Moran Introduces 'Anti-Predatory Towing' Bill, Cites 100s of Abuses in N.Va. Region

Assailing the fact that there are currently no laws, at any level, regulating the towing industry, Rep. Jim Moran, who represents the 8th U.S. Congressional District of Northern Virginia, announced at an Arlington press conference Monday that he's introducing legislation to restore the ability of state and local jurisdictions to regulate the industry and prevent the practice of "predatory towing."

The legislation will be called the "State and Local Predatory Towing Enforcement Act." If passed, it will, Moran said, "Return authority to state and local governments by enabling them to fully regulate the towing industry in the area of non-consensual or 'trespass tows.'

Moran detailed an amazing sequence of events at the federal level in the mid-1990s that usurped control of the towing industry from state and local governments, and then wiped subsequent federal laws off the books by federal laws restricting the Interstate Commerce Commission.

As a result of this, Moran said, there is no federal, state or local regulations covering the industry and "gross abuses" have occurred, called "predatory towing practices" that are particularly acute in population dense areas with limited parking, such as Arlington, Alexandria and the City of Falls Church.

Most common, "predatory towing" involves a towing company placing a scout at a parking lot who contacts the company the minute a person has been spotted parking his or her car and not going directly into the business that owns the lot. Often within less than two minutes, a tow truck swoops onto the lot and its drivers act like NASCAR pit crews to remove the vehicle before the victim has any time to discover he or she is improperly parked. Hundreds of complaints have been filed with local governments, including complaints that the towing companies are charging more to release vehicles that the official limit posted on their own walls.

Based on an earlier court challenge that wound up being settled in the Supreme Court, towing companies can be restricted at the state level only for the amount of money they charge to release a towed vehicle.

But over 200 cases of overcharging above the legal limit have been alleged in Arlington County in the past two years alone, County Board member Jay Fisette said at the Moran press conference. Over half of them involve one company, Frank's Towing, he said. The Commonwealth Attorney is pursuing 28 cases now, including a couple involving infractions in the City of Falls Church.

County Board chair Barbara Favola, also present at Moran's press conference Monday, said that by law, towing companies also must release a car for only a $25 fine if the owner returns while it is being hooked up for a tow. But often the towing companies ignore this law, as well.

Two citizen victims of "predatory towing" were present to tell their stories to a large contingent from the press Monday. In Falls Church, even members of the City Council have been victims of the practice, as well as witnessing it in person on a different occasion.

"It's hard to believe, but we have more power to regulate manicurists, or street vendors, or the height of grass, than we have over towing companies," Fisette pointed out. "Citizens blame us for not reining these companies in, because they think we make the laws governing them. But we can't, and there are no laws."

Moran said there should be bi-partisan support for his bill in Congress, except in the cases of "anti-regulatory ideologues." But he was not able to express confidence that the bill will pass. It simply does not attract the interest of many congressmen from districts unaffected by the problem, he said. "A lot of energy will be required to convince them it's worth paying attention to. We will push as hard as we can."

Tim Sigleman of Metro Towing was present at the press conference to challenge Moran's legislative initiative, noting that the governments of the District of Columbia and Ocean City, Maryland, voted recently to increase the limit on what a company can charge for a tow.

Fisette noted that when the issue of raising the limit came up in Richmond during the spring legislative session, there was strong bi-partisan opposition to the idea. "It didn't get anywhere," he said.

"We are seeking regulation for companies that don't play by the rules, but then, there are no rules now, and that's the point. There need to be," said Favola.

Favola noted that the main victims of predatory towing are local businesses, since car owners who get towed are deterred from returning in the future. Often it is not local businesses, but their landlords that authorize the towing, and Fisette acknowledged numerous reports that kick-backs from towing companies to these landlords offer incentives to allow the practice.