Indianapolis Mayor Details Proposed Towing Crackdown
5.18.11

WRTV

The City-County Council will soon take up a proposal that would regulate towing companies as part of the city's efforts to curb predatory towing in Indianapolis' cultural districts and elsewhere.
An ordinance championed by Mayor Greg Ballard and City-County Council President Ryan Vaughn seeks to place several regulations on nonconsensual towing, 6News' Jack Rinehart reported.
Private towing regulations would include a requirement that the towing company be licensed, that drivers undergo background checks and that signage be standardized.
The ordinance would cap the towing fee at $150 and storage fees at $30 per day. Towing companies would also be required to accept both cash and credit cards, and they would have to make towed vehicles able to be picked up 24 hours a day.
Towing companies would also be required to store cars at lots within 10 miles of where the vehicle was picked up, and the proposal would also eliminate the controversial and lucrative franchise fee paid to businesses to tow their lots.
"For too long, drivers have been at the mercy of tow truck operators in our city," Ballard said in a news release. "The ordinance … will provide basic consumer protections so people can recover their vehicle safely in a timely manner and with the knowledge they won't be charged excessive fees."
The ordinance was crafted in the wake of a 6News Watchdog investigation that exposed the practices of towing companies in Broad Ripple.
The Broad Ripple Village Association said hundreds of cars are towed in the area each weekend and that it thinks towing practices are hurting business.
"Unregulated towing just leads to a lot of misunderstandings, a lot of people, a lot of hardship getting their cars and, basically, I think, illegal activity," said Rob Sabatini, association president and Broad Ripple business owner.
Motorists had complained that signs were often small and were inconspicuously placed high in trees or on utility poles, making them hard to see.
"I think there is an issue if someone is inducing someone to park in a location that isn't adequately signed," said Adam Collins, city licensing administrator. "This could be an indication of some fraudulent activity or predatory activity going on there."
Other drivers complained of waiting hours to get their vehicles back and paying excessive fees at out-of-county impound lots.
City-County Council President Ryan Vaughn said the proposed ordinance aims to curb those practices.
"We're really focused on mostly on what we could call non-consensual predatory towing practices," Vaughn said. "We still want to meet with folks in the community who would be interested in this, community groups in Broad Ripple and other parts of the city, as well as folks who actually provide towing services to make sure what we're doing is not overreaching or unduly burdensome to business and is fair to consumers."
Under the proposal, the Department of Code Enforcement would license nonconsensual tow companies. The regulations would not apply to tow companies that only tow with the consent of vehicle owners, such as those that respond to broken down vehicles at the request of an owner.
The council will begin considering the measure on June 6, and a vote on the ordinance could happen by the end of June. If passed, it would become effective shortly after the vote.
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/27926055/detail.html