NYPD damaged vehicle, is it even worth asking for reimbursement?

Car was towed.  I’m not disputing the ticket or the tow.  But when they towed it they damaged it.  We don’t have a total yet (it’s still in the shop) but if I heard the mechanic right on the phone they bent a tie rod and destroyed two tires because they dragged it to the impound lot instead of putting it on a flatbed.

Do we have any chance in hell of getting them to pay for the damages they caused?


I'm not sure how to go about doing it, but I'm sure the tower has insurance to cover this. Was it NYPD or a contracted tow company that did it?

I googled a bit and it looks like the place to start might be to send a letter to the tow company or NYPD, stating the damages and the cost and that you'd like to seek recovery of the damages.


I don’t know who actually towed the car, but when I went to pick it up the impound lot was filled with a gazillion tow trucks all marked NYPD.

I’m guessing that the tow truck driver either didn’t think to check if the parking brake was on, or if he did he might have thought it wouldn’t matter since it was only about four blocks to the impound lot.  Either way, it was negligence.  If the parking brake is on you have to flatbed the car, not drag it since the rear wheels won’t spin freely.


The thread you linked to says to see if any other complaints were lodged against the tow driver.  Unfortunately under “towed by” the voucher only said “NYPD.”   I’ll try calling them and seeing if I can get the identity of the driver, but I’ll doubt they’ll be very helpful 

Apparently a claim can be made online, but they said to have all of the info so it can all be submitted at once.  Hopefully the garage will still have the old tires so I can also take pictures of them

If the car had just been ticketed and towed, I would be fine with it.  Hubby did park illegally, and the ticket and tow are both justified, I have no plans on fighting that and have already paid the ticket online.  But damaging my vehicle because they couldn’t be bothered to do their job properly, that I will try to fight 


spontaneous said:

The thread you linked to says to see if any other complaints were lodged against the tow driver.  Unfortunately under “towed by” the voucher only said “NYPD.”   I’ll try calling them and seeing if I can get the identity of the driver, but I’ll doubt they’ll be very helpful 

Apparently a claim can be made online, but they said to have all of the info so it can all be submitted at once.  Hopefully the garage will still have the old tires so I can also take pictures of them

If the car had just been ticketed and towed, I would be fine with it.  Hubby did park illegally, and the ticket and tow are both justified, I have no plans on fighting that and have already paid the ticket online.  But damaging my vehicle because they couldn’t be bothered to do their job properly, that I will try to fight 

 


PriorResident said:

Hello spontaneous,

I am a former Maplewood resident now living in NYC.  Is your vehicle a red/maroon color car? Reason being we watched the NYC Police tow truck try to tow last weekend I believe, on East 33rd & 2nd avenue.   Only because I was home that day.  The driver attempted to turn down east 33rd possibly toward the west side towing garage when the car jolted and collapsed, tilted to the right.  He could not get it right and sat with the car partially in the crosswalk for over 45 minutes.  Car was being dragged.  He had no idea how to correct and waited until another NYC Police tow truck arrived.  He then lifted the front tow tires and continued to tow.  Curious to see if this was your car?



 


Nope, ours is a graphite grey Mazda.  (Graphite grey sounds fancier than grey  oh oh  )

The car is ten years old, and has 138k on it, but it still runs great, and my husband's commute to work is 69 miles each way, so when the roads are clear he takes the Mazda for the better fuel economy.  But it's still in the shop, so this week he was stuck taking his pick up truck, which gives him bonus testosterone points, but only gets about 1.3 miles per gallon.


spontaneous said:

Nope, ours is a graphite grey Mazda.  (Graphite grey sounds fancier than grey 
oh oh
  )

The car is ten years old, and has 138k on it, but it still runs great, and my husband's commute to work is 69 miles each way, so when the roads are clear he takes the Mazda for the better fuel economy.  But it's still in the shop, so this week he was stuck taking his pick up truck, which gives him bonus testosterone points, but only gets about 1.3 miles per gallon.

 Have you had any luck?


Unfortunately our mechanic is backed up, so he hasn’t been able to repair the car yet.  Until I have everything I need, the total bill for repairs and pictures of the worn tires, I will not be filing since from what I’ve read you have one chance to submit everything and if you file a claim and then submit supporting documents at a later date they’ll just ignore anything not submitted with the original claim



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