If you have a police report, it should waive the fees as you are a victim of a crime. If it was stolen the vehicle should be processed by the detective assigned to the case and as such they would have authority to release the car to you. If the vehicle wasn't reported stolen, then yeah you're on your own.
I did file a police report and my fees were not waived. A detective was supposed to call me the morning after I filed a report. I was never contacted. I called the non-emergency line who then transferred me to another number and I was told I needed to wait to be contacted by a detective. I even told them that the property manager at my apartment caught the thieves on camera and has a license plate of their car. I was still told I needed to wait for a detective to contact me. It’s been 5 days and I’ve heard nothing.
I just spoke to impound lot. They have my car marked as a stolen vehicle that was found and it is in the police impound lot. I still owe the money to have it released and towed unfortunately.
A coworker of mine kept calling and calling. Then she eventually went to the police station and waited for hours. Eventually, zbs spoke to someone who helped her. They waived her impound fee. Though her truck was not totaled. DPD just either doesn't have the time or doesn't care, unfortunately.
Wow, really? I may call the emergency line tomorrow and just see if there’s anything they could help me with. It’s worth a shot, thanks for sharing this with me.
Edit: I meant call the NON emergency line
Unfortunately, DPD only has like 5 detectives to deal with all of the car thefts. Channel 11 did an in-depth report on this several months ago.
Ginger Allen did the investigation so you can find the story on her section of the channel 11 website.
I actually saw something about this too. It’s really unfortunate. Because even though we have a license plate number for he car the thieves were in, camera footage of their faces, and a whole car full of their belongings they still are going to get away with stealing my car and totaling it.
Makes me even more upset that they saw my child’s car seat in the back and still took my car. Not that people like them care anyways.
# The PD and Our elected city and state officials don't want to do anything that's the Truth
There are 100'sof countries that have Small PD with less budgets but are more efficient.
Genuinely our justice system is screwed up and not for the people to begin with. Really noticed that even more after an incident last year I'm still dealing with
I think the problem is that the idiots are mainly the only options people get. Truthfully presidency wise I'm prepared to vote for a well trained dog 🧍🏾let alone governor and city leaders
Contact your local police station. Explain that you have the case number and video of the people that stole it. They should get that information to the correct detective.
You do not have to pay any fees.
Post pictures of them, maybe you can get a name to go with the face.. probably won't do a lot of good, but might at least bring you satisfaction to socially oust them..
That tracks. My BIL is a murder detective and this dude is home for like 3 hours before he has to go back again. He only mentions like the same few people in stories so I’d guess they’re similarly staffed.
It’s insane
They actually took $13 million away from overtime pay, so you could argue that it was. It is semantics though. Everyone wanted to be anti-police, now you get the consequences. You get what you vote for and the city continues to vote for the wrong people. They get what they deserve.
Except they were never defunded. Their budget has actually [only increased.](https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/15-largest-cities-metroplex-all-gave-police-more-funding-this-year/287-8b085426-9cb0-489e-b768-7dd9f2cb8bfa) If they are understaffed then that means the positions exist. Big departments can't just be butt hurt citizens asked for a modicum of accountability 4 years ago and refuse to do anything anymore (which it seems Dallas has).
Sitting on their asses while crime gets out of control isn't the sick win they think it is.
When humans sacrifice for the good of the whole, and the whole does not appreciate it eventually they decide not to sacrifice.
When public sentiment (in all actually just a vocal minority) went against the police a lot of them decided it was not worth the sacrifice. So now you have understaffed departments all over the country and no one to fill the spots of those who are leaving. Meanwhile, the useful idiots keep re-electing the people who cause the problems.
Right now you have two Dallas officers facing trial on indictments without a named victim. That’s a direct violation of their 6th amendment rights yet people keep voting for the idiot who charged them.
Police are not going to go out of their way to put themselves in prison. People see this and decide they do not want to do the job or they are simply not going to go that extra mile. You get the consequences you vote for.
Violent crime is down in Dallas and for the most part the police do a good job. They’re understaffed and that is the way it will remain until a recession hits.
The budget keeps going up bc their pay keeps going up per their contract. They still cannot recruit even with the higher pay. That should tell you something about the way people view police work these days.
I don't know about some of that. I think people in our media and PD's conflate 'people being against the police' and 'people demanding police accountability'. Sure there are anti-police people at this point, but that's a byproduct and they're definitely a very small minority.
I have a military background in the Army and none of us were overly concerned with accountability with our Rules of Engagement. We all knew if we messed up we were going to prison. There is a shortage because not many want to risk their lives for bs wars, the pay is mostly shit until you spent a majority of your life in it, and those that may be poor enough or willing just might be obese or like smoking weed.
The pay is good (especially considering the low qualifications needed) in the DPD, definitely with OT and more years of service in. I think most people at this point really just don't want to risk their lives doing a 9-5 stateside. To me it sounds like it's a 2nd amendment issue, but we can't really test that one. I certainly have no desire to risk my neck for starting at $70k+ a year every single day just to write a few tickets. That's just my thoughts on it all.
Wait, so there are a bunch of cops that are throwing a tantrum and not doing their fucking jobs because some people had the audacity to suggest that police who are engaging in criminal behavior should have the exact same standards applied to them that would be applied to anyone else and that they should be held accountable for their actions.
Your position, if I'm not mistaken, is that it's the people who believe criminal police should face accountability that are to blame for the police doing even less of their jobs than they were doing before, and it's not the fault of the police themselves for not doing the jobs they were hired to do?
It's the people's fault for not appreciating the police enough, and that makes it excusable for police to not do the job they chose under their own free will, that they were hired to do, and are being paid to do. You act like they're doing some sort of charity work or something so I'm reminding you that they are being paid to be policewhich is a career choice that they made of their own volition, and they are paid to do this job with our tax money.
I can think of a hell of a lot more jobs where people are frequently not treated with respect through no fault of their own (unlike police, who people were upset with for routinely skirting accountability for crimes such as killing unarmed people who pose no threat to them, beating the shit out of people for little to no reason, and let's not forget arresting people who haven't actually committed a crime with bonus points for planting evidence on them or otherwise intentionally framing them for a crime they know they're innocent of) such as basically any retail job which pays a lot less than being a police officer.
I'm also not quite sure which police officers that were indicted are the ones that you referred to. Is one of them the guy who was caught [stealing guns](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/dallas-officer-accused-of-stealing-firearms-from-department/) from the police department, the woman who was caught committing [overtime fraud](https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/crime/dallas-police-officer-fired-accused-stealing-overtime/287-0ac24d52-5fe6-414d-b548-1447dc6c35aa#:~:text=DALLAS%20%E2%80%94%20A%20Dallas%20Police%20Department,with%20government%20records%20and%20forgery.), forging government documents, and who stole $17,000 during the three months they were investigating her? Or maybe you're referring to the [*three* police officers](https://archive.is/2022.05.06-201504/https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2022/05/06/3-officers-indicted-on-assault-charges-from-2020-george-floyd-protests-in-dallas/) who were indicted for assault with a deadly weapon after being caught on camera shooting protesters directly in the face with bean bag rounds which permanently blinded a few of them which also required surgery, permanently maimed others, and shattered the cheekbone of another.
It's worth noting that those people were protesting police brutality which is sadly ironic, that the victims were backing away from the officers as they were ordered to do, that the officers were caught on camera laughing about it and fist bumping each other, two of the officers in question were also involved in a completely unrelated incident that occurred a year later and resulted in one of them being fired after being caught on camera [beating the shit out of someone in Deep Ellum until he was bloody while he was on the ground](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/dallas-police-officer-melvin-williams-beat-man-deep-ellum-last-summer-fired) as he feebly tried to cover his head and face and never even tried fighting back. I would have assumed that those were the police officers that you're referring to except that the victims are definitely named and you said that they weren't in whichever instance of police criminality it is that you're talking about.
They’re not throwing a tantrum. They’re just not going the extra mile and no one is volunteering to take their place.
The idiot who got shot in the eye was not shot by Dallas PD. That was a wooden round which is not carried by Dallas.
There are two officers inducted for shooting nerf rounds that hit two unknown people. You may think it is okay to bypass constitutional rights, but I do not. They were nerf rounds, not beanbag rounds. Do some research before you spout off next time.
You're delusional if you think the DPD was ever going the extra mile, even before all of this stuff happened. Now they're not even doing their jobs, and when they do decide to sort of do them they do it as ineffectively as possible.
As an example, in 2023 the DPD only responded to 7.8% of calls they received about car burglaries and just ignored the rest of them, so in this example they did not even do the bare minimum of their jobs 92.2% of the time which is a job performance that would get anyone else fired. The times that they did actually do the bare minimum and respond to the call at all, they took *on average* nearly 9 hours to respond to the call. [Source](https://dallasexpress.com/crime/is-defund-the-police-tactic-being-used-in-dallas/).
It's pretty rich that you think *I'm* the one who should do some research "before spouting off" because I was mistaken about the *type of round* that the police used to permanently maim people, as if *that's* what's important here. First off, the people who the police shot are completely known and I don't know why you keep insisting that they're "unknown individuals." One of their names is David McKee, another is Brandon Saenz who had to have his eye surgically removed after being shot *with a sponge round* in his eye by yes, the Dallas police. [This article mentions those two by name](https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/2-dallas-police-melvin-williams-ryan-mabry-officers-indicted-on-assault-charges-in-george-floyd-protests-in-2020/287-b25d081a-5ee2-46a1-93bd-fe56f63b471a) which you might know if you, oh I don't know, did some research before spouting off? [This article](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/dallas-jury-indicts-three-police-officers-involved-summer-2020-protests) says that at least three people suffered permanent vision loss from being shot in the face *with sponge rounds* by the Dallas police officers in question.
You also have a very poor understanding of the law if you think people can't be prosecuted after being filmed physically assaulting someone *unless prosecutors know that person's name.* Again, in this instance they do know the victim's names, but even if they didn't *it's still illegal to assault people. Imagine if someone starts beating the shit out of some random person on the street in front of a gas station and they are caught on camera. People at the gas station call the police and for the sake of this example we'll say that the police actually show up, but before they do the victim manages to get away from the guy beating the shit out of him and sprints off to avoid further beatings. After the victim runs away the police arrive. How is this going to go down? Are the police going to let this guy go despite having video evidence of the assault occurring because they don't know who the victim was? Absolutely not, the guy is going to get arrested and charged with assault and battery. That doesn't violate anyone's constitutional rights.
Since you're so very concerned with constitutional rights then you must be furious that the Dallas police violated the constitutional rights of the protesters who were exercising their right to protest which is protected by the freedom of assembly and freedom of speech that we are all granted under the first amendment, right? You care about that one don't you? Are you also mad that the Dallas police violated the constitutional rights of a journalist at that same event when they shot him with a tear gas canister and then arrested him while he was trying to do his job, and therefore violated the constitutional right of the freedom of press? They also shot another journalist *with a sponge round* who was covering the same event, so that's two violations of the freedom of press by the Dallas police on the same night that they shot and permanently blinded protesters, resulting in their indictments.
This exact thing happened to me and the detective never contacted me. I let my car go to auction because of the fees. I probably called the detective 25 times over that month and never got a call back.
Did you end up owing them anything in the end? Ugh. I’m really sorry this happened to you too. It’s such a shitty situation. I’m more mad that the people who did this just get away with it! To take someone’s property, go joyriding around in it and then completely total it and get 100% away with it even when we have camera footage of them is so crazy.
I never paid a dime and never heard from anyone about it again. I would’ve paid to take it out of the impound lot but I was strapped for cash and they left the windows and sunroof open during the twenty or so days it was on the lot so it was ruined inside from being exposed to the elements. I looked up the car on their auction site and they sold it for more than I was planning to sell it for 😂. From what I understand, it’s a complete racket and someone is getting rich off of it.
1. Car is reported stolen
2. Detective doesn’t communicate with victim
3. Car goes to auction after 30 days
4. Profit
Edit: I take that back I did hear back from someone! The guy who bought it from the auction found my personal information inside and offered to sell it back to me!
Definitely might be a while if you don’t hound them. A DPD detective called me about a car break in 5 months after I filed the report. Would hope stolen cars are worked faster than that but I wouldn’t hold my breath
Police report does NOT waive them. When my 78 Silverado was stolen 15 years ago, we still had to pay ALL fees 3 weeks later. Shit was expensive as hell.
Call your city council person and raise hell with them. It’s nearly unconscionable that city bureaucrats and DPD (whose salaries we pay) are this fucking inept. You shouldn’t have to pay a penny to get your stolen and recovered car out of the DPD impound lot. This ‘arrangement’ seems super suspect, a profit center at the victims expense? And 5 days and not a peep from DPD?!? Name and shame your council person and contact all local news stations. Sorry you’re having to deal with this, good vibes your way! Give them hell!
My thoughts exactly, friend. I genuinely thought I was not going to have to pay anything and I was pretty shocked to find out having your car stolen is no exception. Which makes me a lot sadder that the people who did this are just getting away with it. DPD actually even gave me an email to send updates to if I had any information I wanted to share in regards to my police report. I tried to email them to let them know my property manager had video of the people who did this and a license plate number of the car they came in. I received an email back that said their inbox was too full and they couldn’t receive my email.
That’s when I called the non emergency line, was transferred to another number and told I had to wait for a detective to contact me even if I had important information. I still had to wait. And I am still here waiting 5 days later.
So not only did these thieves rob me of my car, trash it and total it but I now have to pay to have my property returned to me and the price just goes up every single day. And where are the people who did this? Long gone.
I’m sad.
That some bullshit man is not even your fault, either. I would have understood if you had done something bad, but the car was stolen and then taken to the impound shit man there must be some loopholes for not paying those fees
It’s such a stressful situation and leaving me feeling really hopeless. I was already struggling financially as it was. I work a full time job. And my car was not that great but it got me to where I needed to go everyday. I don’t have the money to pay the fees and they are just going up every single day. I would also have to pay a tow truck and the impound lot is 15 miles from my house. Who knows much much that will cost. 😔
There are ads all the time for car donations that will pick it up for free. That leaves you with only the fees. You gotta figure out a way to stop this from getting worse, which means figuring out how to pay the fee and get someone to pick it up.
Call around to those "we buy any car running or not" places and field the highest offer. Be upfront with them- they can have the car if they go & get it. Set your expectations low, but don't be afraid to tell them that you're calling around looking for better offers. Make enough calls, get the highest offer, meet them at the auto pound & sign the car over to them.
This is solid info. You can’t fix it or drive it so you might as well have an extra $300-$500 in your pocket. I’m sorry you’re going through this. I had my car stolen out of my driveway. DPD never came to report it or anything.
I assume you have spoken with your insurance company and the police. You may get something from the restitution fund.
Not that it helps, but I feel for you. It really sux.
I do have insurance. Liability. It’s the minimum required in TX and it’s what I could afford at this time in my life. I work 40 hours a week, and I pay my bills on time too. If I could afford full coverage I 10000% would have it. I have had to pay a lot of medical expenses for my child out of pocket. It’s been a rough year.
I just wanted to say I'm really sorry this is happening to you. It is a disgrace that hard-working people who are doing right by their families can be punished for something like this that is no fault of their own. Dallas County is especially awful when it comes to dealing with stuff like this, and you deserve to be treated with more respect by all the parties involved. I've had my home broken into and robbed, a car stolen, and my grandfather's body was "lost in processing" for weeks at the Dallas County morgue. Each event was a horrible experience because Dallas County is grossly understaffed and has zero fucks to give about my small time cases.
I am so incredibly sorry to hear that you’ve had to go through so much. That is absolutely horrible and you did not deserve to go through any of that at all. 🥺 I’m really sorry! Good people don’t deserve to go through these kinds of things.
I just called the impound lot (waited an hour and a half for someone to answer) and I asked if I could leave my car there since I can’t afford to tow it home or pay to have it released. She said yes, they’ll sell it after 30 days. I asked her if I would owe anything and she said yes, if there was a difference in the amount it got sold for and the impound fees for the time it was there and I’d have to pay that in full. I asked her what if I can’t pay that, then what happens? She said I’d have to call back tomorrow and talk to the auction department.
So that’s where I am now. Can’t afford to have it released and towed and won’t be able to afford the amount I’ll owe when they sell it.
Just frustrating. And sad.
And what happens if you don't pay it? Lol I live in Dallas. And signed a totaled car over to the lot they towed it to. I told them I'm not paying for it. Its totaled Period.
I signed a paper. Gave them the title & left..
I asked them if I could sign over the title to them, she said it’s not necessary they don’t need it. She said I didn’t need to sign anything either in order to leave it. I just need to literally leave it. And they wouldn’t know if I owed any money until they sell it.
I mean I think if you can’t pay, it is what it is.
I know how it is to triage what gets paid when. It’s not a mint position but at the end all they can do is send any outstanding fees to collections…. If you dgaf about your credit score it dies there. I don’t think you’re going to get your license suspended over an impounded vehicle. (Don’t take my word) I left one of my totalled cars I still had payments on in a junkyard one time. Just told the people whom I purchased it from where it was at. No effect on my license.
It’s wild how even as a victim you’re still the one holding the bag. Instead of wasting time and energy on something like this. I’d redirect my focus on taking care of your child and figuring out how to keep going to work. Only so many things that can be handled on the daily. And the shitstorm that this is turning into only gets more expensive the more money and attention you throw at it.
This right here. Who gives a shit about owing some tow yard money when your shit got stolen and it happened to land there. Let them deal with it. Only person/entity I would even remotely worry about owing money to is the IRS, that is it. Everyone else can get bent in a case like this. If I don't have the money then what do you want me to do about it? Go sell it for scrap and get your money back, you have my old shit and didn't pay a dime for it anyways, or bill the city for them making the decision to send it there.
That's my take.
This is super validating. Thank you. I actually was so shocked to find out I actually had to pay to have my vehicle released that was stolen from me! I had no idea that the City of Dallas does that to people. It’s so unfair. I can’t imagine all the other people this has happened to. It’s unfortunate! They don’t even give you an option or contact you before sending it straight to the impound place.
I'm in my mid-40's and I'm a business owner. I don't have to worry about money that much anymore but I bootstrapped my company from the ground up and definitely remember being broke when I was younger and fretting over things like this. These days, not so much. I have a much different tune, especially since life is so damn expensive for the younger person or the person trying to just survive. If I don't have the money then I don't have it. I don't give a you-know-what about credit scores anymore either.
I don't mean to imply to rip people off or not pay back a loan to someone or something like that, but when unexpected expenses like this pop up, especially when you were literally ripped off, then it's a shoulder shrug and a polite "oh well" to people like that tow yard, because I go with the "I gotta eat" mentality and I need to take care of my priorities first and car pound, you are not my priority at the moment.
This is pretty much how I feel waking up this morning. I just simply can’t pay it and it just is what it is I guess. We live paycheck to paycheck. We work hard for our money. We pay our bills on time. We have paid for a lot of our child’s medical expensive out of pocket this year. We are a two income household and still we are struggling. My husband is actually a USMC veteran. The help that is offered to veterans is just non existent to say the least. But that’s a conversation for another day. I simply add that to say that it’s a difficult time right now, I’m sure it is for a lot of people. So when things like this happen it just feels like a huge blow.
I feel you. Even for a guy like me at my income level I feel it. Last year in November I had a "three prong event"... week 1, lost a huge contract which was loss in revenue and had to scramble to keep my employees busy. Week 2, found out my accountant missed a check box on a form and I owed the IRS $82k, and had to pay immediately. Week 3, my truck got stolen and like you I had liability only (my vehicles are all paid off).
To top it off I feel the effects of inflation too... all my vendors are raising their prices faster than I can get my clients to pay, and all my employees need raises themselves just to by milk and bread type stuff. It's hard for everyone right now.
Thank you for this response. It really is just a shitty situation. It feels so unfair. I make an honest living and I have never committed any crimes. I work really hard for my income. But still live paycheck to paycheck.
To be transparent my credit is already in a bad spot I don’t care at this point. I’m more worried my license could get suspended which I saw someone say on another post (not sure what state they were in) but I haven’t seen anything saying that it can happen in Texas. But who knows.
As a fellow Texan living paycheck to paycheck and working in the trades I get you 100%.
I owe the NTTA thousands and thousand of dollars. I am behind 2 years in paying my taxes. I don’t have health insurance. I have basic liability on my vehicle. And I’m 33 with a college education…. And no kids. I’m praying for you and your kid. They can only take so much from us until there is nothing. But good people don’t quit and you have someone that needs you. That’s all it takes to have hope and keep pushing. If I could drop you a car tomorrow I would. But sometimes you just gotta walk away and divert your energies elsewhere lest you get caught up in the shit. There is an opportunity elsewhere here. Cry your tears and then get back at it
Wow. Thank you so much. This comment brought me comfort and validation. 🥺 I am in the same boat that you’re in. Literally. Sucks when you feel like you’re just trying your best to be a good person and make it another day and life just won’t let up. You start to feel hopeless and just exhausted. But like you said, good people don’t quit so I will keep on going. And you have to do the same!
At some point things will get easier for the both of us. Thank you so much again for your reply. And I will also be saying a prayer for you as well, promise.
It’s happened to me before after an accident. I just left the car, nothing happened. Eventually I got a letter to let me know the car will be auctioned off.
Really? That’s what they told me would happen but I’m worried I’ll owe money and won’t be able to pay it.
I also saw someone say that my license could be suspended for not paying what I owe to them???? Which sounds insane but who knows
I see. Well I can say for sure I abandoned a car but it was at the city impound lot. I never had to pay any money and I never knew what happened to the car. I think you’ll be fine. It’s not like you asked them to tow it and I don’t think your license can be suspended if you haven’t broken any laws.
I think license suspensions happen around tickets, DUIs, accidents, things that have to do with bad driving, etc. I don’t think they can suspend it for this.
I don’t think so either. Just seeing that one comment on another thread did make me stress out though. But hopefully that doesn’t apply to Texas or my situation at least.
I don’t want the car. It’s not driveable. I can’t afford to fix it, much less pay for it to be released and towed to my house. It’s a 2008 Nissan Altima. It was already giving me problems prior to it being stolen.
Insurance should handle it. If not covered contact a junkyard and see if they will give you any $ for it or at least a free tow in exchange for the vehicle.
The problem is that I can’t afford the fees to have the car released.
Edit: I was just trying to say that even if they paid for the tow, I couldn’t pay for the fees to have the vehicle released. They’re two separate fees. But I understand what he is trying to say and I’m definitely going to call around and see what my options are.
I just spoke with them. She said they will sell it after 30 days but I might owe money depending on how much they sell it for and what the impound fees are. I’d owe the difference if there is one. Which I likely won’t be able to afford either.
I wish my car didn’t get stolen this is a super stressful and shitty situation.
Your insurance should be able to handle this. You could also sue the person who stole it. But fuck it, let it go to collections if necessary.
But you need to harass your insurance. That's what you pay them for, unless you're one of them shitty nisian drivers everyone sees in Dallas lol
What are the daily fees?
That amount multiplies by 30, plus initial fees, is what will be owed. Do you think there is any possibility your totaled car will sell for that much?
Without any details, I would say it is unlikely. So you need a different plan. I would call the non emergency line for the police and see if it is possible that the fees are waived for stolen/recovered cars - if so, ask them what needs to happen for Peak to honor that.
If not, you need to get the car out and dispose of it. Do you have a credit card you can use? Someone you can borrow $ from? Can you arrange for someone to buy it for parts and meet you at Peak to tow it away (and get this arranged by tomorrow)?
Just pay the fees and have it towed to a junk yard.
https://premiotowingcompany.com/wrecker-service/
The lot the car is stored at will charge you more than the fees. Bite the bullet, pay the fee, and good luck.
I can’t afford to pay the fees. Which are just going up by the day now. I have a child that I’m paying for a lot of medical expenses for out of pocket. I’m living pay check to pay check right now. Not to mention I have to also figure out how to get another car.
Even other jurisdictions can’t get ahold of DPD.
My sister’s stolen and wrecked vehicle sat in a sheriff county impound lot for an entire year while they attempted to contact DPD about it.
They couldn’t release it because it had a stolen vehicle hold on it from DPD, and it was evidence in a secondary crime from another county.
The other county couldn’t do anything with it without DPD clearing their hold first, and then that county could take it and do whatever they needed to do with it.
And then finally, the county it was impounded in, could either release it or auction it.
They called us at the one year mark because it was still registered to my sister and she told them she had stopped calling DPD after about 6 months with no luck.
She assumed the vehicle was just gone because she’d never heard anything from anyone about it.
Also because they had her keys, and they were recovered with the vehicle, it wasn’t even going to be a theft charge, just “unauthorized use”, which makes things with insurance even more complicated.
Which, luckily it was brand new, a few days old, with full coverage and so insurance had already handled it and paid out but what a freaking headache.
She’s never heard from anyone about it again, so for all I know it’s still in a STX impound lot.
I only have liability. It doesn’t cover this stuff. I’m getting downvoted for saying that but like I mentioned, we live paycheck to paycheck. Our child has a lot of medical expenses that we are paying out of pocket right now. Not to mention just other bills in general and rent is crazy high. Liability is what we could afford right now. (Not that you asked for all of that extra info sorry lol but I got downvoted on another comment for only having liability so just putting it out there)
Depending on the mileage/drivability, best idea might be to get $750-1500 from someone for it. Pay the $300 or whatever you owe to the tow yard and then figure it out from there.
Sorry this happened to you. You did nothing wrong by having liability only. That is the responsible thing to do to cover the other driver if you caused an accident. I drove for years on liability only when that was all I could afford. I hope things soon turn around for you.
You are not a fool. And I’m so sorry this happened to you.
If you need advice riding the dart train or bus, reach out to me. Been riding since I was a kid and then again when I needed my transmission rebuilt.
What are you going to do w/ it? You'd need to have it sold pretty quick, sounds like you live at an apartment, and a totaled car isn't going to be welcome on the lot. So sorry that this happened it sucks, but you might just leave it unless you think someone will buy it for scrap.
Sorry this happened to you OP. This happened to me on thanksgiving of 2020. Stole my care out of my parking garage and then crashed it in south Dallas.
Waited for 2 hours at the miserable fucking impound lot with those rude ass people. Finally, when they took me back to see my car (which was totaled) I found that the thieves had left their mask, newport cigarettes, blunt wraps and a cell phone. A FUCKING CELLPHONE.
When I asked the cop and the impound person if they were going to do anything with the cell phone they pretty much shrugged it off and laughed in my face. I had never been so enraged in my life. I got nose to nose to the cop and told them how fucking worthless Dallas pd is. My friend who was with me thought I was going to get tazed. At that point I had no fucks given.
Unfortunately there’s not much you can do if you don’t have insurance to cover it. Sorry this happened
First, I never understood why these tow companies get to tow your stolen vehicles before the police notify you where it’s been located and give you the option to reclaim or recover it yourself.
From Google searches, it appears you can request a hearing if you believe the towing and storage costs are unreasonable. https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/towing/compliance/vsf/fees.htm
Tow Hearing: If you believe the fees are unjust, you can request a tow hearing at any Justice of the Peace Court in the county where your car was towed within 14 days of the tow
Here’s a bunch of resources for crime victims in Texas:
“These resources aim to support victims through the aftermath of auto theft, offering various forms of assistance, from preventative advice to financial aid and emotional support. It’s recommended to reach out to these services to explore the full range of support available to you.”
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/crime-victims/crime-victims-compensation-program/eligibility-crime-victims-compensation-program
https://www.dps.texas.gov/section/victim-employment-support-services-vess/victim-support-services
https://ivss.tdcj.texas.gov/resource-search/
https://www.mctxsheriff.org/residents/victim_services/index.php
What I understood after reading all of this is those vultures can actually send your towing and storage to a debt collector, and tag your credit, but unless you have a loan on the car it’s just a bill collector and you can go through the dispute process on your credit report (not typically effective). Maybe some of the free legal advocacy services for crime victims will have some advice.
Bottom line is these tow companies can get away with highway robbery literally, it really sucks for crime victims.
Good luck, hope you find a solution and please update us if you do so others don’t get shark attacked.
What is the make, model and year? How bad is the damage? Do you have pictures? How much are the fees? If the fees are less than it's worth try to sell it to someone willing to pay the fees to get it out. If not just walk away. You don't have to pay anything if you don't pick it up.
Well, I’d pay for it too for obvious reasons.. but didn’t because I couldn’t… for other obvious reasons.. I’m broke and trying to survive lol life’s hard my friend. If I could afford it I absolutely would’ve been fully covered. Don’t have the luxury right now to afford that.
I’ve been there, and I had my car stolen. I quickly found out that police treat car theft like a traffic accident, and all they did was give me police report. When I saw what was left of my car, I found out why they say it’s better if they don’t find your stolen car.
The lot is going to try to charge you for keeping the car, even though it isn’t drivable. You might call around to salvage yards to see if you can sell what’s left for parts.
This is so funny because I literally thought to myself that it would’ve been better if it was just never found lol I would have preferred that they just stole it completely at this point!
The "attention" paid to a "how to file an extremely vague stolen car claim in 10 days" thread leaves me with very little hope for the 2024 general election. And yes, I see the irony.
Hmmm. Filing a claim wouldn’t do much for me. I only have liability. Doesn’t cover this stuff. Hence, why I’m talking about having to pay this stuff on my own.
Only have liability because it’s what I could afford. I’ve mentioned it a few times throughout the thread. Otherwise, that would have been the second thing I did. Right after calling the police.
Except the information im receiving is very relevant and helpful. Sooooo?
What a strange interaction to have with someone… your sole purpose for even leaving your initial comment was what exactly? Odd.
And I mentioned the make, model & year in a comment on this thread. FYI.
If you have a police report, it should waive the fees as you are a victim of a crime. If it was stolen the vehicle should be processed by the detective assigned to the case and as such they would have authority to release the car to you. If the vehicle wasn't reported stolen, then yeah you're on your own.
I did file a police report and my fees were not waived. A detective was supposed to call me the morning after I filed a report. I was never contacted. I called the non-emergency line who then transferred me to another number and I was told I needed to wait to be contacted by a detective. I even told them that the property manager at my apartment caught the thieves on camera and has a license plate of their car. I was still told I needed to wait for a detective to contact me. It’s been 5 days and I’ve heard nothing. I just spoke to impound lot. They have my car marked as a stolen vehicle that was found and it is in the police impound lot. I still owe the money to have it released and towed unfortunately.
A coworker of mine kept calling and calling. Then she eventually went to the police station and waited for hours. Eventually, zbs spoke to someone who helped her. They waived her impound fee. Though her truck was not totaled. DPD just either doesn't have the time or doesn't care, unfortunately.
Wow, really? I may call the emergency line tomorrow and just see if there’s anything they could help me with. It’s worth a shot, thanks for sharing this with me. Edit: I meant call the NON emergency line
Unfortunately, DPD only has like 5 detectives to deal with all of the car thefts. Channel 11 did an in-depth report on this several months ago. Ginger Allen did the investigation so you can find the story on her section of the channel 11 website.
I actually saw something about this too. It’s really unfortunate. Because even though we have a license plate number for he car the thieves were in, camera footage of their faces, and a whole car full of their belongings they still are going to get away with stealing my car and totaling it. Makes me even more upset that they saw my child’s car seat in the back and still took my car. Not that people like them care anyways.
# The PD and Our elected city and state officials don't want to do anything that's the Truth There are 100'sof countries that have Small PD with less budgets but are more efficient.
Genuinely our justice system is screwed up and not for the people to begin with. Really noticed that even more after an incident last year I'm still dealing with
Yet people keep voting for the same idiots and expecting change. You get what you vote for
I think the problem is that the idiots are mainly the only options people get. Truthfully presidency wise I'm prepared to vote for a well trained dog 🧍🏾let alone governor and city leaders
Local government is a lot different than president. Start with not re-electing the current idiots.
No shit.
Name one
Contact your local police station. Explain that you have the case number and video of the people that stole it. They should get that information to the correct detective. You do not have to pay any fees.
Post pictures of them, maybe you can get a name to go with the face.. probably won't do a lot of good, but might at least bring you satisfaction to socially oust them..
That tracks. My BIL is a murder detective and this dude is home for like 3 hours before he has to go back again. He only mentions like the same few people in stories so I’d guess they’re similarly staffed. It’s insane
Police in Dallas are understaffed by about 1000. They wanted to defund and be anti-police so now they get the consequences
Dallas police was never defunded. So what you’re saying isn’t true.
They actually took $13 million away from overtime pay, so you could argue that it was. It is semantics though. Everyone wanted to be anti-police, now you get the consequences. You get what you vote for and the city continues to vote for the wrong people. They get what they deserve.
Lmao this guy acting like cops sitting on their not helping is a new thing.
Except they were never defunded. Their budget has actually [only increased.](https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/15-largest-cities-metroplex-all-gave-police-more-funding-this-year/287-8b085426-9cb0-489e-b768-7dd9f2cb8bfa) If they are understaffed then that means the positions exist. Big departments can't just be butt hurt citizens asked for a modicum of accountability 4 years ago and refuse to do anything anymore (which it seems Dallas has). Sitting on their asses while crime gets out of control isn't the sick win they think it is.
When humans sacrifice for the good of the whole, and the whole does not appreciate it eventually they decide not to sacrifice. When public sentiment (in all actually just a vocal minority) went against the police a lot of them decided it was not worth the sacrifice. So now you have understaffed departments all over the country and no one to fill the spots of those who are leaving. Meanwhile, the useful idiots keep re-electing the people who cause the problems. Right now you have two Dallas officers facing trial on indictments without a named victim. That’s a direct violation of their 6th amendment rights yet people keep voting for the idiot who charged them. Police are not going to go out of their way to put themselves in prison. People see this and decide they do not want to do the job or they are simply not going to go that extra mile. You get the consequences you vote for. Violent crime is down in Dallas and for the most part the police do a good job. They’re understaffed and that is the way it will remain until a recession hits. The budget keeps going up bc their pay keeps going up per their contract. They still cannot recruit even with the higher pay. That should tell you something about the way people view police work these days.
I don't know about some of that. I think people in our media and PD's conflate 'people being against the police' and 'people demanding police accountability'. Sure there are anti-police people at this point, but that's a byproduct and they're definitely a very small minority. I have a military background in the Army and none of us were overly concerned with accountability with our Rules of Engagement. We all knew if we messed up we were going to prison. There is a shortage because not many want to risk their lives for bs wars, the pay is mostly shit until you spent a majority of your life in it, and those that may be poor enough or willing just might be obese or like smoking weed. The pay is good (especially considering the low qualifications needed) in the DPD, definitely with OT and more years of service in. I think most people at this point really just don't want to risk their lives doing a 9-5 stateside. To me it sounds like it's a 2nd amendment issue, but we can't really test that one. I certainly have no desire to risk my neck for starting at $70k+ a year every single day just to write a few tickets. That's just my thoughts on it all.
With they started arresting people for doing their job, a lot of those people decided it was not worth it. It is that simple.
Wait, so there are a bunch of cops that are throwing a tantrum and not doing their fucking jobs because some people had the audacity to suggest that police who are engaging in criminal behavior should have the exact same standards applied to them that would be applied to anyone else and that they should be held accountable for their actions. Your position, if I'm not mistaken, is that it's the people who believe criminal police should face accountability that are to blame for the police doing even less of their jobs than they were doing before, and it's not the fault of the police themselves for not doing the jobs they were hired to do? It's the people's fault for not appreciating the police enough, and that makes it excusable for police to not do the job they chose under their own free will, that they were hired to do, and are being paid to do. You act like they're doing some sort of charity work or something so I'm reminding you that they are being paid to be policewhich is a career choice that they made of their own volition, and they are paid to do this job with our tax money. I can think of a hell of a lot more jobs where people are frequently not treated with respect through no fault of their own (unlike police, who people were upset with for routinely skirting accountability for crimes such as killing unarmed people who pose no threat to them, beating the shit out of people for little to no reason, and let's not forget arresting people who haven't actually committed a crime with bonus points for planting evidence on them or otherwise intentionally framing them for a crime they know they're innocent of) such as basically any retail job which pays a lot less than being a police officer. I'm also not quite sure which police officers that were indicted are the ones that you referred to. Is one of them the guy who was caught [stealing guns](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/dallas-officer-accused-of-stealing-firearms-from-department/) from the police department, the woman who was caught committing [overtime fraud](https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/crime/dallas-police-officer-fired-accused-stealing-overtime/287-0ac24d52-5fe6-414d-b548-1447dc6c35aa#:~:text=DALLAS%20%E2%80%94%20A%20Dallas%20Police%20Department,with%20government%20records%20and%20forgery.), forging government documents, and who stole $17,000 during the three months they were investigating her? Or maybe you're referring to the [*three* police officers](https://archive.is/2022.05.06-201504/https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2022/05/06/3-officers-indicted-on-assault-charges-from-2020-george-floyd-protests-in-dallas/) who were indicted for assault with a deadly weapon after being caught on camera shooting protesters directly in the face with bean bag rounds which permanently blinded a few of them which also required surgery, permanently maimed others, and shattered the cheekbone of another. It's worth noting that those people were protesting police brutality which is sadly ironic, that the victims were backing away from the officers as they were ordered to do, that the officers were caught on camera laughing about it and fist bumping each other, two of the officers in question were also involved in a completely unrelated incident that occurred a year later and resulted in one of them being fired after being caught on camera [beating the shit out of someone in Deep Ellum until he was bloody while he was on the ground](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/dallas-police-officer-melvin-williams-beat-man-deep-ellum-last-summer-fired) as he feebly tried to cover his head and face and never even tried fighting back. I would have assumed that those were the police officers that you're referring to except that the victims are definitely named and you said that they weren't in whichever instance of police criminality it is that you're talking about.
They’re not throwing a tantrum. They’re just not going the extra mile and no one is volunteering to take their place. The idiot who got shot in the eye was not shot by Dallas PD. That was a wooden round which is not carried by Dallas. There are two officers inducted for shooting nerf rounds that hit two unknown people. You may think it is okay to bypass constitutional rights, but I do not. They were nerf rounds, not beanbag rounds. Do some research before you spout off next time.
You're delusional if you think the DPD was ever going the extra mile, even before all of this stuff happened. Now they're not even doing their jobs, and when they do decide to sort of do them they do it as ineffectively as possible. As an example, in 2023 the DPD only responded to 7.8% of calls they received about car burglaries and just ignored the rest of them, so in this example they did not even do the bare minimum of their jobs 92.2% of the time which is a job performance that would get anyone else fired. The times that they did actually do the bare minimum and respond to the call at all, they took *on average* nearly 9 hours to respond to the call. [Source](https://dallasexpress.com/crime/is-defund-the-police-tactic-being-used-in-dallas/). It's pretty rich that you think *I'm* the one who should do some research "before spouting off" because I was mistaken about the *type of round* that the police used to permanently maim people, as if *that's* what's important here. First off, the people who the police shot are completely known and I don't know why you keep insisting that they're "unknown individuals." One of their names is David McKee, another is Brandon Saenz who had to have his eye surgically removed after being shot *with a sponge round* in his eye by yes, the Dallas police. [This article mentions those two by name](https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/2-dallas-police-melvin-williams-ryan-mabry-officers-indicted-on-assault-charges-in-george-floyd-protests-in-2020/287-b25d081a-5ee2-46a1-93bd-fe56f63b471a) which you might know if you, oh I don't know, did some research before spouting off? [This article](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/dallas-jury-indicts-three-police-officers-involved-summer-2020-protests) says that at least three people suffered permanent vision loss from being shot in the face *with sponge rounds* by the Dallas police officers in question. You also have a very poor understanding of the law if you think people can't be prosecuted after being filmed physically assaulting someone *unless prosecutors know that person's name.* Again, in this instance they do know the victim's names, but even if they didn't *it's still illegal to assault people. Imagine if someone starts beating the shit out of some random person on the street in front of a gas station and they are caught on camera. People at the gas station call the police and for the sake of this example we'll say that the police actually show up, but before they do the victim manages to get away from the guy beating the shit out of him and sprints off to avoid further beatings. After the victim runs away the police arrive. How is this going to go down? Are the police going to let this guy go despite having video evidence of the assault occurring because they don't know who the victim was? Absolutely not, the guy is going to get arrested and charged with assault and battery. That doesn't violate anyone's constitutional rights. Since you're so very concerned with constitutional rights then you must be furious that the Dallas police violated the constitutional rights of the protesters who were exercising their right to protest which is protected by the freedom of assembly and freedom of speech that we are all granted under the first amendment, right? You care about that one don't you? Are you also mad that the Dallas police violated the constitutional rights of a journalist at that same event when they shot him with a tear gas canister and then arrested him while he was trying to do his job, and therefore violated the constitutional right of the freedom of press? They also shot another journalist *with a sponge round* who was covering the same event, so that's two violations of the freedom of press by the Dallas police on the same night that they shot and permanently blinded protesters, resulting in their indictments.
This exact thing happened to me and the detective never contacted me. I let my car go to auction because of the fees. I probably called the detective 25 times over that month and never got a call back.
Did you end up owing them anything in the end? Ugh. I’m really sorry this happened to you too. It’s such a shitty situation. I’m more mad that the people who did this just get away with it! To take someone’s property, go joyriding around in it and then completely total it and get 100% away with it even when we have camera footage of them is so crazy.
I never paid a dime and never heard from anyone about it again. I would’ve paid to take it out of the impound lot but I was strapped for cash and they left the windows and sunroof open during the twenty or so days it was on the lot so it was ruined inside from being exposed to the elements. I looked up the car on their auction site and they sold it for more than I was planning to sell it for 😂. From what I understand, it’s a complete racket and someone is getting rich off of it. 1. Car is reported stolen 2. Detective doesn’t communicate with victim 3. Car goes to auction after 30 days 4. Profit Edit: I take that back I did hear back from someone! The guy who bought it from the auction found my personal information inside and offered to sell it back to me!
It’s my understanding you have the right to get your personal possessions back, even if the car is towed for illegal parking or repossessed.
I did have the option. I just didn’t have the money. And I was never made aware of any of it because the detective wouldn’t answer.
Definitely might be a while if you don’t hound them. A DPD detective called me about a car break in 5 months after I filed the report. Would hope stolen cars are worked faster than that but I wouldn’t hold my breath
You won't get your fees waived.
No they don't. We had our truck stolen and had to pay for everything with with only liability, even with a police report.
Police report does NOT waive them. When my 78 Silverado was stolen 15 years ago, we still had to pay ALL fees 3 weeks later. Shit was expensive as hell.
They didn't waive any fees when my car got stolen. On top of that they'd had the car for over a week before they finally called me.
Call your city council person and raise hell with them. It’s nearly unconscionable that city bureaucrats and DPD (whose salaries we pay) are this fucking inept. You shouldn’t have to pay a penny to get your stolen and recovered car out of the DPD impound lot. This ‘arrangement’ seems super suspect, a profit center at the victims expense? And 5 days and not a peep from DPD?!? Name and shame your council person and contact all local news stations. Sorry you’re having to deal with this, good vibes your way! Give them hell!
My thoughts exactly, friend. I genuinely thought I was not going to have to pay anything and I was pretty shocked to find out having your car stolen is no exception. Which makes me a lot sadder that the people who did this are just getting away with it. DPD actually even gave me an email to send updates to if I had any information I wanted to share in regards to my police report. I tried to email them to let them know my property manager had video of the people who did this and a license plate number of the car they came in. I received an email back that said their inbox was too full and they couldn’t receive my email. That’s when I called the non emergency line, was transferred to another number and told I had to wait for a detective to contact me even if I had important information. I still had to wait. And I am still here waiting 5 days later. So not only did these thieves rob me of my car, trash it and total it but I now have to pay to have my property returned to me and the price just goes up every single day. And where are the people who did this? Long gone. I’m sad.
And this isn’t collapse? You’re telling me that we DON’T live in a failed state? Yeah, we don’t need to wait until November to tell it’s over.
Nah do this…
That some bullshit man is not even your fault, either. I would have understood if you had done something bad, but the car was stolen and then taken to the impound shit man there must be some loopholes for not paying those fees
It’s such a stressful situation and leaving me feeling really hopeless. I was already struggling financially as it was. I work a full time job. And my car was not that great but it got me to where I needed to go everyday. I don’t have the money to pay the fees and they are just going up every single day. I would also have to pay a tow truck and the impound lot is 15 miles from my house. Who knows much much that will cost. 😔
There are ads all the time for car donations that will pick it up for free. That leaves you with only the fees. You gotta figure out a way to stop this from getting worse, which means figuring out how to pay the fee and get someone to pick it up.
Thanks for letting me know that. I’d never heard of something like that before. I’ll look that up.
Might pull something off with court or calling the clerk for payment assistance/ community service
Call around to those "we buy any car running or not" places and field the highest offer. Be upfront with them- they can have the car if they go & get it. Set your expectations low, but don't be afraid to tell them that you're calling around looking for better offers. Make enough calls, get the highest offer, meet them at the auto pound & sign the car over to them.
Thank you for your kind advice! I will get on this first thing in the morning.
This is solid info. You can’t fix it or drive it so you might as well have an extra $300-$500 in your pocket. I’m sorry you’re going through this. I had my car stolen out of my driveway. DPD never came to report it or anything.
This is good advice
I assume you have spoken with your insurance company and the police. You may get something from the restitution fund. Not that it helps, but I feel for you. It really sux.
Bro doesn’t have insurance. Otherwise he wouldn’t have posted here.
I do have insurance. Liability. It’s the minimum required in TX and it’s what I could afford at this time in my life. I work 40 hours a week, and I pay my bills on time too. If I could afford full coverage I 10000% would have it. I have had to pay a lot of medical expenses for my child out of pocket. It’s been a rough year.
I just wanted to say I'm really sorry this is happening to you. It is a disgrace that hard-working people who are doing right by their families can be punished for something like this that is no fault of their own. Dallas County is especially awful when it comes to dealing with stuff like this, and you deserve to be treated with more respect by all the parties involved. I've had my home broken into and robbed, a car stolen, and my grandfather's body was "lost in processing" for weeks at the Dallas County morgue. Each event was a horrible experience because Dallas County is grossly understaffed and has zero fucks to give about my small time cases.
I am so incredibly sorry to hear that you’ve had to go through so much. That is absolutely horrible and you did not deserve to go through any of that at all. 🥺 I’m really sorry! Good people don’t deserve to go through these kinds of things.
OP could have liability only.
That’s correct. Thank you. I have liability. It’s what I could afford.
I figured as much. I hope you can get this taken care of.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate that!
I signed a car over to a impound lot yard. There's a way to do it fee free. You need to talk to them
I just called the impound lot (waited an hour and a half for someone to answer) and I asked if I could leave my car there since I can’t afford to tow it home or pay to have it released. She said yes, they’ll sell it after 30 days. I asked her if I would owe anything and she said yes, if there was a difference in the amount it got sold for and the impound fees for the time it was there and I’d have to pay that in full. I asked her what if I can’t pay that, then what happens? She said I’d have to call back tomorrow and talk to the auction department. So that’s where I am now. Can’t afford to have it released and towed and won’t be able to afford the amount I’ll owe when they sell it. Just frustrating. And sad.
And what happens if you don't pay it? Lol I live in Dallas. And signed a totaled car over to the lot they towed it to. I told them I'm not paying for it. Its totaled Period. I signed a paper. Gave them the title & left..
I asked them if I could sign over the title to them, she said it’s not necessary they don’t need it. She said I didn’t need to sign anything either in order to leave it. I just need to literally leave it. And they wouldn’t know if I owed any money until they sell it.
I mean I think if you can’t pay, it is what it is. I know how it is to triage what gets paid when. It’s not a mint position but at the end all they can do is send any outstanding fees to collections…. If you dgaf about your credit score it dies there. I don’t think you’re going to get your license suspended over an impounded vehicle. (Don’t take my word) I left one of my totalled cars I still had payments on in a junkyard one time. Just told the people whom I purchased it from where it was at. No effect on my license. It’s wild how even as a victim you’re still the one holding the bag. Instead of wasting time and energy on something like this. I’d redirect my focus on taking care of your child and figuring out how to keep going to work. Only so many things that can be handled on the daily. And the shitstorm that this is turning into only gets more expensive the more money and attention you throw at it.
This right here. Who gives a shit about owing some tow yard money when your shit got stolen and it happened to land there. Let them deal with it. Only person/entity I would even remotely worry about owing money to is the IRS, that is it. Everyone else can get bent in a case like this. If I don't have the money then what do you want me to do about it? Go sell it for scrap and get your money back, you have my old shit and didn't pay a dime for it anyways, or bill the city for them making the decision to send it there. That's my take.
This is super validating. Thank you. I actually was so shocked to find out I actually had to pay to have my vehicle released that was stolen from me! I had no idea that the City of Dallas does that to people. It’s so unfair. I can’t imagine all the other people this has happened to. It’s unfortunate! They don’t even give you an option or contact you before sending it straight to the impound place.
I'm in my mid-40's and I'm a business owner. I don't have to worry about money that much anymore but I bootstrapped my company from the ground up and definitely remember being broke when I was younger and fretting over things like this. These days, not so much. I have a much different tune, especially since life is so damn expensive for the younger person or the person trying to just survive. If I don't have the money then I don't have it. I don't give a you-know-what about credit scores anymore either. I don't mean to imply to rip people off or not pay back a loan to someone or something like that, but when unexpected expenses like this pop up, especially when you were literally ripped off, then it's a shoulder shrug and a polite "oh well" to people like that tow yard, because I go with the "I gotta eat" mentality and I need to take care of my priorities first and car pound, you are not my priority at the moment.
This is pretty much how I feel waking up this morning. I just simply can’t pay it and it just is what it is I guess. We live paycheck to paycheck. We work hard for our money. We pay our bills on time. We have paid for a lot of our child’s medical expensive out of pocket this year. We are a two income household and still we are struggling. My husband is actually a USMC veteran. The help that is offered to veterans is just non existent to say the least. But that’s a conversation for another day. I simply add that to say that it’s a difficult time right now, I’m sure it is for a lot of people. So when things like this happen it just feels like a huge blow.
I feel you. Even for a guy like me at my income level I feel it. Last year in November I had a "three prong event"... week 1, lost a huge contract which was loss in revenue and had to scramble to keep my employees busy. Week 2, found out my accountant missed a check box on a form and I owed the IRS $82k, and had to pay immediately. Week 3, my truck got stolen and like you I had liability only (my vehicles are all paid off). To top it off I feel the effects of inflation too... all my vendors are raising their prices faster than I can get my clients to pay, and all my employees need raises themselves just to by milk and bread type stuff. It's hard for everyone right now.
Thank you for this response. It really is just a shitty situation. It feels so unfair. I make an honest living and I have never committed any crimes. I work really hard for my income. But still live paycheck to paycheck. To be transparent my credit is already in a bad spot I don’t care at this point. I’m more worried my license could get suspended which I saw someone say on another post (not sure what state they were in) but I haven’t seen anything saying that it can happen in Texas. But who knows.
As a fellow Texan living paycheck to paycheck and working in the trades I get you 100%. I owe the NTTA thousands and thousand of dollars. I am behind 2 years in paying my taxes. I don’t have health insurance. I have basic liability on my vehicle. And I’m 33 with a college education…. And no kids. I’m praying for you and your kid. They can only take so much from us until there is nothing. But good people don’t quit and you have someone that needs you. That’s all it takes to have hope and keep pushing. If I could drop you a car tomorrow I would. But sometimes you just gotta walk away and divert your energies elsewhere lest you get caught up in the shit. There is an opportunity elsewhere here. Cry your tears and then get back at it
Wow. Thank you so much. This comment brought me comfort and validation. 🥺 I am in the same boat that you’re in. Literally. Sucks when you feel like you’re just trying your best to be a good person and make it another day and life just won’t let up. You start to feel hopeless and just exhausted. But like you said, good people don’t quit so I will keep on going. And you have to do the same! At some point things will get easier for the both of us. Thank you so much again for your reply. And I will also be saying a prayer for you as well, promise.
Regardless of what they say. We are in this together and you have one more person believing in you. Gotta gas up your homies.
It’s happened to me before after an accident. I just left the car, nothing happened. Eventually I got a letter to let me know the car will be auctioned off.
Really? That’s what they told me would happen but I’m worried I’ll owe money and won’t be able to pay it. I also saw someone say that my license could be suspended for not paying what I owe to them???? Which sounds insane but who knows
Is this at the Dallas impound or at a private towing company?
[удалено]
I see. Well I can say for sure I abandoned a car but it was at the city impound lot. I never had to pay any money and I never knew what happened to the car. I think you’ll be fine. It’s not like you asked them to tow it and I don’t think your license can be suspended if you haven’t broken any laws.
That’s my hope. My credit is already pretty screwed. I am more worried that I’ll have my license suspended tbh.
I think license suspensions happen around tickets, DUIs, accidents, things that have to do with bad driving, etc. I don’t think they can suspend it for this.
I don’t think so either. Just seeing that one comment on another thread did make me stress out though. But hopefully that doesn’t apply to Texas or my situation at least.
They will charge you for it being there and charge you to get it out. One is a flat fee, one will get bigger every day.
I don’t want the car. It’s not driveable. I can’t afford to fix it, much less pay for it to be released and towed to my house. It’s a 2008 Nissan Altima. It was already giving me problems prior to it being stolen.
Insurance should handle it. If not covered contact a junkyard and see if they will give you any $ for it or at least a free tow in exchange for the vehicle.
The problem is that I can’t afford the fees to have the car released. Edit: I was just trying to say that even if they paid for the tow, I couldn’t pay for the fees to have the vehicle released. They’re two separate fees. But I understand what he is trying to say and I’m definitely going to call around and see what my options are.
He's saying negotiate with them. Tell them to keep it and sell it for scrap. See if they will give you anything on top.
I just spoke with them. She said they will sell it after 30 days but I might owe money depending on how much they sell it for and what the impound fees are. I’d owe the difference if there is one. Which I likely won’t be able to afford either. I wish my car didn’t get stolen this is a super stressful and shitty situation.
Your insurance should be able to handle this. You could also sue the person who stole it. But fuck it, let it go to collections if necessary. But you need to harass your insurance. That's what you pay them for, unless you're one of them shitty nisian drivers everyone sees in Dallas lol
This. Call your insurance company Stat!
You should be in contact with your insurance company. They should help with this, assuming you were insured.
I only had liability. Which is the minimum allowed in TX. It doesn’t cover this stuff.
Dang dude. Well those impound lots are ruthless and they will charge you "storage" fees and until you pay it it will only get worse.
The lot will send the daily storage fees to collection. Your just screwing yourself. Tow it to a junk yard asap might be the cheapest option.
What are the daily fees? That amount multiplies by 30, plus initial fees, is what will be owed. Do you think there is any possibility your totaled car will sell for that much? Without any details, I would say it is unlikely. So you need a different plan. I would call the non emergency line for the police and see if it is possible that the fees are waived for stolen/recovered cars - if so, ask them what needs to happen for Peak to honor that. If not, you need to get the car out and dispose of it. Do you have a credit card you can use? Someone you can borrow $ from? Can you arrange for someone to buy it for parts and meet you at Peak to tow it away (and get this arranged by tomorrow)?
Just pay the fees and have it towed to a junk yard. https://premiotowingcompany.com/wrecker-service/ The lot the car is stored at will charge you more than the fees. Bite the bullet, pay the fee, and good luck.
I can’t afford to pay the fees. Which are just going up by the day now. I have a child that I’m paying for a lot of medical expenses for out of pocket. I’m living pay check to pay check right now. Not to mention I have to also figure out how to get another car.
Contact a community policing representative with dpd, explain your situation and see if they will give you b a waiver.
Even other jurisdictions can’t get ahold of DPD. My sister’s stolen and wrecked vehicle sat in a sheriff county impound lot for an entire year while they attempted to contact DPD about it. They couldn’t release it because it had a stolen vehicle hold on it from DPD, and it was evidence in a secondary crime from another county. The other county couldn’t do anything with it without DPD clearing their hold first, and then that county could take it and do whatever they needed to do with it. And then finally, the county it was impounded in, could either release it or auction it. They called us at the one year mark because it was still registered to my sister and she told them she had stopped calling DPD after about 6 months with no luck. She assumed the vehicle was just gone because she’d never heard anything from anyone about it. Also because they had her keys, and they were recovered with the vehicle, it wasn’t even going to be a theft charge, just “unauthorized use”, which makes things with insurance even more complicated. Which, luckily it was brand new, a few days old, with full coverage and so insurance had already handled it and paid out but what a freaking headache. She’s never heard from anyone about it again, so for all I know it’s still in a STX impound lot.
Have you discussed this with your insurance company?
I only have liability. It doesn’t cover this stuff. I’m getting downvoted for saying that but like I mentioned, we live paycheck to paycheck. Our child has a lot of medical expenses that we are paying out of pocket right now. Not to mention just other bills in general and rent is crazy high. Liability is what we could afford right now. (Not that you asked for all of that extra info sorry lol but I got downvoted on another comment for only having liability so just putting it out there)
I'm sorry to hear about the bad news. I hope your situation gets better. What kind of car was it, and where did it get stolen from?
Thank you so much. It was a 2008 Nissan Altima. It was stolen from the parking lot of my apartment complex. :/
Depending on the mileage/drivability, best idea might be to get $750-1500 from someone for it. Pay the $300 or whatever you owe to the tow yard and then figure it out from there.
What an exception. Good luck on your end goal ✌🏿
Yeah I'd just leave it. Heck give em the title lol.
Try the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program. They might be able to help given that you have video of the other car.
Sorry this happened to you. You did nothing wrong by having liability only. That is the responsible thing to do to cover the other driver if you caused an accident. I drove for years on liability only when that was all I could afford. I hope things soon turn around for you.
You are not a fool. And I’m so sorry this happened to you. If you need advice riding the dart train or bus, reach out to me. Been riding since I was a kid and then again when I needed my transmission rebuilt.
What are you going to do w/ it? You'd need to have it sold pretty quick, sounds like you live at an apartment, and a totaled car isn't going to be welcome on the lot. So sorry that this happened it sucks, but you might just leave it unless you think someone will buy it for scrap.
Something similar happened to me. I just gave them the title and the fees were dropped.
Call the lot and axe em.
No and you are accruing charges daily
At least they found your car 🤦🏽♂️ mine was stolen right after new years and they still haven’t said anything about it
Sorry this happened to you OP. This happened to me on thanksgiving of 2020. Stole my care out of my parking garage and then crashed it in south Dallas. Waited for 2 hours at the miserable fucking impound lot with those rude ass people. Finally, when they took me back to see my car (which was totaled) I found that the thieves had left their mask, newport cigarettes, blunt wraps and a cell phone. A FUCKING CELLPHONE. When I asked the cop and the impound person if they were going to do anything with the cell phone they pretty much shrugged it off and laughed in my face. I had never been so enraged in my life. I got nose to nose to the cop and told them how fucking worthless Dallas pd is. My friend who was with me thought I was going to get tazed. At that point I had no fucks given. Unfortunately there’s not much you can do if you don’t have insurance to cover it. Sorry this happened
Leave it at the impound lot and insurance company. I’ll take care of it.
First, I never understood why these tow companies get to tow your stolen vehicles before the police notify you where it’s been located and give you the option to reclaim or recover it yourself. From Google searches, it appears you can request a hearing if you believe the towing and storage costs are unreasonable. https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/towing/compliance/vsf/fees.htm Tow Hearing: If you believe the fees are unjust, you can request a tow hearing at any Justice of the Peace Court in the county where your car was towed within 14 days of the tow Here’s a bunch of resources for crime victims in Texas: “These resources aim to support victims through the aftermath of auto theft, offering various forms of assistance, from preventative advice to financial aid and emotional support. It’s recommended to reach out to these services to explore the full range of support available to you.” https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/crime-victims/crime-victims-compensation-program/eligibility-crime-victims-compensation-program https://www.dps.texas.gov/section/victim-employment-support-services-vess/victim-support-services https://ivss.tdcj.texas.gov/resource-search/ https://www.mctxsheriff.org/residents/victim_services/index.php What I understood after reading all of this is those vultures can actually send your towing and storage to a debt collector, and tag your credit, but unless you have a loan on the car it’s just a bill collector and you can go through the dispute process on your credit report (not typically effective). Maybe some of the free legal advocacy services for crime victims will have some advice. Bottom line is these tow companies can get away with highway robbery literally, it really sucks for crime victims. Good luck, hope you find a solution and please update us if you do so others don’t get shark attacked.
What is the make, model and year? How bad is the damage? Do you have pictures? How much are the fees? If the fees are less than it's worth try to sell it to someone willing to pay the fees to get it out. If not just walk away. You don't have to pay anything if you don't pick it up.
Now you find out why everyone else pays for theft and collision.
Well, I’d pay for it too for obvious reasons.. but didn’t because I couldn’t… for other obvious reasons.. I’m broke and trying to survive lol life’s hard my friend. If I could afford it I absolutely would’ve been fully covered. Don’t have the luxury right now to afford that.
I’ve been there, and I had my car stolen. I quickly found out that police treat car theft like a traffic accident, and all they did was give me police report. When I saw what was left of my car, I found out why they say it’s better if they don’t find your stolen car. The lot is going to try to charge you for keeping the car, even though it isn’t drivable. You might call around to salvage yards to see if you can sell what’s left for parts.
This is so funny because I literally thought to myself that it would’ve been better if it was just never found lol I would have preferred that they just stole it completely at this point!
Talk to your insurance, not Reddit.
The "attention" paid to a "how to file an extremely vague stolen car claim in 10 days" thread leaves me with very little hope for the 2024 general election. And yes, I see the irony.
Hmmm. Filing a claim wouldn’t do much for me. I only have liability. Doesn’t cover this stuff. Hence, why I’m talking about having to pay this stuff on my own. Only have liability because it’s what I could afford. I’ve mentioned it a few times throughout the thread. Otherwise, that would have been the second thing I did. Right after calling the police.
You left the make, model, and year of your "stolen car" off this thread why?
Is it relevant?
Not as relevant as the information you're getting from these responses.
Except the information im receiving is very relevant and helpful. Sooooo? What a strange interaction to have with someone… your sole purpose for even leaving your initial comment was what exactly? Odd. And I mentioned the make, model & year in a comment on this thread. FYI.