Is ICBC allowed to do this?
 

So a friend of mine got into an accident a couple days ago, and it was a slight hit on the passenger front fender where it got pushed in to the point of touching the tires. It happened in the downtown area and was first towed by Drake's towing services to their yard because it all happened late on a Saturday night. After dealing with ICBC, we have agreed for it to be towed to an ICBC claims center to inspect the damage.

**THE KEY HERE IS THAT HE HAD AGREED TO GIVE CONSENT FOR HAVING IT TOWED THERE, AND NOTHING ELSE.**


Today, he got a call informing him that the car is declared a total lost because the labor for fixing it costs more than the value of the vehicle itself. (Seriously, the hit is not bad at all, but the value of the car is just not very high at this point). What pissed him off was the following sentence "We gathered all your belongings in bags for you, so you can pick them up when you view the car." That wasn't right, he never asked them to do it, and he was never told that people will be "gathering" items from the vehicle. At this point, he is getting worried some of the belongings might "mysteriously" go missing and there is no proof for saying it was there in the first place. How can they just go and take stuff without asking? Isn't that technically stealing? Aren't they violating some sort of laws here?

Is there something he can do about this? I mean, there were no consent given at any point in having anyone enter the vehicle and touch his stuff. Is there some sort of complaint that he can do?



**ICBC haters, show me your stuff. :confused:

:Popcorn

Odd behavior, yes. But since they now technically 'own' the car they should have the right to clean it out, correct?

Since it was towed there, doubt his friend signed the release form yet. So they don't own the car at that moment.


Get a lawyer if stuff are missing

As far as I know, it is not theirs until he signs the salvage release form, which was never shown to him at all... let alone having it signed.

Info taken from #2: http://www.icbc.com/claims/repair_replace/writeoff

If you're accusing someone of stealing your stuff you need to prove that it was stolen. What proof does this friend have that it was there in the first place? What proof does he have that it was ICBC or the towing company that stole it? You need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that such an act was committed to win a case.

Get a lawyer? Yeah, for what? They'll just laugh at you.

Exactly, it was dumb for him to not take everything with him in the first place as the whole "proofing" situation is pretty much impossible. However, at that point in time, he didn't really think this far... he only grabbed the important documents and whatever was in front of him. The point here is not about getting everything back, but the fact that they went into his car to grab the things without informing him at all.

Yeah, that's pretty messed up and I'm sure someone dropped the ball somewhere but I would first make sure that nothing was missing before making assumptions/accusations.

So go have a look at what is in the bags and see if anything is missing. Pray that there isn't but prepare for the worst.

For removing items from the car before signing the release form.

Ok.......

And then what?

Then go grab a drink :cool:

What criminal offense was committed?

"A reasonable person would've removed all valuables before their vehicle was towed"

Honestly, your buddy wasn't hospitalized and seemed fully capable of grabbing what he needed out of his ride. If there was anything important enough for a wrecker to steal it was important enough to walk away with when he last saw the car.

always take all your shit before anyone touches your car. is that so hard to understand?

i even do that when i bring the car in for service.
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word.

Not necessarily referring to the fact that something may be missing, but considering that they've already declared the car a write-off, and took out all personal belongings without the owner consenting to the salvage paperwork... well, it's still technically the guys car, not ICBC's. See something wrong with that picture?

:banghead:

The OP stated it happened late on a Saturday night, so likely they were given a ride home after the car was towed to the yard. Not everyone can take everything out of their car and strap it to their backs.

When my MX6 caught fire, it was towed to Drake's. I managed to grab the HU from my stereo, my Megasquirt ECU (so no one could start the car... though, I obviously wasn't thinking at the time because the engine was one big lump of char... lol), my backpack with my laptop, and my suit. I was on my way to Portland for a wedding, so I had a ton of stuff in my car. I had to leave about $500 of automotive tools in the trunk, $1000 of stereo equipment, and a few other things. I had to walk about a dozen blocks to a friends place. You can't reasonably expect someone to be able to grab everything out of their car as soon as an incident/accident occurs and haul it with them before the car is towed, especially if it's in an area that it needs to be moved ASAP.

Maybe he should look through the bag of belongings first before he jumps into panic mode.

maybe when ur friend agrreed to send it to claims center to inspect it, it was implied that ur friend was gonna go through with insurance all the way.

That is precisely the point here, the belongings are not worth more than 400-500 max, but it's the fact that they are treating the vehicle as theirs when it wasn't. That is what I am inquiring about.

getting all in a fuss before you even see if anything is missing is a bit pre-emptive, no?

x2

Relax dudes.

:haha::haha::haha: lol

Most tow truck drivers are sketchy enough that I'd remove anything of value before handing it over to them and then there are the people(not necessarily employees) at the "towing company yard" where your friend had it towed.If anything is missing they are going to have to prove at which point the items went missing.

I myself am confused about ICBC's power to take your car from you after an accident in a shady manner, they tend to act like the car was their property in the first place with cases like this.
What more can we conclude by their shady behavior than them repairing the vehicle and trying to make a profit on it like they used to do with their write off scandal.
Let's say the op's friend has a very strong emotional attachment to the car and he wants it back, what can be done to prevent ICBC from screwing him over and taking his car, just tow it back to your house ?


I think any reasonably smart person would still suspect the write off scam is still going on there, cuz at the end of the day government related agencies will do what they please. But what upsets most people is the way ICBC thinks and their lack of ethics, they got it in their head that ...

"Ok this guy's car is a loss, we have to give him 20 grand and we're gonna take his car as a total loss.... so we're gonna repair his car and sell it to make back as much of that 20 grand back possible"


common sense and law dictates it's monthly and yearly payments is where ICBC is supposed to pool money to give out to victims, they're not allowed to try to make it back illegally like they've been proven to do.

Even if item was not stolen, can they just remove people's stuff without owner's consent?
is it legal or illegal? it should be yes or no answer.

you can call lawyer for invasion of privacy? the car was not ICBC's property too.

I don't think ICBC has an authority to do all these stuff?