Tow Company Ignores New Laws Specifically Designed To Help Low Income Folks

Towing companies don't have the best reputation. People who need a tow are often in a sticky situation and need relatively urgent help, which unfortunately makes them susceptible to vulturous and predatory scams. Towing companies in the state of Connecticut have garnered some particularly bad press in the past for their predatory ways, but that hasn't seemed to change their ways.  According to the Connecticut Mirror, "over the past year and a half, the Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica have investigated towing practices in Connecticut, revealing how state laws favored towing companies, particularly at the expense of people with low incomes."

Some Connecticut towing companies are reportedly ignoring new laws recently established to protect low-income residents with tow-happy landlords, and the towing companies that tend to extort them. The landlords of the apartment complexes in question will have cars towed that fail to display a parking permit, or cars that are parked in the wrong space, which isn't entirely unreasonable. But the new law that went into effect in October issues a few protections for these residents, which towing companies may be ignoring. 

The law, known as Connecticut's Non-consensual Towing Consumer Bill of Rights, has multiple protections, including requiring apartment complexes to post signs warning that improperly parked cars are subject to towing. It also requires tow companies to give owners notice before towing a car for a minor issue like failing to display a parking permit, or parking in the wrong space. Towing companies are also required to have after-hours availability, and they are required to accept credit cards and provide change when people pay in cash.

In an article published on April 27, CT Mirror followed a couple whose car was towed from their apartment complex parking lot due to claims that it was not properly displaying a parking pass, despite the couple having photographic evidence to the contrary. The couple went to pick up their car from the tow yard, but it was closed, and no employees were present, so they were forced to incur more storage fees. Once they got the money together to retrieve their car, the towing company demanded they pay in cash, and they allegedly had to argue with the towing company to get their due change.

Some tenants report their cars getting towed after reporting problems with their housing conditions, or for joining tenants' unions, a practice they call "retaliatory". Tenants also say that tow trucks patrol the parking lots late at night.

CT Mirror reports, "While the legislature required most involuntary tows from apartments to be triggered by specific complaints, residents said towing companies are continuing to patrol public housing and low-income apartment complexes and tow cars for minor violations." The predatory towing tends to disproportionately impact regions with higher poverty rates and higher populations of Black and Hispanic residents. The Connecticut DMV said it has not received any complaints of towing companies that aren't following the new law, and that towing complaints have gone down overall.