Seattle area mags - could use some help or input!

So back in Sept 2022 my Honda CRF230L dual sport was stolen near Randle WA. Reported it to Lewis Co Sheriff, never thought I'd see it again.


Over the weekend I got a notice in the mail from a tow company saying my bike was recovered and is in their impound lot, accruing fees fast. Located in Puyallup.


I did some math - even leaving immediately for the 20hr drive I'd be in for over $1k of impound fees plus $600+ gas and around 4 days of my time. I only paid $2k for this bike 10 years ago. I was just going to let it go since the letter warned they would auction it off if not picked up.


Today I get another letter saying it will be auctioned off after 15 days from the notice date but that I will be liable for any excess of impound fees over auction price. "After" sounds suspiciously like they can sit on it for a while and let the fees pile up. That I would be liable for any deficiency was not mentioned on the original letter. Seems like generally this is limited to $500 but not when the impound is at the direction of a police officer, which this was (guy got pulled over for no licence plate and my bike was in the back of the truck and impounded when it was found to be stolen.) Things read like the tow company could pursue a court order for me to pay and that this order could be recognized and enforced in CA. I don't know whether they would bother with this but wouldn't be surprised if it was part of their business model.


Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? If I pay the fees is there anyone locally who could pick it up for me? Anyone want to buy a cheap 230L? It actually looks to be in pretty good shape from the pics posted below.


Tomorrow I'm going to talk to a couple places that buy motos and see what they say.


https://www.instagram.com/p/DJUYU2cszb4/?img_index=1

Good time for the forum to come back, though not sure many will see this! Thanks for lookin'

Did you get paid out by insurance when it was stolen? That could play a role here, too.

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Unfortunately no. I called them to make a claim and was promptly reminded that I only had the minimum liability insurance on it. No dice. It would be awesome if I could let them take ownership of it so I didn't have to deal with it.

I think Ive found a guy nearby who can pick it up for me Thursday and store it for a few days if I pay the fees up front. Then I would pick it up from him early next week. Was hoping not to have to drive all the way up there and get it but I can at least turn it into a mini mountain bike road trip. I dont really have room to store it at my place and will have to sell it regardless, a big reason I was hoping it could just be sold at auction and be done with it. At best with fees and trip costs I'd come close to breaking even which is not worth the time to drive up there. But with the prospect of much greater loss hopefully I can come close to breaking even by getting it back and selling it. Will have to fix up whatever is wrong with it (likely ignition and carb clean) and then deal with DMV.

I called AAA and they told me DMV didnt have it recorded as stolen and may want close to $800 in back registration and penalties. I sent in paperwork at the time to notify them and have never received renewal notices. So just more BS to deal with.... Hopefully I can get the DMV fees wiped out. But it sucks to get your moto back only to have to sell it to recover the costs of recovering the bike.

That's fucked up that you get victimized twice. Impound company should be charged with possessing stolen property and not returning it to the rightful owner, free of charge. Legalized theft.

Yeah, talk about adding insult to injury. I'd tell them all to fuck off and not pay a dime to anybody. Whole thing sounds like a scam.

If you're willing to write-off the bike, then ignore those cocksuckers.

It will cost them money to force you to pay their "fees".

Ignore them and let it go. Your realistic worst case scenario is that it'll be a ding on your credit.

If they go after you for excess fees, they'll start with putting it in some manner of collections, which will likely go on your credit report. You can dispute this (and it'll show as disputed on your credit), but it probably won't go away (it'll eventually go away - probably after 7 years). If they want to actually pursue the money, they'd need to sue you. The biggest complication for them is that they'd likely need to sue you in your home state, and they'd need to serve you. Both of which are expensive propositions that they're probably not going to bother with over the relatively nominal amount of money at issue.

If it was just a matter of going to collections I wouldnt be concerned. My credit score is well over 800 right now and I have no purchases planned that would require credit.

Reading WA regs it sounds like the tow company could pursue a court order for me to pay and that this order could be recognized and enforced in CA. If so would they try to recover any collection and/or legal fees as well. Im mostly concerned about this snowballing on me by ignoring it. The impound fees keep growing $75/day (+tax of course).

Ive been thinking of calling them and say this is the max I can afford to pay, will you work with me. If they do that costs me a bit of money but at least it caps my liability.

What a pain in the ass.

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Originally Posted by evdog

If it was just a matter of going to collections I wouldnt be concerned. My credit score is well over 800 right now and I have no purchases planned that would require credit. Reading WA regs it sounds like the tow company could pursue a court order for me to pay and that this order could be recognized and enforced in CA. If so would they try to recover any collection and/or legal fees as well. Im mostly concerned about this snowballing on me by ignoring it. The impound fees keep growing $75/day (+tax of course). Ive been thinking of calling them and say this is the max I can afford to pay, will you work with me. If they do that costs me a bit of money but at least it caps my liability. What a pain in the ass.

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They won&#39;t be able to get a court order without serving you.&nbsp; And realistically, serving papers from a Washington court to a person in California is going to be more complicated / expensive than anything they&#39;re going to do.</p>

Good point.. Especially because I'm pretty much never home.

Sounds like a case for Jesse Jones


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Had to look up who that is. Assuming he's the consumer protection Jesse Jones, sounds like they pulled the plug on him last year.

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Originally Posted by evdog

Had to look up who that is. Assuming he's the consumer protection Jesse Jones, sounds like they pulled the plug on him last year.

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Ha. He used to be the local investigative journalist that would help unfuck people from shitty scenarios.

Guess he does other stuff now.


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Originally Posted by AK47bp

Sounds like a case for Jesse Jones Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

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Originally Posted by evdog

Had to look up who that is. Assuming he&#39;s the consumer protection Jesse Jones, sounds like they pulled the plug on him last year.

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Originally Posted by AK47bp

Ha. He used to be the local investigative journalist that would help unfuck people from shitty scenarios. Guess he does other stuff now. Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

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He also scams people here in Gear Swap.</p>

Hahaha.

So I may have a resolution incoming. I decided contrary to the latest advice which was to ignore it, that I&#39;d call and see if tow company would cut me a deal or even let me just sign it over to them. They wouldn&#39;t budge on impound/storage fees. But they would let me sign it over. For a fee of course! And why make things easy...this can only be done in person, with payment in cash. I had already found a couple people who were willing to help me by picking it up. But the fees by now are $1200 and it would still be 1200+ miles way. So one of the guys is going to take them money tomorrow and I&#39;ll be done with it.

If anyone wants a cheap bike it&#39;ll be up for auction on June 5th! Cash only, in person.

I would still definitely imply that they knowingly took in a stolen bike. Might get you some leverage. "How did you end up with my stolen bike?" "Maybe you should call the cops first" etc

Not going to attempt to quote Danno, but, “You can find him in the Alps!”

I wouldn't get far with the stolen bike argument. Everyone knows it was stolen. The impoundment was requested by the cops who busted the driver with it.

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