My Harley was repossessed by mistake!

[Grayson]

Man, I am tuned in for the probate court angle. . .

Right? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[18ncs]

Are we sure Chew isn't posting this.....

Hire Chew to be at this guy's front door one morning and park so the only way in is to slide across the back seat.

[Burnadell]

My opinion Quick claims court is a waste of time, even if you win, doesn't mean they have to pay, then you file a lean against them or business and wait and never get a cent.
Contact your insurance as mentioned let them handle it if not get attorney to send a letter and go to probate court and they may give in

Yep. Go to Probate court, and they will handle it for you pronto! No further problems.

They have “tow hearings” at your courthouse for illegal tows and the damages are triple, if you are found in the right. Towing companies HATE tow hearings.

Interesting. Never heard of "tow hearings". Can you explain more about them?

[Robert]

I was an Account Adjuster (repo man) for about 9 years. There are some very shady types out running around. The simple fact of the whole deal is the repo guy grabbed the wrong bike and did not check his paper work. If he was just cruising parking lots looking for anyone on some random list he was not 'hired' by the finance company. it sounds like this guy was freelancing. When you are hired by a lender they will send you all the proper paper work to recover their property. Most of the time local banks are the worst to do repos for they tend to not be completly up front with you 'the repo guy" or the customer 'the guy that is supposed to be making payments"

[Raypo]

I deal with these sort of claims on a very regular basis and mostly with tow related damages. An attorney is going to drag out, but most likely will force the tow company to claim the damage on their insurance. This is good and the most certain way of receiving a settlement. The 2 ways I would go (in my opinion)- 1st is an attorney and go after their insurance carrier. 2nd would be to claim it in your insurance and subrogate against theirs. Yes, you would experience a possible premium increase. These are the most direct ways that I see in getting paid. An attorney could possibly bring Harley into it, as the tow company is most likely binded by an independent contract. Harley owns some negligence in ensuring their contractors don’t tow the wrong bike.

As for small claims - you will win a judgement and then good luck getting paid. Houston and New Orleans have the most corrupt towing industries I have ever seen. They come and go, create new entities, and vanish.

Just my humble opinion. I wouldn’t let Harley off the hook just yet, you need the big name.

[Briar Friar]

I feel for you Wampusscat.

1) An honorable JP will make them pay. A lawyer is unnecessary.
2) file on insurance...its why you pay

Good luck. God bless!

[RLB]

Yep. Go to Probate court, and they will handle it for you pronto! No further problems.



Interesting. Never heard of "tow hearings". Can you explain more about them?

During Houston rodeo a few years ago, we pulled up front (as instructed by HLSR) to unload some gear. We were in three trucks and an HPD officer told us to park along the side street, unload and return to move the vehicles....we did as told, but when we returned all three trucks were gone...they had been towed. $180 each to get out....we told the officer there that we were told to park there by the officer working the entrance. When he was confronted he said, “oh well”. Long story short we went to traffic court and were told about the tow hearing. We all went, plead our case and won. We were returned all our money, but not awarded the treble damages, because there were “no parking” signs on the street. The judge felt we were mislead by the officer, but it shouldn’t be the fault of the tow company. Not sure if they still do it....but it was the city of Houston, not sure about Dallas.

[Wampuscat]

I deal with these sort of claims on a very regular basis and mostly with tow related damages. An attorney is going to drag out, but most likely will force the tow company to claim the damage on their insurance. This is good and the most certain way of receiving a settlement. The 2 ways I would go (in my opinion)- 1st is an attorney and go after their insurance carrier. 2nd would be to claim it in your insurance and subrogate against theirs. Yes, you would experience a possible premium increase. These are the most direct ways that I see in getting paid. An attorney could possibly bring Harley into it, as the tow company is most likely binded by an independent contract. Harley owns some negligence in ensuring their contractors don’t tow the wrong bike.

As for small claims - you will win a judgement and then good luck getting paid. Houston and New Orleans have the most corrupt towing industries I have ever seen. They come and go, create new entities, and vanish.

Just my humble opinion. I wouldn’t let Harley off the hook just yet, you need the big name.

The repo guy definitely didn’t do his due diligence in verifying he was getting the right bike. The event report from the Local PD showed a different license plate number than mine for the bike they were after. It was one number off. Plus they were after a 1997 Harley and mine is a 2015 model.

[Wampuscat]

During Houston rodeo a few years ago, we pulled up front (as instructed by HLSR) to unload some gear. We were in three trucks and an HPD officer told us to park along the side street, unload and return to move the vehicles....we did as told, but when we returned all three trucks were gone...they had been towed. $180 each to get out....we told the officer there that we were told to park there by the officer working the entrance. When he was confronted he said, “oh well”. Long story short we went to traffic court and were told about the tow hearing. We all went, plead our case and won. We were returned all our money, but not awarded the treble damages, because there were “no parking” signs on the street. The judge felt we were mislead by the officer, but it shouldn’t be the fault of the tow company. Not sure if they still do it....but it was the city of Houston, not sure about Dallas.

This took place in Alvin, and the repo company is from Pearland. Not Dallas.

[Wampuscat]

It’s been a month and no real updates. The court citation was delivered by a server, but the address on record didn’t list a suite number. It took a month to get the certified letter back from the USPS. No wonder people say it should be done away with. I got the address with the suite number and had it sent again.

As luck would have it, the kid driving the spotter car is the son of my cousin’s friend. He was fired that day even though his job was just to report when a vehicle pinged on their system. He wasn’t allowed to get out of his car to verify the vehicles found. That was the responsibility of the tow truck driver he told us the tow truck driver didn’t bother with any verification and knew he had the wrong type of truck for the job.

[jvswan]

This really sucks! For what it’s worth, the JP route will work out if you stick to it. I’ve done it before. You have to keep track of every penny you spend. Then, when you get to your first court date you will need to provide detailed documentation describing the damage and the cost to repair. You can also itemize all costs associated with trying to collect the money yourself. You also want to add the court fees and the process serving fees and whatnot. Even attorney fees if you consulted one. You’re also allowed interest based on how many months you’ve been waiting.

You’ll need to decide who to file your claim against. Presumably you’ve already chosen the repo company.

IF they show up for the first court date, the judge may ask y’all to go into arbitration. That will probably just delay things, but you gotta do it if the judge requests it. You need to show the judge good will. Remember that the JP is a normal person. Maybe he/she doesn’t even have formal law training. The judge will care about what’s right, not just what’s legal.

If the repo folks don’t show up, you’ll get a summary judgement for everything you are asking for. If you go to arbitration, you can stick to your cost break down, or maybe toss out the interest. Then you go back before the judge. If everything is up and up, the Judge will rule in your favor.

Here’s the cool part. After receiving the judgement, they have something like 30 days to pay. If you don’t get your money, you file a claim with the court, then the court sends officers to get the money. Once that happens, you get a check from the court for everything in the judgement plus extra interest and fees if there are any.

Ultimately, one way or another they will pay. The process takes a while. For me, it was a shifty appliance store and it took me six months to get $1,000 back. But at that point, it wasn’t about the money. I just wanted the jerk to pay.

[Man]

Its about the principle of the matter now. I have been through situations where its cost me more than the return purely on the principle that I was wronged.

[Wampuscat]

I’m starting to truly detest the legal system.

[Wampuscat]

HD finance is who the demand letter needs to go to.

Don’t forget about diminshed value...I’ll be happy to write up the appraisal on that portion of the claim for you

How do I go about getting a diminished value write-up?

[Wampuscat]

There isn't a charge to be filed. There was no "intent" for a theft. The repo guy has a defense to procescution because he had a repo order from the bank.

This is a civil case allllllll day long

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The targeted motorcycle's year, model, VIN, and license plate number were all different on the repo order from mine. The idiot driver put zero time and effort into verifying he had the correct motorcycle.