear people's property
This is not an uncommon tactic for shady towing companies. They use the fact that it was stolen or abandoned as a "free pass" to strip things of value from the vehicle before it's returned to the owner or auctioned off. The business was also probably angry they weren't getting the full amount of storage fees they asked for, so decided to take the wheels to try to get a little more money from the guy.
Towing Co. should be charged w/ theft and providing false info to the PD.
Towing companies are liable for things stolen in there yard. Insurance is law for tow tucks and there yards. Great to see honest citizens step up.
I feel for this man. My husband’s car was stolen early February 2022, we thought it was gone for good. We didn’t know it was sitting in a tow truck lot until they sent us a lien letter saying if we didn’t pay 2k they would keep the car. Whenever we attempted to go pick it up they would come up with an excuse or they would “close early” because it’s a holiday weekend! We got the officer that made the stolen vehicle report involved and they finally handed the car over except it was crashed on the side and the rims were bent with shredded tires. They still made us pay 500 to get it though. It was one of the more frustrating situations we’ve been in.
throw a molotov in their installation and charge them for fhe bottle
It's an old trick
With that kind of damage I would have been like "good luck at auction"
Have to wonder how many vehicles have they wrongfully towed and sold for their own profit...
It wasn't wrongfully towed by the sounds of it, however, there was a failure to follow proper procedures after towing it (notifying the police) that led to it sitting for months unknowingly, And then of court the theft of the wheels at some point along the way.
This towing company needs to be investigated and sued by all who have been wronged by these criminals. Most towing companies are trash and should be dealt with as such.
Most towing companies have nothing to do with the process that went down here... Sounds like some version of a PPI which a lot of tow companies don't do.
@@ButterfatFarms You have no idea what you are talking about.
After that they ask why their towings caught fire somehow. Of course there always be someone with interests to defend them. Those are often the worsts thiefs of them all.
If the news didn’t get involved he would have been robbed by this towing company.
After failing to report the truck then trying to extort the guy their story about where the wheels went is completely unbelievable
I love how some of these news stations help the Everyman. It is EXTREMELY effective to call the news when you are being wronged.
Kind of reminds me of a place I worked at years ago. There was business across the street from a car dealership I worked at. From time to time a gentleman would park his pick up across the street from us and do a long haul delivery that usually would take him several days. One day he came back from a delivery and the wheels and tires were missing off of this truck. He came walking across the street to our service department and asked who it was that stole his wheels. They asked him why he thought that and he explained that the blocks of wood holding up his car had grease and oil all over them. Sure enough they were our blocks of wood. Finally one of the technicians confessed and of course was promptly fired.
The towing company wrote the check so fast because he wanted to avoid charges. Every vehicle in their lot needs to be inventoried to see how many others weren’t reported properly.
Thank you for your hard work helping that man. Sometimes nothing ever happens until the threat of bad publicity comes into play
Even that does nothing as they’ll do it again. More of these guys need to start getting shot.
So happy you guys could help… because these bigger companies usually dont pay unless theres some pressure
Sometimes I just love humanity. To all of the people that reached out wanting to help Mr. Couch, thank you for being awesome! 👍
This is typical ,legal, thievery. The tow companies need to be held accountable for the nonsense.
I had my car towed one time and didn't know it (no call, no note, etc)...luckily I called around to all local towing companies and finally found who had it..there needs to be a system to where if you tow a vehicle, you have to alert the owner.
Wow I can't believe this story! I'm glad this is out to the public...
I've got one better. I have a 1969 Chevy Camaro RS/SS that that I hit a curb and busted a rim on in 2002 in Ithaca, NY. Couldn't drive it, so I parked it and had it towed. It was a holiday weekend so no shops were open. It was supposed to go to a tire shop and I was gonna call them Tuesday. It never made it. The shady tow-truck driver put a wrong size spare on it and took it out and wrecked it. The owner of the towing company called me personally Sunday morning at 9am and told me what had happened and apologized. He said the kid was fired and arrested on scene (DUI) and he would do whatever he had to do to make it right. He said he'd loan me a 1981 Monte Carlo SS until mine was fixed. It took about 6 months, all those parts aren't easy to find. He kept me updated on what was taking so long...No big deal. When he finally called me and told me it was ready and I went to pick it up, he told me I could keep me his Monte Carlo. Yeah, he GAVE me his car to make up for everything. He told me if I needed anything or if there was ever an issue with either vehicle he'd take care of it. Nothing shady. Just fixing a mistake... with a surprise happy ending.
People like that are few and very far between who want to fix a wrong.
Henry ... THANKS for being there to HELP!!!!
That happened to me as well. The police report clearly listed the tires and wheels as being on the vehicle when it was towed. The stereo system was shown as stolen. When I went to retrieve my vehicle the tires and wheels had been removed. Some Tow companies are so dishonest!
I live in a small town that is mostly low income. I worked at my family's insurance agency for many years and it's unbelievable how many people I've seen lose their vehicle to local towing companies.
A person will have their vehicle towed, then be charged 100+ dollars a day for storage. After a few days they simply can't pay to get the vehicle released.
I realize that will seem ridiculous to many, but these are people literally living check to check with no disposable income.
I realize tow companies are a business, and like any business out to make a profit, but charging that much for a vehicle to sit on a lot is robbery.
AAA Towing in Haltom City, Texas stole an item from my Son's car. Obtained the police report of what was left in his car and when picking up his car, I asked about it and they DENIED it. Showed them the police report and they paid up..BUNCH OF CROOKS. Happened to a lady friend of mine but she refused to follow through. She said, they will answer to God someday.
They jerks also towed my car when my timing belt broke, jackass turned the key on the ignition, after I told him dont try to start it, then offered to take it to a mechanic that did good work, at my expense. Turned my $180 timing belt into $2000 to get the head rebuilt. Those people are scum, all the tow company said was not our problem. So yea they are scum.
Just when you begin to lose hope about America, this pops into your RUclips.
America is a strange wonderful beast with a huge heart ❤️
That's what they do I got my vehicle tow and when I got it back it was alot of things missing even lose change was gone they are a bunch of thiefs and they are getting away with it
Crooked tow company that finally got caught! Love it!
Very happy for this guy. You can tell he worked hard for that truck and wants to keep it til it’s heart gives out.
This tow company needs to be shut down. And everyone involved should be prosecuted. This is absolutely disgusting. The owner is a liar and a thief.
I used to work next to a tow yard. The tow cmpany employees Went through every vehicle and took anything of any value. They even had a tank on wheels with a pump to take the gas. Then they'd point to a sign that said "Not responsible for loss or damge."
Wow
People should put that place out of business one way or the other !!!!
@@davidgribble263 They are frequently called by law enforcement.
I'm so happy not only did he get his truck back he was able to provide proof his tires went missing in the tos yard and he got new tires. Some people are so lazy to get stuff the honest way and that's not right. I'm so happy for this sweet man.
Towing company needs charged with theft.
A sad story to start with, a man having his truck stolen. But now this sad story turns in to a beautiful thing because of all the people that reached out to the man who lost this truck. Thank you to all those beautiful people you give me faith. Love and respect to all.
And if you notice on the photo at 1:56 before the police bodycam footage, the license plate was of a permanent disability, with the international wheelchair logo on the left side.
You guys are awesome 👌, thank you "8". I'm glad you got your truck back and a set if wheels. 👊😁👍🇺🇲
Thank you guys for helping that man! You, and the police who helped, are good people!