TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Cindy Keene was running errands in Tampa when she looked in her rearview mirror and knew she was in trouble.

“I see this huge truck behind me and I can tell he’s not going to stop,” Keene said. “Then bang, he hit me from behind.”

Her Toyota Prius was then knocked into the car in front of her, damaging that car, too.

Keene said the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office responded and she was given an exchange of information form. The driver for Alex Towing Service provided insurance information and Keene said she called that company and got bad news.

“They’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, sorry, their insurance was canceled in Aug. 2021.” So I’m like “OK, how do you have a towing company and not have auto insurance?”

Her own auto insurance company is helping with repairs to her car, but Keene is on the hook for a deductible, and since she doesn’t have rental insurance, she has no car.

“I was trying to save money by not carrying rental coverage,” she said. “That was a mistake.”

She turned to Better Call Behnken and I went to the address listed online for the tow company and found a boarded-up building. I reached the owner, Alexander, on his cell phone.

He insisted the company does have insurance and said that the driver must have been confused. But he did not tell me the name of that company and then hung up.

Better Call Behnken has alerted state officials to this issue. Meanwhile, Keene’s insurance company will likely seek reimbursement from the towing company’s insurance company. If that policy doesn’t exist, this could be heading to civil court.