Posted on 08/19/2003 9:25:02 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
Linda Diane Tevis crashed into a parked 18-wheeler on a foggy February morning. Injured and shaken, she was in no condition to deal with a wrecker driver trying to tow her car.
"I was a little delirious." she said. "The air bag had hit me. The next thing I know he was saying he was going to tow my car." All of this happened as paramedics treated her before she went to the hospital.
When she and her husband, Mike Tevis, were faxed a copy of the Lone Star Towing Service bill a short time later, they got delirious again.
The charge to tow her demolished Honda Accord less than 10 miles to a body shop: $964.44.
They were outraged at what they believe is price gouging. Their insurance covered the bill, but they still filed a complaint with the Houston Better Business Bureau. They soon learned that complaints about wrecker service prices in Houston are common. Some involve fees as high as $1,500.
They also learned there's little recourse once a vehicle owner gives permission for a tow. Blame it on federal law, which allows wrecker services to charge any amount they want unless police order a car removed. Then, it's $83.
But some relief is on the way for drivers like Diane Tevis if a Texas law that becomes effective Sept. 1 passes muster in the courts.
Cities would be allowed to regulate consensual towing fees, towing and storage companies must post their rates, and the fee for tows from private property is capped at 150 percent of the established rate for nonconsent or police-ordered tows, said state Rep. Robert Talton, R-Pasadena, author of the bill.
"Houston is often described as a Wild West town in terms of this industry," said Dan Parsons, president of the Houston BBB. It's often a combination of wrecker drivers, storage lots and body repair shops working together.
The Houston BBB has received 149 complaints involving 63 wrecker companies in Houston over the last three years. Most involve consent tows. And Parsons estimates that for every complaint of price gouging received, 20 other people don't call.
Lone Star Towing partners with the Southeast Auto Storage Lot and contracts with Hi-Tech Collision Center. Robert Gonzalez, one of the storage lot owners, said people don't have to sign a tow ticket and can choose which wrecker service to use.
The Tevises were "aware of the charges," he said. But Tevis said she has no recollection of signing a wrecker bill. On top of that, the car was not taken to the body shop the couple wanted to use.
While some unknowing vehicle owners are being charged high dollar amounts to have their cars moved from accident scenes to storage lots or body shops, others are getting large bills after being towed from private parking lots.
Through Aug. 31, wreckers can charge whatever they want when towing from private lots because technically, the parking lot owner gave permission for the tow, said Sgt. Micheal Provost of the Houston Police Department. He heads the auto dealers detail, which regulates the automotive industry in the city.
Michael Baker of Iowa, who has been driving a truck for 30 years, was hauling a load from Laredo to Florida in May. He decided to break up the trip in Pearland for a visit with relatives.
He left his truck in a parking lot of close-out retailer, Big Lots, during the late afternoon. He could find no signs restricting parking.
But when he returned to retrieve his truck the following morning, the rig was gone. Sometime after parking his truck, Baker contends, someone posted signs warning that vehicles parked illegally would be towed by Raitano Mike's 24 Hour Wrecker Service.
To get his truck back, Baker had to go to a storage lot some 15 miles away and fork over $3,070 in cash. He called other wrecker companies in town and discovered such a tow normally should cost between $250 and $375.
"I got taken to the cleaners, and I'm not the only one it's happened to either," Baker said.
Mike Raitano, owner of Raitano Mikes 24 Hour Wrecker Service and a tow truck operator for 27 years, said towers need to charge unregulated amounts. Otherwise they have no chance to make a profit. The $83 fee set for regulated tows is not enough to cover the costs of vehicles and their maintenance, he said.
"You understand my frustration?" he asked. "But nobody wants to write that in the papers. Everybody in the city wants the tow truck industry to work for free."
High costs accrue because the wrecker is often working in tandem with a storage lot that charges a daily fee to hold a car and a body shop that wants to repair the car, Parsons said.
A 1994 federal law limits city regulation of wreckers. The law deregulated intrastate trucking, and the courts held the broad language included tow trucks, making it legal to charge any amount to tow a car. A clause added to the Interstate Commerce Commission sunset bill of 1995 allowed cities to regulate nonconsent tows, or tows authorized by police.
In Houston, if police sign a tow bill at an accident scene, the car owner is charged $83 for the base tow rate and an additional $25 for storage if the car is picked up within 24 hours, said Provost. The amount goes up $15 a day for everyday a vehicle is stored.
If vehicle owners consent to the tow, they are financially responsible. When their auto insurance policy includes towing, the bill is paid by the insurance company. If not, it comes out of their pocket.
"We have heard of this as being a problem in Houston for some time," said Jerry Johns, spokesman for the Southwestern Insurance Information Service, an insurance trade association based in Austin.
Johns said the problem is worse in Houston than in other Texas cities.
Charles Herrera, a Geico claims supervisor, said price gouging in the wrecker industry has increased, and insurance companies don't have the authority to fight it.
"Either we pay it, or the car gets held for hostage," he said.
Jerry Turner owns Alert Towing, a one-man business, and he says most wreckers in Houston are honest. But he acknowledges skyrocketing tow prices charged by some wreckers affect the image of the industry.
"It's tearing my industry apart," Turner said. "People get real leery because they've heard of these high wrecker bills, and they lump it all together."
Turner estimated an accident scene tow should cost between $125 and $250.
After court decisions reinstated limited state and city rights to govern wreckers, the 78th Texas Legislature passed a law, effective Sept. 1, that caps the amount towing companies can charge to tow a vehicle from private property at 150 percent the prevailing nonconsent tow rate. In Houston, that would come to about $125, HPD's Provost said.
The new Texas law also requires all towing service fees to be posted at the place of business. No additional fees can be added, and violations are subject to fines of as much as $1,000.
"It will make it criminal for anyone to charge anything outside their posted fees," said Jeanette Rash, legislative chairwoman of the Texas Towing and Storage Association, representing about 400 towing companies.
Harris County Attorney Mike Stafford said it has been difficult to prosecute price gouging in the wrecker industry, especially after Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, because of the federal statutes, and it's possible the new state law will be contested by the industry.
"I think ultimately we'll have to get relief from the federal government," he said.
Chronicle reporter Alan Bernstein contributed to this story.
Perhaps this issue could be an effective water cooler topic to explain some differences between the stereotypes and actualities regarding the Dems and Republicans.
Way hey
Tow them away.
The Lincoln Park pirates are we.
From Wilmette to Gary,
There's nothing so hairy,
And we always collect our fee.
This is one of the reasons the fees get so high. The tows that have a set fee encourage the companies to gouge the ones that aren't with AAA. Sometimes the allowed amount isn't enough to cover business expenses. AAA makes more than the towing companies. The same thing happens with Home Warranties like American Home Shield. The companies AHS called to repair air conditioners for instance, have a set amount they can charge for certain covered repairs. The list of uncovered parts is long though and those are the repairs that they make their money on. We had an air conditioner go out and the uncovered expenses cost us as much as the premium to the warranty company. Not a good deal for us and the air conditioner repair company gets a bad reputation for gouging. In short, these companies make their money somewhere.
Try bad moving companies. They move your stuff THEN add charges, threatening to impound your stuff if you don't pay.
Just like medicine.
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