Fred and Marcie Bussa left their Village of Mallory Square home in their golf cart on the afternoon of Feb. 27 to pick up the mail and head to Publix. But just three blocks from their home, their golf cart was hit by a car. Both were thrown from the golf cart. Marcie skidded on her face, cracking a vertebrae in her neck. Fred was also seriously injured. Both were transported to Ocala Regional Medical Center where they stayed for several days.
After being released from the hospital, they recuperated for about a week at their son’s home in Winter Garden. When they came home, their daughter traveled down from Chicago to care for them for several days.
They feel lucky to be alive.
But they were stunned to receive a nearly $500 bill for towing of their golf cart from the accident scene that day. The bill was received from Jeff Revis Wrecker Services Inc. of Wildwood.
“I thought I’d be getting a bill of maybe $150,” Fred said.
To make matters worse, he was informed the bill was going up $26.75 each day.
“I was also told that I had to pay in cash and I had to appear in person or send a notarized letter to their office. Since I wasn’t able to drive yet, I had arranged both a notarized letter and cash funds to be pay to this firm,” Fred said.
From his son’s Winter Garden home, he was able to persuade a friend to front him the money and bail out the golf cart. It is now being repaired at a golf cart dealership.
The next day he received a certified letter breaking down the charges as following:
Towing charges = $ 125.00
Total to date Storage charges = $125.00 @ 5 days at $25.00 per day.
Recovery Charges =$111.00
Administrative Fees = $90.00
Other (Fuel Surcharge) = $15.00
Sales Tax = $8.75
Total = $474.75
“As unreasonable as these charges were, their certified letter told me that if I didn’t pay these charges ASAP, my golf cart would be sold at Public Auction on April 8, 2014,” Fred said.
He wonders what would have happened had his injuries been worse.
“What if I had been in a coma for months?” Fred asked.
He reached out to Sumter County Chairman Al Butler, a fellow Villager.
He said Butler has invited him to tell his story to the Sumter County Commission at its March 25 meeting at Colony Cottage Recreation Center.
“If anything, I hope that this doesn’t happen to anyone else. Golf carts are a unique form of transportation,” Fred said.
Jeff Revis did not return a phone call from Villages-News.com