Bobby Curran's plan to tax the towing companies
If a Baltimore City Councilman has his way, drivers won't be the only ones digging in their pockets when their cars are towed-- towing companies will have to pay too.
Councilman Robert W. Curran wants to impose a $30 surcharge on vehicles towed from private lots.
Under the bill, which Curran plans to introduce at Monday's council meeting, towing companies would be required to notify police before hooking up a car.
The $30 surcharge would be paid by the towing company, not by the unlucky vehicle-owner, Curran said. The companies would be required to pay the even if they hook up the car but do not tow it away.
"This is not intended to be passed on the to the consumer," said Curran, who closely follows towing issues. "The surcharge must be paid by the towing company. They can't jack up their rates."
Curran estimates that about 20,000 vehicles are towed from private lots each year. Tow companies can charge drivers as much as $300 to get their cars back.
Curran's surcharge would not apply to cars towed at the request of the police department by the city-approved "medallion" tow companies.
At a hearing earlier this week, council members requested a consultant review the medallion system, which awards lucrative contracts to a small circle of towing companies without a competitive bidding process.
Curran estimates that the surcharge could generate between $400,000 and $600,000 annually
He would like to see some of that money put back into two of his pet projects-- animals services and BARCS, the city's animal shelter. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake chopped nearly $400,000 from their combined budgets as she sought to close a $65 million gap in the city's spending plan.
Curran said several of his colleagues have offered their support for the measure.
Comments
How naive is this guy to think it won't be passed on?
What authority does any government have to set the rate a business charges?
BOHICA.
Posted by: Jason | April 29, 2011 2:20 PM
The government can request what they charge now and compare what they are trying to charge after the fee goes into effect. All of these towing companies are a racket that tries to gouge consumers. They sit and wait for unsuspecting people and then swoop in five minutes after some 3pm deadline. Or they wait in areas where they know they can get easy tows from people who accidentally park in some private lot. They are a racket. They are like a Venus Flytrap. It might make some of them think twice before pulling some of their towing scams.
Posted by: Barfco | April 29, 2011 2:54 PM
When will the public wake up. This guy is related to King Omalley. It is another way for them to try and control small companies. This is a big joke and if passed the charge will be put on the vehicle owner. Who does he thing he is kidding
Posted by: Joe-Ball | April 29, 2011 3:01 PM
This is a good start! I am still baffled at how there are so little regulations on towing companies. No one who parks illegally deserves to pay $300. The punishment should fit the crime. And how is it ok for a private company to punish me for my crime? At least when you go over your cell phone minutes, you signed a contract saying that you understood that policy. The private lot/towing signs are small and not always very visible. Overall, taking care of this is way overdue. It's always been overlooked because it's hard to have compassion for someone who illegally parks. But that's no excuse to let these low-life tow companies do whatever they want.
Posted by: Rem | April 29, 2011 3:12 PM
The #1 rule of (successfully) operating a business:
The customer pays for everything.
(which would include any $30 fee)
It's notions like this proposal that allow idiots like Trump to get attention when they talk of bringing actual business sense to politics. (Though I wouldn't mind a Buffet)
Posted by: MrRational | April 29, 2011 3:29 PM
Hey Joe
Can your ilk say anything other than "wake up" or "this is a joke"
Posted by: KDM | April 29, 2011 3:36 PM
I totally agree with MrRational. However, the truth is that the rate will be more like a $40-50 increase to the customer. $30 to cover what the government want to basically extort from them, and the additional money to cover the overhead of this headache.
Mr. Curran - don't go away mad. Just go away...
Posted by: Frank from Parkville | April 29, 2011 3:49 PM
And this idiot thinks this "fee" wont be passed along to the victims. No wonder they work for the government their to stupid to get a job in the real world.
Posted by: Billy | April 29, 2011 4:18 PM
This is crazy. It's just another tax in disguise. What do animals have to do with tow businesses?
Posted by: Dave | April 29, 2011 4:43 PM
Politicians really are stupid. Every tax ever levied gets passed to the consumer eventually. Stop voting in lawyers and activists. Remember the movie Dave. An accountant had to be brought in to balance the budget and fix everything. They may be bean counters but they understand the value of things unlike most of the politicians and respondents herein.
Posted by: johnny c | April 29, 2011 5:14 PM
This is a really bad idea. Either the fee will be passed on to consumers somehow or towing companies will be less likely to remove cars from areas where they should be towed, which reduces the quality of life for residents and hurting businesses in areas where parking is limited.
Posted by: monty_burns | April 30, 2011 1:14 AM
Councilman Robert W. Curran (and his colleagues that support this measure) can't be the sharpest pencils in the box if they think this $30 fee won't be passed on to the unlucky vehicle owners. And he insult everyones intelligence by saying it won't be! He (and his colleagues) are typical politicians.......they only know how to tax and fee the citizens they are supposed to represent. Help reduce the 65 million dollar budget gap and CUT SPENDING!!!! We don't need any of your "pet projects".
Try helping these unlucky drivers by requiring all towing companies to notify police before hooking up a vehicle for an "unauthorized tow" from a private lot.Charging $300 for towing a vehicle is crazy!! Any towing company performing this service should have their fees regulated and be licensed to do this. This will help protect the owner of the vehicle since the tow was done without their consent. This will help to prevent fraud by the tow company and the private property owner. It will also reduce the number of "stolen vehicle" reports to the police department.
P.S. Who is this consultant reviewing the medallion system.
Posted by: Ed | May 1, 2011 11:39 AM
Ok, now for those that say a towing company should not be able to charge $300, what about the extra work required for these types of tows? Most need dollies and or a deck truck and extra time to load unload w/out the keys. Also what about legitimate storage and administration fees. The tow for us to do a private property tow is usually $130 or more if it is in a parkade(underground specialized truck) and then the total bill depending on number of days in the yard is 230 or more. If our city introduced a fee like that the customer(owner) would end up paying for it.
Posted by: Carter | May 3, 2011 3:49 PM