If your car was among the some 500 towed by Erie County, you'll be able to pick it up Saturday morning.
All the vehicles towed by the county were taken to one of three lots. Saturday morning at 9 a.m. on Erie.gov, the county will make available the list of those vehicles.
The good news is, you will not have to pay the $150 cost for towing. The bad news is, your car may have sustained significant damage.
VIDEO | Front loader pushes car out of path
County Executive Mark Poloncarz said some vehicles were pushed to the side and others were sideswiped by heavy equipment, sustaining significant damage. He said this was an emergency situation and the county will not be reimbursing for damage. Car owners with damage will need to work with their insurance companies for repairs.
And you may have trouble finding it. Poloncarz said the only information available is the make/model of the vehicle - not the owner or where the car is located in a particular lot. You may have to walk up and down the aisles to find your vehicle and provide proof - such as the keys to the car - that the vehicle is yours.
The lots are being guarded by deputies and the locations are not being made public until Saturday morning to prevent people from trying to find there cars immediately or people from trying to break into them.
Poloncarz said he has heard that private companies may have dropped off cars at county lots. If that is the case, you may not find your car on the list and it may take a few days for the lots to clear out. He said he does not know for certain this is the case, but it is a possibility.
If your car was not towed by the county, then county officials will not know where it is. If it was towed by a contractor who was not working with Erie County, the county will not be reimbursing the towing cost, even if the company towed the vehicle off a county-owned road.
Right now, the county is going to have to pay around $75,000 for all the tows. But bottom line: if your car was towed by a company not authorized by the county, you will not be reimbursed by the county and may be on the line for towing costs.
As of Friday night, Poloncarz estimated the storm has cost the county around $2 million.
