This article was created for Propublica’s local reporting network in collaboration with Connecticut Mirror. Sign up for Dispatch to get stories like this as soon as it is published.
Connecticut Legislature is working on an overhaul of the state towing law to protect consumers and increase the time before selling tow vehicles.
Drivers, landlords and towing industry leaders testified at the state capitol on Monday at a hearing in front of the state transport board. This is one of the early actions that Bill 7162 must be taken in the legislative process.
The bill comes in response to an investigation by Connecticut Miller and Propobrica that demonstrated how state towing laws have come to support towing companies at the expense of vehicle owners. A news agency report found Connecticut has one of the shortest windows in the country between towing and potential sales for vehicles under $1,500. Those with low incomes are disproportionately affected by these laws, the news organization found.
“One towing can have a deep snowman effect and force tenants to choose to pay the tow and rent,” D-Hamden MP Laurie Sweet testified before the committee.
The bill overhauls Connecticut’s towing laws and addresses almost all the issues raised in the CT Mirror and Propublica reports.
The bill will increase the time between towing and selling vehicles, so towing companies must post certain information about consumer rights and curb offensive property management companies and towers that remove vehicles from private property. The proposed law allows Towers to seek permission to sell the car in 15 days, but will not actually allow cars under $1,500 to be sold until 30 days have passed.
Connecticut Motors Director Tony Guerrera said on Monday that sales will now take more than 15 days, and the bill will clarify the process.
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Some car owners told CT Mirror and Propublica that cash and limited time payment requirements make it even more difficult to get the vehicle back. Sometimes they said the towing manager refused to release the car despite showing the owner’s documents because the vehicle was not yet registered in its name.
The bill includes many consumer protections, including a mandate that towing companies accept debit and credit card payments and become “reasonably available” over the weekend.
Under the bill, towing companies will also not allow the removal of vehicles from their private lots or garages because they have an outdated parking permit unless they have expired for more than 15 days.
Melissa Anderson’s car was towed from the parking lot at Hampden apartment in 2021 as the temporary parking permit expired two days before it was registered with the DMV.
“This is great. Anderson said when he was informed of the proposed law: “I wouldn’t have lost my car, and now maybe other people wouldn’t.”
Guerrera submitted her testimony, saying on Monday it included “new, meaningful consumer protection measures” and agreed to the bill.
Guerrera’s written testimony also outlined the control measures taken by agents to address the issues outlined in the press reports. He said it has updated forms and guidance on the vehicle sales process, and assigned more staff to do a towing company “spot field check.”
Connecticut DMV Commissioner Tony Guerrera testifies that employees at the towing company are watching. Credit: Shahrzad Rasekh/CT Mirror
Others who testified in favour of the law highlighted the consumer protection aspect of the bill. People who were towed by vehicles spoke to lawmakers about how their lives were affected. The insurance company said it is also struggling with its state of Connecticut insurance.
“This bill has been postponed for a long time,” said Legal Aid Counsel Rafi Podolski in written testimony. “We are working hard to identify and correct abusive practices in the towing industry that have had serious and harmful effects on car owners.”
His father and stepmother Jack Bodlow testified Monday that he lives in an apartment in Hampden that targeted residents saying they were predatory towing, and that his father has a truck for sale under a system in which the bill is about to change.
“Due to the continued fear and Anagur from these towing groups, my brother and I have been personally cautious in fear and cautious about visiting/staying with our family due to the continued threat of being towed by mistake,” Bodlow said in his testimony.
Hartford resident Jennifer Perez Carabaro told lawmakers about when the car was towed from an apartment with parking lots shared with other businesses. Her car was buried under the ice and snow, and the fees were stacked up quickly until she said it was pointless to get it back.
“We lost money every day and there was no way to get to where we actually paid, so it was easy to let go straight away,” Perez Caravallo said.
“Why are we okay with people that mean we are money generators for others?” she asked.
The bill faces intense opposition from the towing industry. About 12 towing trucks lined up in Capitol’s parking lot on Monday.
Connecticut towing and recovery expert Timothy Vibert said Towers wasn’t fully involved in drafting the bill and asked lawmakers to create a working group to study the issue. Vibert said the bill, among other towers, does not address towing fees, but they said it was too low.
“We’re flooded with abandoned cars, so I’m going to laugh a bit about the Bill of Rights about us towing people,” Vibert said of the requirement that Towers post information about consumer rights. And he says, in many cases, the problem isn’t that people don’t want to pay, but that “they don’t want cars anymore.”
The bill faces intense opposition from the towing industry. Credit: Shahrzad Rasekh/CT Mirror
The landlord and property manager also opposed the bill, saying it would be difficult to maintain provisions such as a 24-hour warning and impose unnecessary restrictions. They said they wanted residents to park without any issues.
“Requiring 24-hour written notice before towing an unauthorized or improperly parked vehicle will inconveniently infect responsible tenants, disrupt important operations like snow removal and create security risks,” said Lauren Tagliaterra, a member of the Apartments Association in Connecticut.
The Transportation Commission’s legislative leader said he hopes for bipartisan support for the bill.
“Let’s be clear. These predatory towing practices are a direct attack on poor people and rental people, and this bill is trying to address that in its entirety,” Sweet said.
State Senate Speaker of D-New Haven, Pro Tem Martin Looney, also released his testimony in support of the bill.
House Republicans on Friday called for a hearing for further reports from CT Mirror and Propublica detailing how DMV employees can sell tow trucks and earn thousands. With no surveillance of the state agency, he was able to exchange favors for a deep discount on tow vehicles, an internal report has been found, but the agency has taken no action against its employees and he is still working at the DMV. The employee said in an interview that he had done nothing wrong.
“To call out the findings of “troubling” findings of this latest news report on sales of Towed vehicles would be an understatement,” said a statement on Friday from House minority leaders Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford and Rep. Devin Carney, R-Old Saybrook, said. “The state government is meant to serve its residents and not misuse them. The fact that someone can bravely use a taxpayer-funded position for personal gain is nothing but outrageous.”
How Connecticut DMV employees made thousands of people by selling tow vehicles
Senate Republicans issued a similar statement Sunday, calling for bipartisan reforms to state law.
“What this investigation exposed is that consumers are not properly protected and the current system is unfair. Fraud and abuse are permitted to be fested under the current system. A statement from Senators Rob Sampson, Senators R Walcott, Ranking Members of the Government Supervisory Committee, Senators Paul Cicarella, R-North Haven, and Senators of Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield members, said:
The Transportation Committee must vote for the bill and move to the House of Representatives by March 24th.
