A southwest Oklahoma City auto shop charged a local family more than $250 a day to store their wrecked vehicle — a rate that ballooned into thousands of dollars before the company agreed to bring the bill down to what state law actually allows. Maria Magueyal was involved in a wreck near the end of August, and All Star Auto Body towed her vehicle from the scene after she signed paperwork authorizing the tow.
From there, the family says the costs spiraled. As reported by KFOR, the shop required payment before it would return the vehicle, and a family member named Victor said the storage bill had already reached around $8,000 the previous week. By the time KFOR got involved, Victor said the most recent total was probably over $9,000. Victor said Maria Magueyal missed work without her vehicle.
A Storage Rate Far Above the Legal Cap
Oklahoma law caps how much wreckers and repair shops can charge per day for vehicle storage, and the station’s report notes that state law allows around $75 per day for a total-loss car — nowhere near the $250-plus daily rate the family says they were billed. The dispute centered on whether the shop’s bill exceeded the state limits for this kind of storage.
Storage charges were central to the Magueyal family’s dispute. For vehicles determined to be a total loss, a separate statute — 36 O.S. § 1274 — caps daily storage at $39 for the first 10 calendar days, rising to a maximum of $75 per day starting on day 11, per Westlaw’s record of the law.
Family Turns to the Media After Repeated Calls
With the bill nowhere close to shrinking, the Magueyal family contacted News 4 for help. News 4 then reached out directly to the CEO of the company that owns All Star Auto Body, which is headquartered in California and operates with rates that differ from Oklahoma’s statutory limits…