Tens of thousands of storm cars were declared totals loss vehicles by major insurance carriers but now many of the former owners of those vehicles are being ticketed when the cars are turning up abandoned throughout the city and on Long Island.
It’s a problem that could turn out to be a nightmare of epidemic proportions for the former owners of vehicles lost to the flood waters of Hurricane Sandy.
Motorists who lost their cars to Sandy are now being ticketed for violations on cars they are no longer in posession of.
“It’s gonna add major insult to already serious injury,” says Jimmy Aurora, co-owner of Sonny’s Collision in Ozone Park. His shop handled thousands of cars claimed by the storm and now he says his customers have turned to him and his staff desperately seeking help and advice.
The problem, Aurora says, is due to the fact that somewhere along the line, someone has certainly avoided their due diligence and has left thousands of car owners in a vulnerable and potentially costly situation.
It started about two weeks ago according to him. “We started getting phone calls from our customers who absolutely were flawed by letters they were receiving in the mail. They [letters] were requests to pay overdue tickets, the only problem was the tickets were for cars that they had surrendered to their insurance company months before.
“I have a totally different vehicle now,” said Howard Beach resident James Jordan. “My car was picked up by Farmers insurance company back in December.”
That is why, Jordan says he can’t understand why he’s getting notices to pay exorbitant fines for his former vehicle not having a registration or inspection.
“They say my car was parked on a street in the Bronx , and maybe it is,” said a perplexed Jordan, “but I sure didn’t leave it there. Hell it’s not my car anymore.”
And he says he took the advice of the folks at Sonny’s and called his insurance company right away. “They told me not to worry about it that they would take care of the whole thing.” But Jordan says he’s not taking any chances and intends to follow up on the situation to make sure that the tickets have been dismissed.
Meanwhile it isn’t only standard tickets for expired stickers in the window tht’s ringing up bills for unsuspecting motorists.
One man, known only as Al, said he received a $500 fine for his vehicle having been left abandoned in front of a residential property in Long Island.
And Aurora warns that the recent wave of calls is only the tip of the iceberg. “When you stop to think about the typical scenario here, it is a disaster for car owners.
In explaining one of the most serious pitfalls of the situation, Aurora explained that a car owner who surrendered their vehicle to the insurance company as a total loss and retained their old license plates could really be in trouble.
“Let’s say you kept your old plates to put on your new vehicle,” expalianed Aurora. “Your car was sold by your insurance company to an industry professional known as a dismantler who strips the car of what it wants and is then supposed to dispose of it.” But
where the problem comes in The Forum has learned, is that these companies are not disposing of cars properly and instead leaving them on the streets. With no plates for identifcation purposes, ticketing agencies use the VIN number of the car leading them back to the original owner.
“Now they have issued you a summons. You don’t know about it because you don’t get the actual copy of the ticket. Fines and penalties contnue to acrue and now you are eligible for towing. Your old plate is now on your new car and when they come looking what they find is old plates on new car and you windup on the end of a towing hook.”
A temporaary suggestion t safeguard your
self is to call your insurance company at once to make sure of the wherabouts of your old vehicle and also to check onlin at the DMV website to see if you have any tickets you don’t know of.
As of press time The Forum was still awaiting response from IAA and Copart who are responsible for the vasst majority of pickups and disposal of the flood cars.
Please watch for The Forum’s follow up of this exclusive story next week.
By Patricia Adams
