i have a question... if the owner had storage insurance until May of this year.... and gets stolen during the May long weekend, and they just recover the vehicle now... which is technically long after his insurance expired back in May of this year, will he still be on the hook for the tow?

isn't there something where after x period of time it becomes the tow truck's property? if not then their lot can get full after x amount of years of unclaimed vehicles???

The day of theft happened / police report filed is the day they would use.

The question is have you settled with them yet?

I was thinking the same thing. Just don't pay for the bill until the truck becomes the property of the towing lot.

Are you suggesting that I pay for it? Or the towing company? Or the uninvolved and unpaid ICBC? Or who? This "anyone but me" response is bullshit.

Thinking the same as most here,

the guy can just say eff it and not pay right? The tow truck company will keep the truck.?

There must be some kind of procedure for an owner to formally declare a car is stolen, that he/she waited a reasonable length of time, and now he/she is dissolving ownership and no longer responsible for anything that happens to it. Anyone know?

We don't know the full story.. eg maybe the guy was righting with ICBC to go him a better deal for the written off? (so technically the truck still belongs to him). We all see how many people even in this forum fighting with ICBC on difference a car is worth in a write off.

If I remember correctly, the tow truck have to file paperwork to keep the truck, it is not automatic.

Yup.
I think they go through this process.

Repossess or seize a vehicle

curiosity got the best of me so I asked ICBC this question and here was their response:

So I guess basically if you transfer a vehicle to your name, you are always officially responsible for it, no matter what happens to it, and for an unlimited length of time. The only way to remove your name and dissolve any responsibility is to transfer it to someone else.

I guess it makes sense. Using the fridge analogy from earlier, if someone steals your fridge and dumps in the forest, and they find your fridge, it's still your fridge and you're responsible for going to pick it up.

with no comprehensive insurance covering the threft of the truck, his vehicle is not insured by ICBC. ICBC would not be paying him out for the truck.

exactly.


Some people in this thread seem to think ICBC is automatic and should automatically pay the bill regardless. If you don't have coverage from ICBC, ICBC is not involved in the claim/recovery. If you did have coverage from ICBC, once ICBC declares your vehicle stolen/lost/gone, you sign off on it, effectively transferring responsibility of it to them

It is YOUR CHOICE to purchase comprehensive insurance from ICBC. if you do, ICBC will cover the vehicle loss as the vehicle becomes their responsibility once you sign the claim settlement. If you do NOT, it will remain your responsibility.



Even if you buy a vehicle back after a write off, strip it, and haul it to a junk yard, you should have a paper trail via a receipt from the junk yard.

Yup. Made this mistake many years ago. Parted out a rusted CRX and paid some tow truck guy $20 to scrap the shell. Instead, he left it in some alley way and the city of Richmond contacted me about the car left on the street with no plates.
Luckily, they were nice enough to waive all parking tickets and they contacted another tow company to take the car away and all I had to do was go to their tow yard to fill out the transfer form.

When my car was scrapped, I believe I had to use a transfer form to transfer ownership of the vehicle to them. Bear in mind this was almost 10 years ago and I did it through one of those "recycle your junk car for a credit" things the gov't did, so they may have only needed it transferred to prove it to the gov't.