House agrees: If car is towed, driver deserves some rights

The state House voted unanimously Tuesday evening to arm drivers with a few basic rights in their dealings with tow-truck companies that haul away cars left without permission in private lots.

Towers would be prohibited from:

Taking a car from a private lot unless the towing company name and phone number are printed there on a large sign.

Hauling the car more than 15 miles away in most cases, or 25 miles at most.

Forcing the car owner to waive legal rights to get the car back. Even after paying the fee and retrieving the car, the owner could go to court with a claim that the fee was exorbitant or that the tower damaged the car.

The 111-0 vote sends the measure back for concurrence in the state Senate, which gave unanimous approval to a slightly different version in June.

Sen. Bob Rucho, a Matthews Republican, sponsored the bill after hearing from a man whose car had been towed from Huntersville to a spot about 50 miles away.

"You walk out of the building and see your car missing, and you say, was it stolen or was it towed?" Rucho said last week. "What we're trying to do is put some guidelines there and say you can't take it 50 or 60 miles away."

The head of a tow-truck trade group said he supported the bill.

"It's fair legislation for the towing companies and for the consumer," said Bobby Disher of Greensboro, president of Towing and Recovery Professionals of North Carolina, which has more than 100 members.

The legislation applies only to 17 counties and cities, mostly in urban areas: Craven, Cumberland, Dare, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, Mecklenburg, New Hanover, Orange, Richmond, Robeson, Wake and Wilson counties, and the cities of Durham, Jacksonville, Charlotte and Fayetteville.

"It's good consumer protection," Sen. Richard Stevens, a Cary Republican who co-sponsored the bill, said in an interview. "You're going to get towed if you're parked improperly - but if you do, you're going to get your car back."

The legislation lets local governments limit fees and set other restrictions. A Raleigh ordinance caps towing fees at $100 and storage fees at $25 a day.

A tower's suggestions

Charles Bullock, who operates B&B Wrecker Co. in Knightdale, said the legislation would not change anything about how he does business.

His company name and phone number are posted in a few apartment complexes where he removes cars that don't belong. He doesn't require owners to sign damage waivers, but he doesn't want to see a law that would prevent him from doing so.

"Everything is regulated now," Bullock said. "What's to keep you from saying, 'Oh, you damaged my car,' when it was already damaged?"

Bullock said that even when people make mistakes about where they park, they deserve protection against predatory tow-truckers who sometimes are ready to pounce within minutes.

"What they need is a law that says: If a car is parked there more than four hours, then tow it. Not 15 minutes," Bullock said.

"Don't tow somebody who ran in to get a hamburger and parked in the wrong place."