Misleading information - In my view it is theft

My son was in an accident driving my vehicle. They called me from the scene to say there is a gentleman there who wants to tow the car. My initial response was NO! They put the tow driver Shaun onto the phone who said to me, the car is a write off, instead of towing it to my house, let him tow it to there yard, where they can buy the vehicle from me. His exact words was and I quote "for example if the value of the vehicle is R30k, we will do an assessment and offer you maybe R15k" I said that's sounds good. The lady who was on the scene asked him about storage etc, to which he rep**** no storage as they going to buy the vehicle. 2 days later I phone the towing company only to be given a shock of my life. the lady on the phone said they cannot release the vehicle until I pay them R9800.00 ! I asked her for what? She said towing charges R4500 ex vat, tow driver time R2500 ex vat, admin fee, storage fee etc brings the total after only 2 days to R9800! my response was this is ridiculous as I have not been informed about any of the charges she is mentioning. I decided to go there personally only to get this most horrific rude treatment ever. The manager Ronelle Simpson was exceptionally rude and would not listen to me but kept referring me to the fine print on the back of the towing slip. I told her since this whole thing was done telephonically, the tow driver was to read every clause to me before getting my consent and not feed me lies. To which she responded, he don't have to do anything of that sort. I asked to speak to the tow driver, she said I was not allowed to. Because of the many questions I asked and the fight I put up, they cannot make me an offer on the vehicle! And I found it odd that a towing company asked me if I still owed on the vehicle. When I said no, they said they cant find a buyer. They can keep the car but they must know at some point you get caught.

How many people are they getting this same way. I am a single parent battling to get buy and you find companies further bringing you down.

My question to all the big insurance companies who is contracted to A1 Assist, did you check the legitimacy of the companies BEE status or don't you take BEE into account when awarding contracts? When I visited the A1 Assist yard, it is predominately white! And the attitude of the Management is unacceptable. Another staff member started making fun of me while I was still in the office and when I responded, she verbally abused me. This whole conversation at their offices are recorded!

A very frustrated Stephanie Sasman