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’s published.
This year, the head of Connecticut’s Automobile Department made an incredible public entry, informing lawmakers that the agency regulating the towing industry has never implemented a century-old law to protect drivers whose cars are being towed.
Under that law, if the vehicle owner does not reclaim the tow vehicle or cannot afford to pay the fee, the tow company can sell them, but it must hold revenue for a year so that the vehicle owner can charge the money. The towing company is entitled to deduct the fee. But even if the owner has not yet made its way forward, businesses are not going to pocket profits and have to hand over the remaining money to the state.
DMV Commissioner Tony Guerrera told lawmakers he never set up a process to accept deposits and had not tracked whether the money was in it.
In fact, the DMV commissioner said Connecticut Miller and Propobrica were not aware of that part of the law until Connecticut Miller and Propobrica caught his attention last fall as part of the investigation into how Connecticut law can drive businesses at the expense of drivers. After the story was published, the state treasurer’s office audited the deposits and determined that towing truck companies or DMVs had never taken over money from selling legal history.
In a statement, Guerrera said: “The law has been in effect since the 1930s, but unfortunately there has never been a system to effectively monitor its implementation.”
Tony Guerrera, a commissioner for the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles, told state lawmakers he doesn’t have a system that ensures that the state-sponsored companies take over unclaimed profits from car sales. Credit: Shahrzad Rasekh/The Connecticut Mirror
This failure hurts both the vehicle owner and the state itself. Owners have no chance to regain the money that the law should be theirs, and the state is missing out on both potential payments and interest or investment income arising from the deposits.
The unstrengthened law is another example of how DMVs have failed to oversee the towing industry, where they sell cars that towed thousands of cars each year. In the extreme cases reported by news organizations last month, DMV employees, according to an internal DMV investigation, found that they are part of a scheme in which they underestimate cars and sell them for thousands of profits. Employees denying that he did something wrong and work for the DMV.
Criminal court records show that the owner of the Norwalk towing company drove a Mercedes-Benz, which he towed, earning nearly 6,000 miles in 22 months. Tower was charged with theft and joined a detour program, where his records were subsequently wiped out. CT Mirror and Propublica towed their cars and spoke to dozens of people they never saw again. Many said they were not notified that the car would be sold.
Lawmakers are now aiming to create a system for the car owner, or ultimately the state to get that money. The broad bill that overhauls the entire towing law requires towing companies to submit documents to a DMV for sale price, towing and storage fees, and information about the vehicle and its owner within 15 days of sale.
The bill also reforms the process of “attack” or transferring money to the state. After reviewing the sales document, the DMV must send the Tower a certificate informing the owner or lien of the sales revenue. Instead of the General Fund, the remaining money goes to the state’s unclaimed real estate funds and appears on public lists.
Guerrera added more staff recently accused of overseeing the sales system, adding sections to this year’s website to ensure towing companies are aware of the requirements to hand over money to the state.
In an interview last year, Guerrera said that implementing the process is not the responsibility of the DMV, and that doing so is up to the state’s treasurer’s responsibility. However, the treasurer pushed it back in a statement, falling under the DMV rules. After the first CT mirror and Propublica story were released, Guerrera gained more ownership.
“I’m pleased that this caught my attention. I’m ready to address this issue and I’m sure it’s now properly handled and is being processed according to the intended purpose,” he said in a statement.
The Transportation Committee approved the bill on March 19th and sent it to the House of Representatives. The bill, claiming it was intended to target “some bad apples,” and some lawmakers who opposed it all added unnecessary regulations to all towing companies.
House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said he expects more debate as the bill passes through Congress, but he said the evacuation process needs to be addressed.
“It certainly requires some kind of accountability and transparency,” Ritter said. “This is people’s property.”
Timothy Vibert, president of Connecticut’s towing and recovery experts, said past association presidents asked DMV officials about how to return funds to the state, but they did not receive an answer.
He said tow companies rarely return to towing or storage fees when selling cars, and questioned why the towers give the state money.
“There may have been a bit of a flow with one car, but there were a lot of losers, so why does the state get the opportunity to take that?” asked Vibert, who owns Farmington Motorsports.
He added that many towers want to return cars.
“What the tower does is to hold those cars and remove them for $500 or $600,” Vibert added. “So we maintain our cars, so we estimate 45 days depending on the paperwork, sometimes 50 days.
House minority leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said he believes there is no remaining money left after the fee. “Frankly, I think that towing companies usually mean waiting for towing and storage fees to exceed their value, so they don’t go to the state or go back to individuals,” he said.
Christian Hall piled his salary directly while he was a bartender in downtown New Haven. The work was a delicate balance. She had to work her shift and provide adequate service to get good tips. However, she also had to keep her parking meter fed. A few times the halls were unable to reach the meter, parking tickets were stacked.
Christianne Hall said she should have received thousands of dollars after the car was towed and sold, but she had nothing. Credit: Octavio Jones from Propublica
In 2015, her car started and towed when she couldn’t afford to pay $500 to unload her device. By the time she saved that money, the towing company said it had quoted $2,000 to get the car back from the lot.
Hall couldn’t afford it and never saw the car again. She estimated that the 2008 Chevrolet Abeo was worth around $5,000. This is supported by Kelly Blue Book Reports.
“Why didn’t I qualify for the rest of the money when I own the car entirely?” she asked.
Connecticut legislators are calling for an overhaul of the towing law
After the towing, Hall had a hard time getting in and out of work. She had to take her Uber home as the city bus stopped before her shift ended. She quickly got the money and had to resort to her roommates to pay her bills before eventually moving in with her Florida grandparents.
“I couldn’t hack it, so it felt like a failure,” Hall said. “It was a really, really difficult, almost traumatic situation.”
We are investigating Connecticut towing practices that allow businesses to sell people’s cars just 15 days later. If you’ve been influenced, we want to hear from you.
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Asia Fields contributed the report.
