Towing Contractors Seek 42% Rate Hike In Ct
The Connecticut Towing & Recovery Professionals (CTRP) – which represents more than 300 state towing contractors – is requesting a 42 percent increase in its base towing rate.
In addition, leaders of the association told a state Motor Vehicle Department hearing officer that the towers also want unspecified new fees for such things as permitting people to take essential personal belongings out of their cars and to be escorted to their vehicles in the towers’ lots. Their requests are presented in total at the bottom of this column.
“It’s really pretty shocking, when you think about it,” said legal aid attorney Rafie Podolsky.
Those opposed to the request can write to the motor vehicle department until Jan. 19 to file their objections.
Podolsky said that he and Susan Giacalone, representing the Insurance Association of Connecticut, argued for more time for comments and for a reopening of commenting to the general public, since no one from the public attended.
He said they both argued that because the industry failed to submit its proposal in advance of the hearing, a new hearing should now be conducted as the proposal is now public.
Both will file arguments against the proposed increases. Podolsky is speaking for those who cars are towed for parking violations or other similar issues and frequently entail being forced to pay cash for get your car back or being prevented from taking personal items from your seized vehicle.
The insurance industry is focused on cases where cars are towed after accidents.
The requested rate increases include:
Boosting the mileage charge from $4.75/mile to $5.75/mile (+21%). The mileage charge is for each towed mile after the first two miles.
The $4 fuel-cost surcharge, which was authorized in October 2008, would be retained. The surcharge allows towing companies to add $4 to the base rate (i.e., $125 could go to $129), but only during time periods when the cost of diesel fuel exceeds $3.50/gallon. I believe that the fuel-cost surcharge never took effect, however, because by the time it was approved (or perhaps shortly thereafter), diesel fuel costs had fallen below $3.50/gallon (as of Nov. 17, 2009, they were at $2.87 per gallon).
Storage fee increases of 14 to 19 percent depending on whether the site is indoors, secured or unsecured.
Towing regs – Tedford testimony 11-19-09
Towing regs – Miano testimony 11-19-09
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26 Responses for “Towing Contractors Seek 42% Rate Hike In Ct”
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Let me just say , getting up at 2 am for a drunk driver and towing his car he just crashed 2 miles in the freezing cold for 88.00 isn’t alot of fun , also i’d like to say if you get hurt and call a ambulance , and they bring you 2 miles to the clinic and they send you a bill in two weeks for 544.00 ….. don’t you think that is a bit extreme?
I think nonconsensual tows are cheap , if you dont like the rates go buy AAA .
We are providing an emergency service , we are on call all day and night , name another service that you can call at anytime , day or night and expect someone to come out with in 20 mins , and to spend anywhere from 30 mins or 6 hours doing a service for you???????????????????
These towers are slugs and leeches. How about some competition? Post your rates valid for 30 days and let the market determine who tows most efficiently? Why is this industry protected from public scrutiny?
It just a shame that some of you people have comments on something you know nothing about. Actually research what the towing in CT is all about otherwise Shut-up..
Nice attitude. You remind me that the chimp owner owns a towing company. Hide behind govt regulations while you can, comtetion is on the horizon.
The “Attitude” comes from years of dealing with people like you John who cannot have an intelligent conversation and have to resort to name calling.
Ignorance is bliss.
What are you talking about?? Post your rates?? I’ll go first…. base rate is $110 plus $6.50 per mile and your paying for the first 2 miles. OK buddy time to come back to earth…..after you crash your car…While your in the ambulance on the way to the hospital on your cell phone calling tow companies shopping rates…. everyone stuck on I95 because your car is blocking traffic should just wait to get work while you haggle…..Really guy??? Or better yet after you get a DUI at 3am…you should use your 1 call to negotate a better tow/storage with the tow company. Did you actually read that before you wrote it? Wake up.
After reading these posts from tow truck operators, I’ll be more direct. You are not worth a 42% increase. Nobody is. In New Haven, home of the City Hall with a jack boot mentality relative to taxes, fees and parking tickets, tow truck operators have enjoyed a robust and profitable time behind the wheel. You have embraced the routine towing of cars because it puts a lot of money in your pockets from citizens who wouldn’t otherwise hire you. So you embrace policies that enrage and abuse residents of New Haven and other cities, and at the same time, you ask for monster increases in those same fees so you can abuse residents again. You want sympathy? You have to be kidding.
Simple solution to living in a town with a “jack boot” mentality…..pay your taxes, don’t park illegally, don’t drink and drive and obey the traffic laws….then you my friend won’t have to worry about non-consensual tow charges. Otherwise how much would you charge to get out of bed at 3:00am to pull some drunk JA’s piece of junk of of the woods??? Should tow companies just pay guys around the clock by the hour to get maybe one tow a night?? No, of course not they wouldn’t be in business. All you people complaining should throw down about $50k for decent used truck, insure it, hire someone to drive it and get in the game if you think it’s that good. If your gonna be paying around the clock…Can I get a job???
We have not been given a raise in years while everyone else gets a cost-of-living increase. Yet our taxes and expenses go up every year.
Cost of Living Raise? That shows what you know! Those are a thing of a the past! There is no raises and you need to be thankful that you have a job!
It is not a monopoly. We as registered auto dealers are regulated by the state as to what we can charge for non-consentual tows and storage. How to get on the police rotation is determined by the police in each town not by the TRPC, so if you are a tower and want to get on rotation talk to the powers that be in your town. Some of the departments require certification to do that work, which I would say is in the best interest of the public and anyone involved because if you are certified you probably do the job safer.
It’s not a monopoly. The towing is open to whatever company has the equipment that is required to be on the tow list for local police departments. All charges are regulated by the state Department of Motor Vehicles for all non-consentual tows.
After my accident I paid the tow truck guy $100 (in cash, of course) to tow my car three miles to the garage my insurance company requested. Sorry, I don’t think a 42 percent rate hike is needed.
so tim tell us what you think you should have paid $20 – 30 what? or should we just have towed your car for free.rates from the 80′s were about that.what do you do for work you nit wit how about we reduce your pay to what you were making in 1985. Oh now we’ll here some crying.How about you and this retard that calls himself the watchdog sit down and and figure out how much it cost’s to operate a tow truck,with fuel , paying a driver a decent wage ,insurance.lets reduce the insurance compaies rates by 42% after all one reason why the rates go up is because of these theives. why don’t you go after them so we all can have some relief.so before you start crying to us about your $100 tow bill think about the reasons why
Can we see your 1040? The IRS will be asking for it soon.
so, Stupid, after I get through reading all the misspellings, WHAT ARE those costs you have for
a) fuel? ______(let’s say $2.87/gal x 100 miles x 13 mpg = approx. $22; average towed vehicle at 4,000 lbs @65 mph highway using 6.5L turbodiesel engine, dependent on driving habits–speeding decreases mpg by approx. 3 mpg for each increase of 10 mph–truck transmission gearing (avg. 3.73), and engine idling) more for gas-powered vehicles;
b) insurance? _____per tow [$12,000/yr divided by three tows/day = $11/tow]
c) wages? (for one hour average tow)____(also while it takes you an hour to get dressed? or time in the vehicle responding to/from the tow???) Let’s say $25/hr.
So far, my estimate is $58 (but don’t forget to DEDUCT OUT the eventual life span of an already-paid out diesel truck, high resale value, lowered maintenance costs of a diesel engine…
Fill in the blanks…what YOU want is payment for to/and from the scene of the tow, plain and simple–while making customers wait…
BTW …I used to be in the business..
Maybe, Thats why your no longer in the business?
Alot more to it then that.
Go to the TRPC web site and educate yourself.
try in exess of a hundred thousand a year in insurance alone
I think the request for an increase in fees would go with just a little less vitriol from the public were nearly every tow company not flying around in brand-new tow trucks done up with expensive paint jobs. (I can see sporting the name of the company, but is the sparkle-turquiose with flame effects really necessary?) I also see trucks regularly roaring down the streets of New Haven above the speed limit and can hear how high the engines are running due to the speed. This practice is a gigantic waste of diesel – so to reprise in different form: Were tow truck drivers not flying around in their rally-car inspired rigs running at all times, they would probably use less diesel fuel in general and wouldn’t need to ask for this increase.
if you dont have newer euipment dmv and dot like to hassle you and driving around at all hours? last time i checked cars break down and get into accidents at all hours and we have a very little allowed response time from the police or we are taken off the rotation list and when it comes to the paint jobs most of us do our own trucks in our own shops .we spend more time in our trucks and at our garages then some of you spend with your families.no one tells you your house or yard is to nice or to well maintained .if we showed up to pickup your vehicle after a police stop or break down do you want us to do it with a relic that needs to be towed it’self or with a nice well maintained truck?
With the cost of everything on the rise, why shouldn’t our fees be increased ? Contracts that are represented by CTRP have nothing to do with it. There are companies that are not represented by them and would still like to see rate increases.
Where did you get ANY info that costs are rising? I’m a senior citizen on Social Security and for the first time there will be no COLA increase in my benefits due to costs LOWERING for the previous year. Did you just fly in from another planet on the good spaceship Lollypop? Hello, is there anybody in there?
I’m from planet mars, I don’t own a towing company, but I’m just really old and think I know what I’m talking about. All you towers are from planet lollypop
Is there a link on where to offer written testimony?
Maybe it’s time to give the contracts to the ones on the sidelines and not represented by CTRP. Why is this a monopoly?
Maybe it’s time to give the contracts to the ones on the sidelines and not represented by CTRP. Why is this a monopoly?