A disabled Gulf War veteran in Texas says that his 2019 Chevy Camaro has been wrongfully towed seven times in the past year and a half.
Per a report from local CBS News affiliate KHOU 11, the owner, Julian Barabin, says that the constant threat of having his car towed has led to considerable anxiety. The issue apparently stems from a database error, which has led to repo companies to repeatedly mistake Barabin’s Camaro for a different car.
The database error is tied to Barabin’s disabled veteran license plates, which allow Barabin to park in handicapped parking spots and drive on toll roads without paying a fee. The plates can be transferred from one vehicle to another, and after Barabin traded in his older 2016 Camaro for a newer 2019 model, the old license plates were transferred over. Unfortunately, the Digital Recognition Network (DRN), a repo database used by towing companies to identify repo vehicles, failed to update the change.
As a result, when the new owner of Barabin’s old car missed their payments and the car was put on the repo list, the system mistakenly flagged Barabin’s newer 2019 Chevy Camaro due to the transferred plates. As such, towing companies that use automatic license plate readers have wrongly towed Barabin’s vehicle seven times in the last year and a half. Barabin says he calls the police each time it happens, but the problem continues.
One repo company, NJC Asset Repo, admitted its driver made a mistake by not checking the VIN before towing Barabin’s car. The driver later returned the car and was fired. However, the manager said the only way to stop the issue is to contact DRN directly and ask them to update the records.
Barabin has tried to fix the issue, but nothing has worked yet. In the meantime, he says he’s nervous that the car will be taken again, and that his Camaro has been damaged by the constant towing.
Check out the full report right here:
Comments
Ah, automation and computers. Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em.
total incompetence’s on the repo drivers, always check the vin. should fire all the drivers, you have a job to do do it right. yes I did this for over 5 yrs, cars, trucks, trailers, construction equip,etc
I would think a lawyer could have a field day suing various people and businesses regarding this situation. A few million dollar lawsuits should go along way to resolve this problem.
The perhaps simple solution is to issue him a new plate.
Maybe this horses ass should’ve transferred the title and registered this Camaro in his name like the law requires and this would not happen. Stupid is as Stupid does
The State of Texas has different rules regarding old license plates. It’s a setup for things such as this to happen. The horse’s ass did register his new Camaro, but when Texas let the old tags be used again is how the problem started.
That’s dumb.
Lawsuits!