Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Probably not. The company is probably not required to charge you and the other owner the same amount of money. If the amount you were charged is legal, it shouldn't matter that someone else was charged less for a similar tow.

Besides, the two towing jobs might not have been as similar as you say. Getting your car out of its spot might have been harder than getting the other one, for example. Or maybe the driver had to get into your car but not the other one. And if the same tow truck was used for both cars, then one car was put into storage well before the other and accrued more storage fees as a result.

Hoffman should stick to LA LA Law. Towing in the City and County of San Francisco is a franchise with fixed rates for tows and storage. You should contest the charges with the MTA, DPT. Go to the SFGov.org website and look up the Dept. of Parking and Traffic. Somewhere in that part of the site is information on contesting towing and storage charges. The information should be on your ticket too. Worst case you got charged the right amount and the other guy got under-charged, in which case you're stuck. But often enough they can't even process the dispute fast enough and issue a refund because their time ran out.

Tim McCormick

Former Deputy City Attorney, City and County of San Francisco

I have read Mr. McCormick's terse evaluation of my answer, and I have reviewed the website he describes. (You can find it at http://www.sfgov.org/site/police_index.asp?id=99629.) I stand by my earlier response. It is Mr. McCormick who is mistaken.

San Francisco imposes *maximum* towing and storage rates, not *fixed* rates as Mr. McCormick says. If the rates were fixed then the towing company would indeed have been required to charge you the same amount it charged the other driver. But because they actually are not fixed, the company was free to charge different amounts as long as neither exceeded the maximum. As I originally wrote, "If the amount you were charged is legal, it shouldn't matter that someone else was charged less for a similar tow."

I encourage you to review the page yourself to see if your charges exceed the maximum allowed by the city. If they do (and if your car was in the city when it was towed, which is not clear from your question), then you have a case. Otherwise, you probably don't. Either way, what matters is how your charges compare to the limits set by the city, not how they compare to the charges assessed to the other driver.

Before I close, let me add that it is possible both of you were overcharged. The other driver may want to check the same webpage and see whether he has a claim.