HIGH POINT, N.C. — Lexus Cherry remembers the morning well. Her toddler was playing on the front porch while Cherry was doing some work inside.
“My son was like, 'Mom where’s the car?' He’s three so I did not realize what he meant,” Cherry said.
A few hours later, Cherry went outside and realized her son asked a legitimate question — the car was gone.
“At first I was like, I paid (the lease) on my car, did it get repossessed? So I called call just to see,” Cherry said.
The leasing company confirmed the car had not been repossessed and that’s when Cherry realized someone stole it.
“After that, I panicked and called 911,” Cherry said.
An officer with the High Point Police Department came out and filed a report. The vehicle was entered into a statewide database so any officer from any city could tell it was stolen if it was reported.
A few days went by and Cherry never heard from the police or anyone else. Days turned into weeks and eventually, it was almost five weeks with no news. A couple of days later, Cherry received a letter in the mail from DMV.
“They said my car, with the VIN, was at this location,” Cherry said.
The car was in a tow yard in Greensboro. The vehicle was ditched at a mobile home community and the tow company picked it up. The frustrating part for Cherry is that it was towed just two days after it was stolen.
“The tow company tells me I have to pay $2,000,” Cherry said.
The tow company charged Cherry for the towing and multiple days of storage. Cherry said she explained the situation, but the owner was not willing to lower the price.
“It was pretty obvious the (car) was stolen, so I feel like I’m being robbed twice,” Cherry said.
At that point, Cherry called WFMY News 2 for some help in the matter. We contacted the tow company and at first, were told Cherry had to pay the full price of $2,000 if she wanted her car.
Even after we also explained the car was stolen and Cherry could provide a police report, the company would not lower the price.
We then reached out to several police agencies to understand how something like this could happen and if everything was being handled legally.
Police confirmed there are no requirements placed on tow companies to notify police if a vehicle is towed. The tow company is required to notify DMV within 15 days and in this case, that’s exactly what the tow company did.
DMV sent a letter to Cherry notifying her of the car being found and where it was located. Unfortunately, the notice took a little longer than it should have, because the key to her mailbox was in the stolen car. By the time her apartment complex gave her a new key, the letter had most likely been sitting in her mailbox for a week or so.
We continued to reach out to the tow company to see if they’d be willing to lower the price because Cherry said she couldn’t afford to pay $2,000. The towing company did agree to drop the price to $1,000 but only gave her a few days to come up with the money.
“There should be some type of protocol for towing companies to contact police before picking up a car,” Cherry said.
It seems like a logical idea and one that certainly would have saved Cherry a lot of heartache and money. The reality, however, is that towing companies aren’t required to notify the police, and while some may, it’s not required.
The policy in place seems to benefit the towing companies who can charge people hundreds or in this case, thousands of dollars for storing a car while they wait for the DMV to notify the owner.
If towing companies call the police after finding a car illegally parked, or in this case, stolen, the owner would be notified in a day or two. The storage fee after 48 hours is a lot less than 30 to 40 days.
Getting State Legislators Involved
After talking with Cherry, the towing company, and police, we decided to reach out to state legislatures to see if anything could be done.
“Clearly, we need to amend state law to accommodate circumstances like this,” North Carolina State Representative Pricey Harrison said.
The current system doesn’t sit well with Rep. Harrison, who doesn’t like knowing a person is in some ways victimized twice.
“We (the state) should not be in the business of keeping (towing companies), boosting their revenue at the expense of innocent victims,” Harrison said.
While it won’t happen soon, Rep. Harrison does plan to look at changes to the current system and would like to see a law in effect that requires tow companies to notify police or have access to a stolen vehicle database before towing a car.
As for Cherry, she was not able to make the $1,000 payment to get her car out of storage, so she had to forfeit the vehicle.
It’s important to know that some insurance policies would cover or help cover a towing storage fee in a case like this when the car is stolen, but Cherry only had liability insurance. If you’re concerned about something like this, you should reach out to your insurance agent for guidance.