Conn Towing Companies Seeking Higher Fees: Public Hearing Nov. 19
Connecticut’s 300 towing companies have asked state officials for permission to jack up their minimum rates.
Our good friends who make their living taking away our cars and charging us exorbitant fees (in cash of course) before returning them are asking the Connecticut Motor Vehicle Department for permission to increase the minimum charge for towing and for storing your vehicle.
Joseph Miano, president of the Towing and Recovery Professionals of Connecticut, told me that his group has yet to decide exactly how much of an increase to request.
The last time the state Motor Vehicle Department gave the towers a rate hike was two years ago when the charge to just attach your vehicle went from $77 to $88 and storing your car went from $20 a day for the first five days to $24.
Miano said the rate request “will be something reasonable.” He said property tax and inflation are impacting his member companies.
I think the DMV should consider a rollback of rates and a thorough investigation of the practices of some towing companies instead of a rate hike. I have received too many complaints of unethical behavior to even consider giving them more money.
If you agree with me, go the public hearing on Nov. 19 at 10 a.m. at the DMV headquarters in Wethersfield.
Legal Aid lawyer Rafie Podolsky, who has opposed previous rate hike requests, is in full agreement with me.
“Consumers need more protections from improper towing of cars and unreasonable refusals by towing companies to release towed cars at a reasonable rate,” he said.
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12 Responses for “Conn Towing Companies Seeking Higher Fees: Public Hearing Nov. 19”
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So why have minimums at all? Why not let each towing company set its own rate and publish it. Allow them to change the rate, say, every 30 days. I don’t doubt that towing cars is dangerous and tow truck drivers deserve a fair wage, but why are you different from realtors, doctors, and painters? There is no set “minimum” rate for any of these professions. Setting an arbitrary rate is nothing less than protectionism. And by the way, since towers only accept cash, I can’t believe one word of their financial argument. Some smart IRS agent is going to hide a GPS tracker on a wrecker and your books will be shown to be cooked.
Mr. Gombossy,
My name is Paul Hilario – owner of Hilario’s Service Center, Newtown,CT and Hilario Truck Center,LLC Danbury,CT.
I just wanted to give some input on this discussion. You seem to be an intelligent and educated guy, so I hope you hear this with an open mind.
Like in any business…You have the good guys and the bad guys. You really can’t penalize the good guys that do the right thing..day in and day out. Here is our side of the State, the local & state Police depts do a good job with keep their arms around any unethical business practices. They are not affraid to drag a guy on the carpet so to speak to justify his rates with being reasonable and just. And they are not afraid to remove a company from a call list or even suspend the companies that are a problem.
As for the good guys in our business, it isn’t getting any easier for them to make a living. I think if you were to sit down with a legitimate towing company and looked at their operating costs to have their doors open on a monthly basis, you might reconsider your thoughts on “Rolling Back” our rates. I for one, am willing to sit down with you and show you the true operating costs behind a towing company. In addition to that, I am willing to show you how the operating costs consitently rise from year to year. I’m sure it would be a real eye opener for a lot of people. You never know, there might something you didn’t know or even think about.
In any event, Hope to hear from you and Best Regards,
Paul Hilario
it’s a racket, all of the cost mentioned have gone down or stayed the same. With the right connections you too can be the owner of a lucrative business one hand washing the other.
Your right Joe, towing contracts should be put out to bid, not given the the company with the deepest pockets.
I have just read your article about the proposed rate increase. You seem to base your ignorant comments on the number of complaints about “rogue” towers.
So, here is a little homework for your journalistic mind. Please answer me this. What percent of towers have there been complaints against?
Here is the easy way to do it. Tell me the number of companies there are registered in the towing business in CT. Then tell me the number of those companies there are complaints against. Do the math. I am guessing even a first year journalism student should be able to do this.
I also encourage you to ask an appliance repairman how much he has invested into his van and all the equipment inside of it. Ask him what his rates are. Ask him if he works at 2 am in the rain. Grab a plumber, too, while you are at it.
If you do all your journalistic homework here, you will see you have picked the dog to bet on in this race.
And, what’s up with publishing your gmail address if it’s no good?
Kam Ensing
Kam’s Towing
Gaylord, MI
I guess I know who *not* to call if my truck breaks down near Gaylord MI. (I doubt he has inquired of the state how many complaints have been filed either).
Hi, I am the owner of Apache Towing.
I can understand why you (and the public) are set against any rate increase in towing fees. I don’t like it when the fuel prices, the cost of tires, the cost of labor, the cost of repair, the cost of insurance, or the grocery bills go up. So, I can understand. Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to pay more for anything.
Unfortunately, the towing business is no different from any other business. It doesn’t matter if a person owns a flower shop, a funeral home, or a towing company, price increases are a fact of business.
The price increase that is being considered is for “non-consent” towing only. There are two types of “non-consent” towing. The first, is private property impounds, and the second is law enforcement ordered towing.
I would like to speak first about private property impounds, which is the most volatile of the two.
Any reasonable thinking person would agree that a property owner has the right to control the activity on his own property. If a property owner does not want vehicles parked in a certain area of his property (for whatever reason), he installs “No Parking” signs. But what good are signs if there is no consequence for disobeying them? Therefore, the property owner contacts a towing company (of his choice) to tow away those vehicles that the drivers blatantly disobey his “No Parking” signs.
If you came home from work one day to discover that someone had parked on your lawn, or in your driveway, wouldn’t you want the vehicle removed? And wouldn’t you want that person to pay a hefty bill? After all, they disrespected you and your property. How dare they park their vehicle there!
I impounded one lady’s car three times. She worked downtown, where parking is at a premium. She had been parking her car at a doctor’s office across the street. At first the doctor ignored it. Then as time went on, he became aggravated about it. One morning, he called me to remove the car. When the lady came to bail out her car from impound, she accused me of stealing her car. And of course, she was screaming at me, and cussing me like a sailor. She told me that her lawyer would be in touch with me. Just because she thinks she is right doesn’t mean she is right.
Three days later, the doctor called me again to remove the same car. Once more, I have to endure her screaming and ranting. And once more, she mentioned her lawyer. About another week went by, and the doctor call me again. You guessed it, it was the same car.
This time, before she opened her mouth, I told her that if she wanted to date me, that there was a cheaper way. I have not seen her for about six months now.
I would like to address law enforcement ordered towing.
Law enforcement orders tows on situations like DWI’s, outstanding warrants, drug arrest, smugglers, vehicle theft, and assorted other crooks, plus accidents.
The question I have is, why in the world would anybody (except another crook) want to give a price break to a drunk that is in control of a 2 ton death machine? Or give a price break to any of the other bottom-feeding crooks that get their vehicle impounded?
Now we get down to accidents. In 90 percent of the accident cases, insurance companies pay the towing bill. I have been in business for 30 years, and I have never had an insurance company give me a price break, either in business or personal. Have you? No? I didn’t think so. The insurance just goes up and up and up. And if you actually have to use it, the next year, they raise your premiums. And before you start to think that high towing prices are responsible for higher insurance rates, you need to know that the real reason is the rent-a-car-companies. And you wonder how that can be. If a rent-a-car (from any company) has so much as a minor accident, where the only damage was a broken tail light, or if the car runs over debris in the road, the rent-a-car company will demand that the vehicle be “totaled” and sold at an auto auction under a “salvage” title for a fraction of what the vehicle is worth. And the insurance company shells out the additional money. They do not want the liability of another driver in that same vehicle. And I can understand that. People are more important that vehicles.
However, not all accidents are covered by insurance. Towing companies have to “eat” towing bills every week. I have a few vehicles right now that have been “dumped” on me.
Just because we have the vehicle does not mean we get our money. I have one right now that was a drunk college girl that tried to straighten out a 35mph curve at 80mph. She lived. The vehicle rolled several times and landed 75 feet down a bluff. It took me over 5 hours to recover it. She had no insurance, and she doen’t have two nickels to rub together. The bill on that one was over 700.00, but I am left with a pile of scrap metal worth 50.00. And that is just one of many that I have had to eat.
If there was no such thing as “shoplifting,” prices at all the stores would be cheaper, if the rent-a-car companies didn’t total out minor accidents, insurance would be cheaper, and if people paid their towing bills, and didn’t dump junk vehicles on towing companies, towing prices would be cheaper. However, that is a fantasy, isn’t it?
What I am trying my best to get across to you is that the rate increase in question is actually not enough. We also have to deal with irate people that seem to be under the impression that they have the God-given right to park their vehicle any darn place they please, and that we “stole” their vehicle. Maybe if we were allowed to charge a “pain in the ass” fee, where only the “pain in the asses” had to pay, the towing fees could be kept down. Well, there is another fantasy. Then we have to spend time with people cleaning their stuff out of their vehicle. Sometimes, that can be a hour per person.
Please keep in mind that we are the same people that get called to go out in a snowstorm and help out a stranded motorist, or change a flat tire on somebody’s wife or daughter’s car in the middle of the night, in a strange place.
We are the good guys. We have a very difficult job to do, and all we ask is that we be allowed to earn enough to support our familes and those other familes that depend on us.
Did you know that there are more towing operators killed on the side of the road, every year, than there are a combination of police, and firefighters?
BTW, what I didn’t tell you at the beginning of this letter, is that I am in S.W. Texas, and the average “non-consent” towing fee in Texas is 150.00. So, even with the raise, you are getting off cheaper than most of the other states.
The following is an email that I sent to George and was requested to post by him. I have removed our non regulated rates for private tows as US Anti Trust Laws apply to discussing in an open forum. I have also removed some personal info. You are welcome to email me any questions and I will answer them to the best of my ability.
Jason Ray
I own a small towing company in Georgia and we handle towing for city, county and state police. We also do private tresspass towing. I hope that you will look into the costs involved with operating a towing service before you get too hasty on this thing. I would like to give you some ideas of what goes into an operation like mine.
Cost of towing equipment
Cost of upkeep on these units
Insurance is extremely high for the towing industry
Lot for storing these vehicles
Utilities
Payroll
Fuel
Camera system
Uniform Rental
Training for drivers
And there are some fees I have left out here that I could flood you with but I don’t want to loose perspective on the point here.
Fee’s for processing abandoned vehicles and the space they take up while you process them
Statistically we get stuck with 35 to 40% of what we tow on contracts such as this. This means that this vehicle is sitting on our lot for months while being processed. Then when we are done processing them they are auctioned off for pennies on the dollar of what they would sell for at retail and most of these vehicles are junk so we get around $100 for them at the crusher.
Our regulated rates here set by the county are: $125 basic tow for undamaged vehicle and $150 for damaged vehicles. $30 for cleanup and $30 per bag of oil dry for cleaning up fluids. This covers up to a 3/4 ton vehicle. If they are off the roadway more than 30ft it is also a $60 per hour charge and another $60 if it is overturned. We get $30 per day storage and $75 abandonment processing fee. As I said we only collect this on 60 to 65% of what we do. That percentage of vehicles is typically picked up with 3 to 7 days. All of these rates are regulated by the Board of Commissioners. With the input of our Towing Board of which is voted on every 2 years by the local towing companies. If you would like a copy of our ordinance you can reply back or call me with your fax number and I will be more than happy to fax it to you. With most states it is public record and can accessed by anybody.
My private towing fees for vehicles that are broken down on the street. $X + $X per mile. But with these vehicles my responsibility ends when I unload them. With non consentual tows it does not end until the vehicle leaves my storage location. And these types of tows have no rush involved with them. When we are called with these tows for law enforcement we are required to be on location within 15 minutes 24 hrs a day.
I truly believe you should take some input from the state association because to be quite blunt about it you have no idea what it takes to operate a towing service much less an impound service.
I hate to beak it to you. I would not impound cars for less than $100. We have not been under $100 in 9 years.
Thanks,
Jason Ray
President
R&R Towing of Canton Inc.
rrtowingofcanton@aol.com
Drugs Destroy Dreams
Life is about the journey, not the destination.
edited to remove non-regulated rates due to Anti-Trust laws with this being a public forum.
I agree wholeheartedly, though I also agree that the ethics/practices and the fee issues should be considered separately. However, I see no reason for an increase in fees, which are already outrageously high. A reminder of the Nov. 19 meeting would be helpful, if you could broadcast it. I’d like to attend.
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They need to increase costs because of inflation??? What inflation? Seniors are not getting a cost of living increase this year for the first time since 1975 BECAUSE THERE IS NO INFLATION. This is a real crock together with the towing fees. There is more towing going on now than ever before – cities like New Haven and Easthaven are towing people right and left. You used to be towed for parking in front of fire hydrant – now it’s for unpaid tickets, taxes and not being a friend of somebody powerful. Not needed and not necessary.
We have been told that we must be competitive….Why can’t the Towing companies be forced to bid against each other for the lucrative contracts?
Sorry George, rarely disagree but… if there is unethical behavior THAT should be investigated and those found to have been guilty of it should be handled. However, the question of costs to people who are carrying out a legitimate (if unlikeable function)is an entirely separate question and should be looked at realistically.