Vince's Towing

Review: My car got hit from behind as I was at a red light at the intersection of the Liberty Bridge and Liberty Tunnels on Friday, August 9th at 1:00 pm. No one got hurt but parts of my car were jammed into the tire so I couldn't drive the car. I called 911: a tow truck showed up at the same time as the cop. I never called for a tow. When I asked later the guy driving the tow truck said he has a scanner and heard my 911 call.When we determined that I needed a tow I asked the tow truck driver first if he could take my car to the place I always use to fix my car and he said yes. He was familiar with that repair shop and said a relative of his works there. I had arranged for a rental car at my shop, and they were expecting me. After the tow truck guy hooked up my car his boss showed up in another tow truck and they spoke for a minute. We drove away from the accident site and then we both pulled over to the side of the road. His boss ([redacted]) proceeded to tell me that he COULD NOT take me to my repair shop: he HAD to take my car to his storage facility. He gave me tons of reasons why and told me that this was the way it has to be done before the insurance companies signed off on the repair shop. Anyway, I was new to this and was bamboozled. [redacted] drove me to my repair shop to get my rental, and his employee towed my car to their storage garage. So the end result is that instead of a $250.00 tow, he charged the insurance company $1170.00 for all sorts of things, including $225.00 to travel from his office to the accident site! The woman who hit me was underinsured ($5000) and my insurance company will be paying for the balance of the charges and then a collection agency will go after her for reimbursement, probably $3000. I can tell she doesn't have much money.When I realized later that day what was going on I called [redacted] to let him know my repair shop will come & tow the car to their shop so he would not charge four days storage fees. I also told the insurance company but no one took care of this.Desired Settlement: The underinsured woman who caused the accident should not have to pay for all these extra charges from [redacted]'s Towing. [redacted] should reimburse my insurance company for the amount he charged to respond to a call I never made to him: $225. The $480 he charged for admin/storage is also bogus as he lied to me about the need to take the damaged car to his shop. My insurance company knows about this complaint:[redacted], [redacted], claim: [redacted]. Total refund: $705