My question involves vehicle registration or title in the state of: CA
This really isn't a question about registration, so I doubt this is the right forum. Please, mods, move to the most appropriate place. But since it started because of registration issues, here I am.
tl;dr version: Can I or should I sue the police department for an improperly impounded vehicle to recoop the costs incurred in retrieving it and lost wages?
Whole story:
On January 8, 2016, I get a call from my wife at work asking if I had moved the Ford Explorer I had purchased on 12/19/2015. It's her car. Since I didn't I told her to call the police and report it stolen. The dispatcher at the Anaheim PD wouldn't talk to her after she gave the dispatcher the VIN of the vehicle, saying her name didn't show up on the registration.
Since I had purchased it from a used car lot, I figured they screwed up the registration. So I went there to get copies of the bill of sale and contract and such (my regular copies were in the glovebox of the car) to prove it was mine so we can file the report. I confirmed with the dealer that they did file the registration, but they use a service to do it rather than have DMV access themselves. So it sometimes takes a while, especially with the holidays in the way.
Armed with the documentation I went to the APD station to file the report. It turns out the vehicle was impounded for expired registration. The last record they have of the vehicle being registered was 2012. Pleading with them that we had just bought it, and showing the paperwork, got nowhere. Without a genuine registration from the DMV, they would not release the car. So I went BACK to the dealer (several miles away) to see if we could get the registration. Right before I got there, the service had dropped off registration for several vehicles including mine. The issue date was 1/6/2016, the day BEFORE the vehicle was impounded by APD. I was happy to see that it was a mistake and went back to APD.
Note that each time I went there, I have to take a ticket from the kiosk, and wait 20-60 minutes to see someone. I'm missing work during this period.
I get a clerk and pass the registration through the bullet proof glass and ask for my car back. I'm then told that I would have to pay a fee of $128. I argued with the clerk (who has no authority, but it's not like I was able to talk to someone WITH authority) that the registration proves that the vehicle was legally registered when it was impounded. I figured, hey, they made a mistake. Stuff happens, and if they waive the fee, I'd let it go. But no, they refused. So I gave the clerk my credit card and he said they take cash only. Really? Nowhere in this tiny lobby with only bricks and bullet proof glass does it say cash only.
So I again leave, to go find an ATM and get the cash. I return, pull another ticket and wait again. I finally get it and paid the money and was sent to the impound yard, a private tow company. I requested a copy of the report the officer filed as well, but of course that takes 7-10 days. They would call when it arrives.
I got the vehicle from the impound after paying an additional $160 to release it to me. I took a picture of the temporary registration in the windshield that the dealers in California place when selling a car at that point.
Total cost to me was $128 to the PD, $160 to the tow yard, $2.70 to the PD for a copy of the report, and 4 hours of lost wages, $173.08.
Another concern of mine is the cover page of the police report claims it is confidential information and can only be released by the responsible agency (in this case, the PD). Does that mean I'm unable to share that report?
Now, the few hundred dollars isn't why I want to do this. There have been many times in my life where I would not have been able to retrieve the vehicle at all. Even a few hundred dollars would be impossible, especially on short notice. And if I had to wait, the impound yard adds fees daily, and after 3 days they file a lein which costs more, and so on. A vehicle worth a few thousand dollars could cost many hundreds or even thousands to retrieve depending on how long it takes to get the money. Let alone the driving back and forth between the police station, the dealer, and an ATM. It seems unfair that they can do this sort of thing with impunity, and while I can't change their policies, I would like to at least make them pay me for the trouble it caused me.
Again, if they had simply acknowledged it was an error (whether they don't get updates from the DMV frequently enough or whatever), and waived the fee they could control, I would have let it go. Even if I had to pay the tow company. But they did not.
This really isn't a question about registration, so I doubt this is the right forum. Please, mods, move to the most appropriate place. But since it started because of registration issues, here I am.
tl;dr version: Can I or should I sue the police department for an improperly impounded vehicle to recoop the costs incurred in retrieving it and lost wages?
Whole story:
On January 8, 2016, I get a call from my wife at work asking if I had moved the Ford Explorer I had purchased on 12/19/2015. It's her car. Since I didn't I told her to call the police and report it stolen. The dispatcher at the Anaheim PD wouldn't talk to her after she gave the dispatcher the VIN of the vehicle, saying her name didn't show up on the registration.
Since I had purchased it from a used car lot, I figured they screwed up the registration. So I went there to get copies of the bill of sale and contract and such (my regular copies were in the glovebox of the car) to prove it was mine so we can file the report. I confirmed with the dealer that they did file the registration, but they use a service to do it rather than have DMV access themselves. So it sometimes takes a while, especially with the holidays in the way.
Armed with the documentation I went to the APD station to file the report. It turns out the vehicle was impounded for expired registration. The last record they have of the vehicle being registered was 2012. Pleading with them that we had just bought it, and showing the paperwork, got nowhere. Without a genuine registration from the DMV, they would not release the car. So I went BACK to the dealer (several miles away) to see if we could get the registration. Right before I got there, the service had dropped off registration for several vehicles including mine. The issue date was 1/6/2016, the day BEFORE the vehicle was impounded by APD. I was happy to see that it was a mistake and went back to APD.
Note that each time I went there, I have to take a ticket from the kiosk, and wait 20-60 minutes to see someone. I'm missing work during this period.
I get a clerk and pass the registration through the bullet proof glass and ask for my car back. I'm then told that I would have to pay a fee of $128. I argued with the clerk (who has no authority, but it's not like I was able to talk to someone WITH authority) that the registration proves that the vehicle was legally registered when it was impounded. I figured, hey, they made a mistake. Stuff happens, and if they waive the fee, I'd let it go. But no, they refused. So I gave the clerk my credit card and he said they take cash only. Really? Nowhere in this tiny lobby with only bricks and bullet proof glass does it say cash only.
So I again leave, to go find an ATM and get the cash. I return, pull another ticket and wait again. I finally get it and paid the money and was sent to the impound yard, a private tow company. I requested a copy of the report the officer filed as well, but of course that takes 7-10 days. They would call when it arrives.
I got the vehicle from the impound after paying an additional $160 to release it to me. I took a picture of the temporary registration in the windshield that the dealers in California place when selling a car at that point.
Total cost to me was $128 to the PD, $160 to the tow yard, $2.70 to the PD for a copy of the report, and 4 hours of lost wages, $173.08.
Another concern of mine is the cover page of the police report claims it is confidential information and can only be released by the responsible agency (in this case, the PD). Does that mean I'm unable to share that report?
Now, the few hundred dollars isn't why I want to do this. There have been many times in my life where I would not have been able to retrieve the vehicle at all. Even a few hundred dollars would be impossible, especially on short notice. And if I had to wait, the impound yard adds fees daily, and after 3 days they file a lein which costs more, and so on. A vehicle worth a few thousand dollars could cost many hundreds or even thousands to retrieve depending on how long it takes to get the money. Let alone the driving back and forth between the police station, the dealer, and an ATM. It seems unfair that they can do this sort of thing with impunity, and while I can't change their policies, I would like to at least make them pay me for the trouble it caused me.
Again, if they had simply acknowledged it was an error (whether they don't get updates from the DMV frequently enough or whatever), and waived the fee they could control, I would have let it go. Even if I had to pay the tow company. But they did not.
Registering a Vehicle: Police Impounded Vehicle Just Purchased from Dealer
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