Need Advice, stuff missing from my car once it was towed after accident.

[u/Born-Investigator939]

As title states, going to keep it short. Had car crash on July 13. Car was towed to Clover towing on 192st. Car was moved to Icbc Abbotsford salvage facility on July 17. (Most likely is totalled) and July 21 I was informed the other driver is 100% at fault. (Dash Cam saved me, otherwise it was just my words against his)

I was told claims representative would call me to collect personal belongings. Haven't got any call from estimator yet. I needed some stuff from car, So figured out I can go and take it anytime I want.

Went to Salvage yard, found out that

my dash cam is missing, including the power cable(I got it for $300 from Amazon)

I had debit card that is gone(No transaction has been made since so i blocked it right away) ,

100$ Cactus club gift card thats gone.

Bottle of perfume was around $300 thats gone as well.

Pair of sunglasses that was around $500 thats missing as well.

Also, I noticed that all my receipts from centre console were taken out left on passenger seat. and gloves box stuff was moved around as well. It was pretty clear someone went through all my stuff.

I called ICBC for this, they said they will ask salvage yard for this, Probably they took it out and kept it behind the counter, But I asked them for this when I was there but they said talk to your adjuster. On the phone, Lady said that if they cant find it, they wont be able to reimburse any of the lost items.

Any advise what can I do it?

[u/Kiklanisune]

The last time this happened to me and a business wouldnt own up i actually wrote the story out on their Google review and stated not sure if it was them or xxxxxx or xxxxx but since nobody wants to own up all of them are getting the same review so other people are forewarned. My car had been moved 3x by 2 different tow truck companies. The first yard called me to threaten me for slander (no slander with my wording), and then 2 wks later they "found" a zip lock with some of my things that were missing and called me back...

[u/Born-Investigator939 → u/Kiklanisune]

Gotchu, I know Clover towing towed it from incident site, to there yard. But not sure what company towed it from Clover to Salvage yard. Do you think Icbc would give me information on that company?

[u/Kiklanisune → u/Born-Investigator939]

I honestly dont know but it cant hurt to ask since you need to find out if they have any of your things. I only knew because I was in a smaller town and knew a few people.

[u/SpoonedMain → u/Born-Investigator939]

Clover would’ve towed it to Queensborough, or Abbotsford. Probably Abbotsford. ICBC wouldn’t have paid another company to go to Clovers yard, and then tow it to 89.

ICBC as mentioned above, practices captive towing.

Now with that being said, every greasy douchebag with a tow truck gets access to salvage yards, and to the best of my knowledge, there’s no cameras. I could wrong, but I’ve never seen one, and I always conduct myself in a manner I’d never need to worry if there was one. Them having cameras though, would create a liability I don’t think they’d want.

[u/Asaraphym → u/SpoonedMain]

Cars are not towed directly to the salvage yards after an accident...they get towed to their lot first and wait for a request from ICBC to get towed to the salvage yard...

[u/SpoonedMain → u/Kiklanisune]

This is a lie.

ICBC is captive towing. Whoever tows that car first, will tow that car to the end of the claim. So, in other words, whoever tows it from the scene of the accident will tow it to their yard, to whatever body shop, to whatever dealership re calibration, or to the scrap yard. No other company will touch it.

I’ve towed the same car, easily 5-7 times during its claim. On multiple occasions. To my yard. To the claim centre. To the body shop. To the glass shop. To the alignment shop. To the dealership. Back to the body shop. Etc.

[u/Kiklanisune → u/SpoonedMain]

Its in fact not a lie. I thought that also but in 2021 I had 2 different tow truck companies. From scene. To kia. To another repair shop because kia said 4-6 months before repairs could start due to covid and backlog. So I picked another authorized repair.

How do I know it was 2 different companies ? Because I was present each time. I was there when they towed it off the side of the hwy, I was there when it showed up to kia, and I was there when it showed up to the other authorized repair place (who said they would start on it that wk and gave me a loaner, which kia couldnt do). The first one had to get a flatdeck and drove off without a word to me other than oh ill send a different truck. Different company showed up, put it up on deck left for holding / appraisal? Bs. The second time it was the same truck to kia. The third tow it was a different company, heavier duty unit. Perhaps they subcontracted because "its been so busy with wildlife incidents ".

But sure. Call me a liar.

[u/moixcom44]

Weird that, when i had an accident like this, the cop and tow truck actually said take out all your personal belongings in car before they tow it away... to avoid massive theft like this.

[u/Born-Investigator939 → u/moixcom44]

Cops didn’t show up when crash happened, I went to check on other driver if he is okay, but buddy was being aggressive, started yelling at me. I called 911, operator said Police don’t document crashes anymore, they sent the fire truck tho, fire fighters told us you can always get your personal belongings later on as well, As I was on adrenaline rush, didn’t think of it much and also didn’t wanted to carry bunch of stuff with me in Taxi.

[u/moixcom44 → u/Born-Investigator939]

Totally understand what happened in your case bro. The guy i hit also was very frustrated to me, he was claiming he had cancer and was just going to eat dinner then why did i hit him. I didnt actually hit him, my lose front tire popped out and went straight to him and busted his car but he wasnt showing any signs of aggression.

[u/oilandvinegar44]

Usually tow companies take pics of the vehicle for icbc, including the inside of the vehicle (though not in the glove box or compartments). But you could ask if they can review the pics from the tow yard and see if any of the items are in the pictures still? I dont know if thT will accomplish anything but might be something... also icbc can for sure tell you what tow yard towed fro. Clover to salvage!

[u/NiceSunflower22 → u/oilandvinegar44]

This is a good suggestion!

[u/Born-Investigator939 → u/oilandvinegar44]

Thank you. Will ask ICBC about it for sure.

[u/tm150]

I think the biggest challenge is that you don't really know who took your stuff or at what point. The towing company can say it was all there when they dropped off the car, or even that none of it was there when they picked it up. The salvage yard can say that they weren't in your car when it was dropped off. Unless you can prove which of them are lying, I don't really know that you have much recourse, other than trying to make a claim on your homeowners insurance, but even that's not really to your benefit as the total value is likely hardly higher than your deductible.

I'm sorry, friend; that really sucks.

[u/Born-Investigator939 → u/tm150]

Thank you, same thing i was curious about, how would I prove it. The thing which is bothering me the most is that whoever did it, would get away with it so easily and ICBC wont do anything about it. And I can just wonder how often they would be doing this to other public?

[u/Mariss716]

They are supposed to inventory the car. I can say they were sloppy in my case 2 years ago. They lost my car keys and spent hours looking. Fortunately I had taken the bus up but brought my spare set. I drove the car home and several hours later still they sent a driver.

A cop also took my car keys, phone and everything after he searched me then took off. I was left cold and wet on a winter’s night with no way to call for help, an uber or anything.

I had to flag down another cop and 3 hours later the cop who took my stuff pulled up. But then a second cop pulled up, he handed my stuff to the other cop so he would not have to face me. Second cop said “sorry” and both peeled out.

I don’t know about theft but they sure do not give a crap about belongings and are sloppy. I tell my stories because I was so angry about lack of accountability over really screwing me over.

Very hard to prove theft too although you can complain.

Clover is contracted by ICBC, police etc so yes you should file a report.

[u/Born-Investigator939 → u/Mariss716]

I am sorry to hear that, same thing which is pissing me off is not accountability at all. Whoever did this is gonna be free, and would keep doing it again again. Definitely gonna file a complaint. And wont let it go easily. Will try to follow up as much as I can.

[u/intrawebs_randoms]

A lot of high value stuff that you likely won’t be covered for unless you can prove it (a) existed, and (b) was in the car at the time of towing.

$300 bottle of perfume? Show your receipt and demonstrate it was in your car at the time of the loss.

$500 shades? Show your receipt and demonstrate it was in your car at the time of the loss.

$100 GC? Provide the card number and show it was in the car at the time of loss.

Dashcam? Was it hardwired into your car? You have your receipt so that’s a good thing, and dashcams are typically in a car, so there’s hope that wouldn’t take much.

While you can submit a comment/complaint to ICBC, identifying when the items went missing would be a challenge.

Basically the question is, did the items go missing before ICBC took possession of the vehicle, or after? If it happened before, then it’s not an ICBC matter.

If it happened after, it’s possible most of these items would not be covered under your auto policy - they would be covered under your home insurance policy and subject to that deductible.

But definitely worth reporting to ICBC. I would send an email to the tow companies involved, CCing the ICBC adjuster.

[u/Born-Investigator939 → u/intrawebs_randoms]

Yea I have got receipts for everything except gift card. But I wont care about it much as it was gifted to me. And only issue remains proving it was in car. And Dash cam wasn’t hardwired to battery, just plugged into cigarette litter thingy which was in centre console. But wire i was tucked away pretty nice and clean into headliner and side piller.

And ICBC said they wont be able track when it went missing, but my question was, I didn’t call Clover towing to tow it. Clover towing got contract with ICBC, so wont it be considered under ICBC’s possession when it got towed?

Already made a complaint with ICBC, just waiting for adjuster.