(Newswire.net — July 20, 2015) — Cajon Pass – Tow companies seem to have hit the jackpot after a firestorm destroyed vehicles on the I-15 freeway. Car owners, who were forced to abandon their vehicles caught up in flames, were charged with high prices for towing what was left of their vehicles.
The fire spread to social media as aggravated car owners complained that they had been charged $1,000 or more in towing fees.
“They are charging $220 an hour to all those people that abandoned their cars at … Cajon Pass yesterday,” the Sun’s Doug Saunders cited one Facebook post. “The family my brother saved yesterday is having to pay well over $2,600 to get her car out and every hour she waits, the more it goes up.”
According to the Sun, California Highway Patrol officials quickly responded on the complaints and launched an investigation to probe the tow companies.
“We called in several tow companies we had on rotation,” the Sun quoted Inland CHP spokesman Steve Carpia who added that they began to investigate immediately after finding out about the story.
“When we learned of the complaints we began to investigate, eventually resolving this issue,” he said.
Some tow companies, however, disputed they overcharged the drivers for towing burned wrecks out of the road.
“Our company does not operate on people’s hopelessness, and any illegal activity or overcharging,” said Richard Monroy, the manager of Gonzales Tow, in a statement quoted by the Sun. “We understand the public’s concerns and decided we will not be a tow company who will profit from the obvious situation,” he allegedly said. Monroy added that the time involved clearing vehicles from the freeway will be donated to San Bernardino County.
Gloria Chairez, who owns the AZX Auto Transport operation in Fontana, agrees with the car owners saying “they should be mad at the towing companies,” that charged towing their cars.
“I own my own car carrier company. I went up to carry their cars down for free because it was the right thing to do,” she stated.
“I couldn’t believe the tow companies were literally clawing and fighting for those vehicles, adding up the dollars as each one they obtained,” Chairez told the Sun, calling the tow companies who charged towing vehicles burned in 15 freeway firestorm “a sorry part of my industry.”
Reportedly, twenty vehicles on the freeway were destroyed and 10 more were damaged by the Cajon Pass firestorm, officials said.