Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hi,

Okay need to make rant and then ask for suggestions on what needs to be done. Story goes....

Car ran out of rego for about 2 weeks because i did not register it yet as it had no starter motor in it, some kent in my street/suburb complained to City Rangers and they stuck an abandoned vehicle notice on it and drew all over my windows. Car is parked outside legally in the parking spots provided off street.

I put the car in the garage so they wont take it, but a week later after putting it back to street AND registering it, i found it missing.

I go to City Rangers, pay the ridiculous 250$ fine to get it back. Meet up with the guy at the impound at the tip and i find my car backed up hard into the fence, rear window smashed in (smashed in hard so glass is inside the car and not on the street) and the drivers door lock raped.

Its obvious it was the tow guys because the parking spots (ghunghalin) there would have been a car infront and behind it, so the tow company had to break in so they can get the car out...

I tell the guy what the go was and he says that the tow company and city rangers take the most care in this and this is impossible that this happened then tried to blame me that i must have smashed the window before hand and with no excuse as to why it was inside a fence rear bar bent in.... care my ass

I would like to know what my options are ? Would i need to find out who the contracted tow company the city rangers sent out and deal with them, or deal with the city rangers and what do i do as i would like my money on the damages and im probably too old to go farking up their shit in revenge.

Thanks :)

:(

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/359904-car-towed-by-councils-damaged/
Share on other sites

The City Ranger guy told me that because it had the ABV notice on it the week before and checked back then that it was unregistered they have the right to tow it.

And it was parked as legally as possible - ie in the designated park spot, facing right way etc.

The car looks pretty shitty on the outside but full engine rebuild done to it so they probably thought they can damage all they want and i wouldnt be wanting it back.

fuark

kents

I reckon complain and take it as high as it can and threaten legal action. At the very least, they should pay to fix the cost of repairs for the damage they did. I reckon later on get a quote from the most expensive shops in town for the repairs and send them the quote, demanding the money. :rant:

Well, aside from the fact that local councils are NOT recognised by the constitution and are operating as illegal entities, they have no right to take your property. They also have no right to impose a fine on you.

Local councils are getting away with far too much, look up a guy by the name of Wayne Glew, he gives his mobile number and email address in his interviews on youtube. Send him the story and ask his advice, he is an expert on the constitution and is on a bit of a crusade agaisnt governments and local councils shafting us.

That is some messed up sh!t... I'd follow up with legal proceedings also. Is the car insured? Has the incident been reported to them? You still may wanna make a claim and then as part of proceedings try to be reimbursed for it and have the insurance company note on the file later the results (so it isnt a claim against you).

Hope you have all receipts, eg the impoundment fee etc... Perhaps in the future some sort of sign/note on the dash of the car if paked somewhere like that?

Sorry to hear bout the horrible issue. Best luck sorting it out.

More info

Car is not insured (just third party rego)

When the car had the notice stuck on the window they said i have 2 days to move it (it was unregistered at the time) and they drew all over every window with some yellow paint (even that pissed me off)

I shoved the car in the garage for a week then registered it, chucked it back on the street cause i need space for my skyline. I didnt rub off the paint yet and did not have a sticker but it was registered (they coulda checked in their systems AT the time)

I have the photos of the damage in the impound yard, have the receipts.

I think i have some nosy neighbours that may have complained that the car had not been taken away yet as my mate on the same street told me his car got an abadoneed vehicle notification also when it was resgitered at the time.

I wasnt too angry when i had to get the car back just thought ill pay the fine and be over with but before i went over to the impound from the reid city rangers office i asked what i would do if my car was damaged and they garanteed me that they take care...

Tow kents could have just broken the window (50$ + 20mins of my time) but smashing the drivers door lock is a major pain in ass because i would have to source keys+all new locks most likely.

that sucks big time, but you really should of atleast put the new rego sticker on, with their yellow paint on it still and no indication of it being rego'd its kinda asking to be towed, but they still should not of damaged it...

hope it all works out for you...

1. Get quote for damage

2. Send letter of demand - including the costs of the fine, car was registered! - with story and the photo evidence and quote

3. If 2 fails, small claims court.

+1 Let sanity previal and use the law.

If that fails PM me.

I'm probably older than you but not past revenge if you need a hand. Wouldn't be the first time scores were settled recently.

You seem to be able to write clearly enough to put in a statement of claim/originating application in the small claims court.

Last I checked they could deal with matters up to $5000, that limit may have been increased recently.

So long as you clearly attach all your evidence including registration papers etc showing that the car was parked legally and registered at the time, it should be a fairly straightforward matter.

Normally people start acting a bit more sensibly when the court officer serves them with a notice to appear. Or, they at least get legal advice and their lawyer tells them they would be better off paying the claim than contesting.

Only thing to watch out for is, in some jurisdictions you can't claim legal costs (solicitor fees) in small claims court. I can't remember how it works in ACT has been a while since I put in a case, and the most recent one was settled the day before the hearing.

Anyway for $43 or whatever the fee is it's worth it.

Just to confirm this is all within the ACT? If so:

Magistrates court in the ACT can handle cases concerning damages to the amount of $50 00, $50 001 and its over to the Supreme court (Please double check this, has been changed recently).

I would have a quote drawn up be a reputable panel beater, then hire a solicitor/legal aid to send them the quote asking for the damages to be paid, if they do not get back to you soon enough, or if they refuse to pay damages, anything like that, then have a court date set and have the solicitor or legal aid subpoena them to court on the given date. Not at all fair, they have a duty of care for your vehicle as soon as they tow it; it is then considered their possession and from a Civil point of view it is negligent on their behalf to not return the car in the same condition it was taken.

If it does go to court, depending on how the solicitor works, it may cost you $45, $119 or $420 if you somehow lose the case, depending on the amount of money for damages you are seeking ($420 is $10 000 over, $119 is under $10 000 and $45 is $2000 and under)

Any who, a little off topic there.

Screw them as far as you can mate.

EDIT: I am saying hire legal help as you would be able to regain all costs for the case, and it often seems more official having some legal jargon thrown in there, from a layman's point of view. In the long run it may be worth it, may see the case settled more quickly.

Edited by sweefu

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Surely somebody has one in VIC. Have you asked at any shops?  Is this the yearly inspection or did you get a canary?
    • This is where I share pain with you, @Duncan. The move to change so many cooling system pieces to plastic is a killer! Plastic end tanks and a few plastic hose flanges on my car's fail after so little time.  Curious about the need for a bigger rad, is that just for long sessions in the summer or because the car generally needs more cooling?
    • So, that is it! It is a pretty expensive process with the ATF costing 50-100 per 5 litres, and a mechanic will probably charge plenty because they don't want to do it. Still, considering how dirty my fluid was at 120,000klm I think it would be worth doing more like every 80,000 to keep the trans happy, they are very expensive to replace. The job is not that hard if you have the specialist tools so you can save a bit of money and do it yourself!
    • OK, onto filling. So I don't really have any pics, but will describe the process as best I can. The USDM workshop manual also covers it from TM-285 onwards. First, make sure the drain plug (17mm) is snug. Not too tight yet because it is coming off again. Note it does have a copper washer that you could replace or anneal (heat up with a blow torch) to seal nicely. Remove the fill plug, which has an inhex (I think it was 6mm but didn't check). Then, screw in the fill fitting, making sure it has a suitable o-ring (mine came without but I think it is meant to be supplied). It is important that you only screw it in hand tight. I didn't get a good pic of it, but the fill plug leads to a tube about 70mm long inside the transmission. This sets the factory level for fluid in the trans (above the join line for the pan!) and will take about 3l to fill. You then need to connect your fluid pump to the fitting via a hose, and pump in whatever amount of fluid you removed (maybe 3 litres, in my case 7 litres). If you put in more than 3l, it will spill out when you remove the fitting, so do quickly and with a drain pan underneath. Once you have pumped in the required amount of clean ATF, you start the engine and run it for 3 minutes to let the fluid circulate. Don't run it longer and if possible check the fluid temp is under 40oC (Ecutek shows Auto Trans Fluid temp now, or you could use an infrared temp gun on the bottom of the pan). The manual stresses the bit about fluid temperature because it expands when hot an might result in an underfil. So from here, the factory manual says to do the "spill and fill" again, and I did. That is, put an oil pan under the drain plug and undo it with a 17mm spanner, then watch your expensive fluid fall back out again, you should get about 3 litres.  Then, put the drain plug back in, pump 3 litres back in through the fill plug with the fitting and pump, disconnect the fill fitting and replace the fill plug, start the car and run for another 3 minutes (making sure the temp is still under 40oC). The manual then asks for a 3rd "spill and fill" just like above. I also did that and so had put 13l in by now.  This time they want you to keep the engine running and run the transmission through R and D (I hope the wheels are still off the ground!) for a while, and allow the trans temp to get to 40oC, then engine off. Finally, back under the car and undo the fill plug to let the overfill drain out; it will stop running when fluid is at the top of the levelling tube. According to the factory, that is job done! Post that, I reconnected the fill fitting and pumped in an extra 0.5l. AMS says 1.5l overfill is safe, but I started with less to see how it goes, I will add another 1.0 litres later if I'm still not happy with the hot shifts.
    • OK, so regardless of whether you did Step 1 - Spill Step 2 - Trans pan removal Step 3 - TCM removal we are on to the clean and refill. First, have a good look at the oil pan. While you might see dirty oil and some carbony build up (I did), what you don't want to see is any metal particles on the magnets, or sparkles in the oil (thankfully not). Give it all a good clean, particularly the magnets, and put the new gasket on if you have one (or, just cross your fingers) Replacement of the Valve body (if you removed it) is the "reverse of assembly". Thread the electrical socket back up through the trans case, hold the valve body up and put in the bolts you removed, with the correct lengths in the correct locations Torque for the bolts in 8Nm only so I hope you have that torque wrench handy (it feels really loose). Plug the output speed sensor back in and clip the wiring into the 2 clips, replace the spring clip on the TCM socket and plug it back into the car loom. For the pan, the workshop manual states the following order: Again, the torque is 8Nm only.
×
×
  • Create New...