Car Towed in Toronto (rental car, rental, insurance) - City-Data Forum

TorontoQuestion · 03-22-2009, 05:19 PM

Hello,

I am from the United States, and I visited Toronto, Canada, recently, where my car was in an accident while it was being towed for a parking violation. I had never been to Canada before, and I have since read on the internet that there were recently a number of towing scandals in the Toronto area. I wanted to run the situation past any local residents to see if I could get your opinion.

I was parked on Dundas Street West, and the parking meter ran out, and my car was parked past 4:00 p.m. In this area, it is illegal to park your car between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. (I noticed this after my car was towed. In my local area in the United States, this type of information is usually posted on large signs; the information was listed in fine print on the parking meter, and I missed it. The illegal parking was totally my fault, though.) My car was towed. The towtruck driver got two to three miles down the road, when it was rear-ended very seriously by another car. The person who was driving the other car was a mechanic at a local tire shop, also on Dundas. He did not own the car he was driving. He had completed tire work on the vehicle and was taking it out for a test drive. The towtruck came to a sudden stop, since the person in front of him stopped quickly, then the other car driven by the mechanic slammed into the back of my car, as it was being towed. This caused serious damage to my car and worse damage to the other car. Luckily, no one was hurt. I was not there at the time the accident happened.

Currently, my car is being fixed by an autobody shop in Canada, which I was referred to by the towing company and is also authorized by my insurance company. It is going to take about a week to fix. I had to drive a Canadian rental car back to the U.S. while my car is being worked on in Canada. After the work is complete, I have to return the rental car to Toronto and pick up my car and bring it back home. Note that the drive is nine hours each way.

Since I was totally new to Canada, I wanted to try to get locals' opinion of the situation. Does this sound like a freak accident, or should I be concerned about a possible scam occurring? It was very weird and rather inconvenient.

Thanks.

dpylyp · 03-22-2009, 08:05 PM

from a cursory read the only question I would have is about the impound fee and any fines payable for the parking in a tow zone. These could be answered by the body show as to what is payable on release/ delivery of your vehicle.

MiD310 · 09-03-2010, 01:11 PM

Do you know what kind of car rear-ended yours? I ask because, if it is in fact a scam, and the tow truck driver/driver of the other car are working together, I seriously doubt they would want to damage a nice car to smash yours and make money off the work. If the car was an old, beat car, then I would probably wonder about it. I mean, what are the odds of this happening? The tow truck driver recommending the garage is what has me thinking a little bit.

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Also, did you get a quote on the repairs before any work started? Because if they jumped right into the work, I would say it sounds like a scam. Even if your insurance is covering, I still think you should get an estimate before the work starts.

MiD310 · 09-03-2010, 02:07 PM

Damn old threads coming up

Wonder if this was a scam or not??

rgpg_99 · 09-03-2010, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MiD310

Damn old threads coming up

Wonder if this was a scam or not??

The thread was revived by spam about an online hotel search service. But now I'm curious too about how the story ended with the damaged car. And, did he/she have to pay a fine for illegal parking? Or, was the city liable for any of the damage?