Legislators said Thursday that they want to do more to stop the excessive fees that people sometimes encounter when their vehicles are towed without their consent.
Law-enforcement officers and business owners often summon tow trucks, but it’s the vehicle owner who typically gets stuck with the towing and storage expenses.
Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, said several times a year a lawmaker will show colleagues a constituent’s towing bill that cost $500, $600 or $700 “with very little recourse.”
“Somehow, we have got reach a consensus across the state on nonconsenting requests for a tow [and] what can the consumer expect and can the consumer be treated fairly,” said Williams, chairman of the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee.
He said he plans to create a legislative subcommittee to work with truck owners todraft legislation to better regulate the industry for the 2015 Legislature to consider.
Rep. Jonathan Barnett, R-Siloam Springs, said the consumer “sometimes is left bewildered and confused, and sometimes they spend more money than they anticipate.
“Even though I certainly want free enterprise in the private sector to work and I am very interested in towing companies making a profit, sometimes it has just got a little out of hand,” said Barnett, chairman of the House Committee on Public Transportation.
The Arkansas Towing & Recovery Board investigates written complaints about excessive pricing by towing companies. It can fine them up to $5,000 per violation and suspend and revoke their permits, said Cynthia Lauren, the board’s director. The board has issued licenses for about 630 towing companies. Lauren said she could recall one permit being revoked, but itwas over an issue other than excessive pricing.
The nine-member board determines whether prices are excessive based on about a dozen factors, including weather, vehicle location and the type of equipment required to complete the job. Charging $300 for a standard tow would be excessive, she said.
The board has two investigators, who cover the state’s 75 counties and “do an awesome job,” Lauren said.
It hired a second investigator at the end of September and it now has 47 open cases, down from about 100 open cases, she said, but its third investigator position is still vacant. The board’s budget totals about $123,000 a year and is financed through application and permit fees and fines, she said.
The board’s office is located in Searcy. The agency nearly moved to Little Rock, but the plan was abandoned after employees said they would quit, she said.
The Arkansas State Police uses a list of towing companies, and the companies’ towing prices must fall within a certain range, said Maj. J.R. Hankins, commander of state police’s Highway Patrol Division.
The state police suspends towing companies for exceeding the posted prices, said Greg Downs, general counsel for the state police, adding it suspends at least one company a month.
Cities have the ability to regulate prices of towing companies’ prices under state law, he said.
Williams said “some people begin to push the envelope” in some parts of the state that don’t regulate towing companies.
Steve Rogers, executive director of the Professional Towing and Recovery Association of Arkansas, told lawmakers that “We stand in hand with the tow board to correct situations where those charges are inappropriate.
“We have been critical of the tow board oftentimes when we felt like they were not doing an adequate job in terms of processing consumer complaints,” he said, but the board has heard more complaints in the past few months than it did in the previous two years and appropriately fined towing companies for excessive fees and other violations.
“I think there are a lot of co-operators out there that have little to no respect up to this point of the tow board and what they have done,” Rogers said. “Once there is word out that they are fining people, that they are taking action [and] that there are three investigators in the field, I think you will continue to see those individuals back off and operate in a more appropriate manner,” he said.
Rogers said there are several reasons why police, accident and impound towing costs more than ordinary or consensual towing, including that it’s more expensive to provide service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, rather than just Monday-Friday; the cost of outfitting trucks and training staff for any situation that may arise; the loss of revenue from unclaimed and abandoned vehicles; and administrative, safety and extended service costs.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 10/25/2013