A DRIVER is being charged $125 a day as part of a fierce battle to get her stolen car back from a towing company.
Misty Paez of Springfield, Missouri, had her car taken from her home just weeks after her family moved to the city.
A driver faces $125 daily fees in an uphill battle to reclaim her stolen car from a towing company[/caption]
The Missouri driver was left stunned by a towing bill that’s said to be in the thousands of dollars to recover her stolen Ford Excursion[/caption]
Driver faces hurdles with police communication while tracking down her stolen vehicle[/caption]
According to a report by KY3, the family noticed their car was missing from the driveway one morning and instantly filed a police report with the Springfield Police Department.
Thankfully, police were able to find the car – a 2003 Ford Excursion – just a day later in Strafford, located just a block away from the police station.
They contacted the family soon after and told them they needed to contact the Strafford Police to receive the location.
Paez said: “We gave them a call. It goes to a voicemail that says that it’s an unmonitored line.
“So I left a voicemail. I called later again that evening, and I was like ok.
“I looked up their hours – I’m like maybe it’s 4-8 or 8-4 that someone’s in the office.
“So immediately the next morning, I’m calling again and I’m getting the same voicemail, and I was like something’s not right.”
Eventually, a Strafford police officer informed Paez that the best way to contact an officer for Strafford is to simply call 911.
Paez then found out that her car had been towed by Brines Towing Service.
Keen to collect the car as soon as possible, she called them to discuss the bill – and was left stunned by their response.
She said: “I’m assuming it’s gonna cost $150 or $200, maybe $250 max to go get it out, because at this point, they hadn’t even had it for eight hours.
“But they’re telling me that it’s over a thousand dollars, and I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’”
Brines argued that the price was accurate for cars of that size, while the family was also charged premium rates for the tow being outside of company hours.
At the time of writing, Paez’s car remains in storage at Brines with an additional $125 a day added to the fee.
STRANGE CURRENCY
This comes as one woman was recently hit with over $450 in fines in just two weeks, all for parking near her driveway.
A controversial AI parking system and the new “daylighting” law caused issues for Angela Calderaro, from Sacramento, California, whose car was repeatedly flagged by an AI camera near a city bus stop.
It means parking anywhere near her home has now become a daily gamble, as the city prohibits any cars being parked 60 feet before and 30 feet after a bus stop.
On top of that, California’s “daylighting” law bans cars from being parked 20 feet from any curb at intersections to improve visibility.
The system is able to capture violations as buses pass by, and then automatically generate citations – but Calderaro says the system lacks context and human judgment.
She told NBC affiliate KCRA: “Because with the new daylight law, it’s 20 feet from the curb. So I have 20 feet, then I have 60 feet, and then I have 30 feet.
“I can’t even park, blocking my own driveway the way that it’s set up.”
New ‘daylighting’ law
A new parking law has been introduced in California.
California Assembly Bill 413, also known as the Daylighting to Save Lives Bill, prohibits parking within 20 feet of crosswalks.
The law makes it illegal for drivers to stop, stand, or park within 20 feet of a marked or unmarked crosswalk.
Daylighting is a term for keeping the areas next to intersections as clear as possible to improve visibility on the street and protect pedestrians and bike riders.
The law also prohibits parking personal and commercial vehicles within 20 feet of the left curb on one-way streets or within 15 feet of crosswalks where a curb extension is present.
The law goes into effect on January 1, 2025.
There will be a 60-day grace period for violations until March 1.
