California Wildfire Victim Billed High Amount For Scorched Car Being Towed

A victim of the Altadena, California wildfire was sent a shockingly high bill after her scorched car was towed away, without her consent. Now, as she and her husband are struggling to rebuild after losing virtually everything, she has to deal with a bill that seems rather unfair.

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The woman and her husband fled the raging wildfire back in January, leaving behind most of their belongings and their old Toyota Camry. Not only did their house burn down to the ground, the old Toyota was burned to the bare metal.

That’s when a tow truck, seemingly at the direction of the city, hauled the burned-out ride away. The couple had no idea what happened to it until much later.

As the woman showed NBCLA, she was sent a bill in the mail for $587.24 just for the tow, which seems more than a little high. What’s more, the statement said she was incurring $71.70 per day in storage fees.

Considering her home was destroyed and she had to switch her mail over to a PO box, she wasn’t even aware of this bill for some time afterward. That means those daily storage fees really added up.

Making this case more complicated, the woman filed an insurance claim right after the fire and the insurance company assumed ownership of the Camry. In other words, it was no longer her vehicle. But the insurance apparently isn’t stepping in to cover the steep fees.

Predatory, unlicensed tow trucks have been a real problem in California lately, so the woman feared maybe she had fallen victim to a scam. But when she called police the confirmed the charred car was towed at the direction of California Highway Patrol by a licensed tow company.

Ultimately, the insurance company did step in and cover all those fees. But that will just help inflate insurance premiums for everyone in the area, so that’s not much of a victory. This story is pretty unbelievable, but we’d love to hear the tow company’s side of things, especially why the tow job cost so much.

Image via NBCLA/YouTube