Call Kurtis: Tow Truck Damaged My Car During a Tow

ELK GROVE (CBS13) -- No one likes being in a car wreck, but when a tow truck comes to your aid, what happens if they leave even more damage?

An Elk Grove mother decided it was time to Call Kurtis.

After the solo car accident., she called her insurance, and the insurance company called the tow company.

Patricia Hunt said the tow company caused even more damage to her car.

Her car was stuck on a decorative rock in a parking lot.

"It was so quick and so startling," she said. "I had never imagined that such a thing could happen."

Embarrassed, Hunt didn't see that decorative rock while driving.

Hunt called her insurance company, Ameriprise, which dispatched a tow truck.

"They put some straps on both sides of my car and they they lifted it up," Hunt said.

But she said those two straps caused even more damage, crumpling her two front fenders and popping the bumper out.

When she tried to get the tow company to pay for the damage, they pointed to a slip they say she signed, which says the tow company "will not be responsible for any damages to this car."

So does that really release the tow company from all liability?

Consumer attorney Stuart Talley says no -- they still have to do everything in their power to prevent damage.

He thinks Hunt's insurance company should help her out. After all, they hired the tow company.

"It was the insurance company's decision on who to hire to come out and tow the vehicle. So they should be responsible," Talley said.

But Hunt said Ameriprise said they'd only cover the extra damage if she paid a second deductible of $250.

"It's absolutely insane." she said. "It just shouldn't be this way."

When we reached out to Ameriprise, a spokesperson told us the company isn't responsible, but then agreed to "cover 100 percent of the costs of the damage sustained to the car as a result of the towing," calling it "a unique case."

Hunt is relieved, but now plans on switching insurers.

"I'm gonna get somebody who appreciates my business," she said.

The tow company told Call Kurtis it did everything by the book here, and told Hunt there could be more damage to her car when they removed it from the rock.

Hunt tells Call Kurtis that didn't happen, and she said she wouldn't have agreed to that.