(C) Colorado Newsline
This story was originally published by Colorado Newsline and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Towing costs would be responsibility of owner of property, not car, under Colorado bill [1]
['Sara Wilson', 'More From Author', '- October']
Date: 2023-10
Colorado lawmakers could once again enact big changes to the state’s towing industry next year.
An interim transportation committee approved a bill on Tuesday that would change who is responsible for paying to recover a towed vehicle from the car owner to the parking lot’s property owner.
Rep. Andrew Boesenecker, a Fort Collins Democrat who plans to run the bill, hopes this will make property owners exhibit more discretion on when to authorize a tow.
“It really disincentivizes the process where you have towing companies simply patrolling lots, time and time again, towing any vehicle they can because they know they can tow it, they know they can impound it and they know they can auction off that vehicle,” he said during a Tuesday committee meeting.
It is currently on the car owner to pay a towing company to recover their vehicle, which can run into hundreds of dollars. The bill would “change the dynamic completely,” Boesenecker said.
A 2022 bill put some guardrails on nonconsensual tows. It requires tow companies to give car owners a 24-hour warning before they remove their car and lets car owners pay 15% of the total tow fee — not exceeding $60 — to get their car back, among other provisions.
The implementation of that towing bill has been rocky, with reports to the state’s Public Utilities Commission that towing companies are not adequately informing people about the option to pay just a portion of the total fee to recover their car. That’s what happened to state Sen. Julie Gonzales, who sponsored the 2022 bill, when her car was towed in August.
The bill to be introduced would require companies to give more information on the affordability program to consumers.
A pre-amended draft of the bill would prohibit vertical integration of towing carriers, preventing them from owning a parking lot management business, a car dealer or auction house or a business that loans money so people can pay their towing fees.
A March 2022 report from the Community Economic Defense Project and Towards Justice shows Wyatts Towing is connected to the permitting company Park M and auto auction company Peak Auto Auctions, meaning that one company manages parking enforcement, tows vehicles and sells unclaimed or un-retrieved cars.
“One of the issues that we’re primarily trying to get at with this bill is really the consolidation of vertical integration of industry from parking to towing to sales and the negative impact that that continues to have on consumers,” Boesenecker said.
Boesenecker, in consultation with the president of the Towing & Recovery Professionals of Colorado, said Tuesday that the way to fundamentally change the towing industry is to alter the financial structure. That’s why he offered the amendment to shift the payment responsibility for towing fees.
The bill will need to be approved by the Legislative Council committee before heading to the Legislature during next year’s session. The Legislature reconvenes in January.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/towing-costs-would-be-responsibility-of-owner-of-property-not-car-under-colorado-bill/
Published and (C) by Colorado Newsline
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/coloradonewsline/
