Predatory Towing Resource Hub

At some point in a trucker’s career, he or she may need a tow.  An essential partnership exists between trucking companies and towing and recovery (T&R) companies.  

Unfortunately, predatory T&R companies seek to capitalize on a truck breakdown, a truck accident, or a lack of available parking to exploit truck drivers and motor carriers.  Predatory towing encompasses any incident in which a T&R company egregiously overcharges or withholds the release of a truck, trailer, and/or cargo.  

There are two types of tows of a truck: consensual tows and nonconsensual tows.  Predatory towing is most likely to occur in the case of a non-consensual tow.  Can you spot the difference? 

State law often provides no protection from unfair and deceptive business practices for the consumer – the truck driver or the trucking company – when there has been a nonconsensual tow. The T&R company has the upper hand, and some act predatorily, overcharging for the tow and recovery and not itemizing the charges, overcharging for daily storage fees, and holding the truck, trailer, and/or cargo hostage until the exorbitant invoice is paid. Truck drivers and trucking companies have little choice other than to pay the exorbitant bill since the truck is their livelihood and deliveries may be time-sensitive. 

States may regulate certain practices relating to how state law enforcement agencies, such as the state highway patrol, may request towing and recovery services from a truck accident scene, but leave local governments in charge of regulating impound tows and tows requested by local police agencies. Sometimes municipalities have stronger laws governing nonconsensual tows than the state government has enacted.  Thus, there is a patchwork of regulations, not only state-by-state, but also within a state. And this legal patchwork, with its overlapping complexity of federal, state, and local law, can make it difficult even for upstanding tow companies to follow the rules, and for innocent truck drivers and trucking companies to know what law protects them and where to turn for help. 

Solutions

When state laws clearly articulate the requirements of the T&R company and clearly articulate the rights of the truck driver and trucking companies, it is far less likely that predatory practices will occur. But an alarming number of states have no protections spelled out on simple issues such as whether an itemized bill is required after a nonconsensual tow. And too many states have inadequate or vague regulations. 

For these reasons, ATA highlights these gaps in varying state laws:

• Only 15 states require invoice itemization, regardless of the type of vehicle towed and recovered (i.e., passenger vehicle or tractor-trailer).
• Only 8 states establish cargo release requirements. 
• Only 14 states have heavy-duty tow regulations.
• Only 11 states set maximum heavy-duty tow rates for police-initiated nonconsensual tows. In five of these states, the maximum heavy-duty tow rate is only applicable to nonconsensual tows initiated by the state highway patrol, and the rates are not applicable when municipal, city, or county police agencies initiate the nonconsensual tow.
• Only 12 states set maximum heavy-duty tow rates for nonconsensual private property tows.
• Only 17 states have a centralized complaint process outside of filing a civil lawsuit to resolve fee disputes.

Not only is there a patchwork of regulations, but there is also a patchwork of towing and recovery business practices. There are no uniform billing guidelines, no uniform rate guides, and no uniform dispute resolution processes. 

Best practices can be gleaned from effective state legislation and include such measures as:

• Itemized towing and recovery invoices;
• Maximum heavy-duty tow, recovery, and storage rates;
• Centralized conflict resolution processes to resolve billing disputes outside of local courts or state Attorney General offices, both of which are time intensive and can add cost on top of an existing significant invoice amount;
• Photographic documentation of the accident scene, disabled vehicles, and recovery process to assist with understanding the invoice charges;
• Acceptance of invoice payment by multiple forms (cash, check, credit card, and mobile payment app);
• Extended business hours during both the weekday and weekend to allow trucking companies (or their insurers) to pay an invoice and gain removal access of their vehicle and cargo from storage; 
• Cargo release procedures and/or an expediated replevin bond process and a standardized escrow account procedure where funds can be held in trust until an invoice dispute is resolved; 
• Elimination of the use of consent forms signed by a truck driver during a nonconsensual tow and recovery to reclassify it as a consensual tow thus potentially exempting the tow from applicable regulation; 
• Banning the solicitation of towing and recovery services at accident scenes and/or disabled vehicle sites;
• Release procedures with capped “drop fees” for an incomplete tow resulting from a nonconsensual public or private property tow when the truck driver returns to the truck prior to removal; and
• Clear and visible “tow-away” signs on public and/or private property from which a truck may be towed.

ATA believes that transparency and consistency in towing billing practices and invoices is one way to reveal the “bad actors” and urges the development of uniform billing guidelines, uniform rate guides, and uniform invoice dispute resolution processes.

Additionally, ATA supports the establishment, in each state, of a central governing body that:

1. enforces applicable state regulations; 
2. sets standards for licensing of T&R companies; 
3. investigates and adjudicates complaints against T&R companies; 
4. resolves fee disputes; and 
5. assesses meaningful penalties when there are violations (e.g., license revocation and/or suspension, monetary fines, and/or filing of criminal charges).  

The membership on these Boards must consist of a diverse representation, such as members from the towing industry, members from the trucking industry, members from the insurance industry, members from the law enforcement community, members from consumer protection groups, and members of the public. 
 

Progress