Q: Is the towing bill (impounded vehicle) not protected by FDCPA in CA?

A: Can you sue for fdcpa? Possibly. Keep in mind the statutory damages are fairly small. This is not a do it yourself matter and you should hire a consumer attorney. Fdcpa allows for attorney fees so most attorneys take such cases on contingency. There may also be fcra violations. All documents would be needed to review by the attorney.

(Note, towing company does not need to inform you of your rights to dispute).

A: You are right on most counts. Except I think you are wrong about these people being debt collectors. I strongly believe the people contacting are scam thieves, not legitimate debt collectors.

They probably gain access to lien sale notices through the DMV.

Then, with that info in hand, they go to work scamming anyone they can trick into paying.

Yes, you can sue them, but they use burner phone numbers and their actual location remains a deep dark web mystery. Even if you could find them, they would never pay. Crooks don't pay their bills.

It was very kind of you to donate the car. I did that once too, and I will NEVER do it again.

My old car was donated to the Salvation Army, (an otherwise excellent organization) and then sold without requiring the buyer to register the car. (Of course, the buyer never registered the vehicle and used it like a "burner -car.") I properly and timely notified DMV about the transfer.

The result of my good deed is that I received piles of parking tickets, and eventually an impound notice and notice of sale. Nothing happened to me because I had timely and properly notified the DMV. But it was annoying as hell.

We need a law making car donation charities register the vehicle in the name of the buyer - before the vehicles are released to the buyer. In the meantime, donors like you and I suffer annoyance and worse, and the state is deprived of it's rightful car registration fees.