Tucson moves to crack down on predatory towing

Tucson is set to impose regulations on towing companies to limit the predatory practices of taking away someone’s vehicle and charging excessive fees to get it back.

But the bureaucratic underwriting in the draft ordinance could create unintended consequences for towing carriers playing by the rules, some local towing businesses say.

Contrary to other Arizona cities, Tucson doesn’t have local measures regulating private property towing and storage fees beyond what’s required in state law.

An Arizona Daily Star investigation found the Tucson Police Department received more than 200 calls since 2019 about disturbances at A & B Towing, a firm accused of seizing vehicles for no apparent reason. Some complaints said the company cruises the city at night looking for cars parked after hours in businesses, even if no signage exists warning drivers their vehicles could be towed.

In response to the Star’s probe, City Council Member Kevin Dahl asked the City Council in December to consider putting local towing regulations in place.

On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously voted to direct city staff to come back with an ordinance for adoption “in the very near future” based on a draft version the council reviewed.

The draft ordinance would:

Cap the maximum towing charge at $184.80 for towing fees and $25 per day of storage.

Require signage listing the penalty for violating parking rules to be “clearly visible and readable” in private parking areas.

Require that companies be available three hours after towing a vehicle to allow individuals to pick up their cars.

Mandate that towing carriers provide photo evidence of parking violations.

Require towing carriers to notify the Tucson Police Department within one hour of towing a vehicle.

It’s common for car owners to amass a storage fee when their car is towed on a Saturday night but the impound lot is closed on the weekends, said Jennifer Bonham, the principal assistant city attorney who took the lead on drafting the towing ordinance.

“We can’t have a predatory towing company just come drive by and see someone parked in a lot and don’t see anybody around and then tow their car so that they can get a fee,” Dahl said. “(The ordinance is) a strong consumer protection with general buy-in from the towing industry. The legitimate towing companies don’t want to be branded as bad because of the actions of bad actors.”

Companies found in violation of the ordinance would be subject to a misdemeanor and a fine.

The city studied towing ordinances from metropolitan areas in Arizona that impose towing fee caps and used Phoenix, Glendale, Tempe and Scottsdale for comparison.

The $184 fee proposed in the ordinance is still the highest of the five cities, but according to Bonham, the fee is in line with what the Department of Public Safety charges. It’s unclear how the other cities have updated their fees to account for “inflation over the years or the higher costs,” she said.

As part of the ordinance’s drafting, Dahl held an in-person meeting in June with five tow carriers to gather feedback while the city solicited input through email to local companies from March to July.

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The main concern expressed was the requirement for towing carriers to be available to release a vehicle within a three-hour window after a tow. This part of the ordinance was a compromise after Tucson police suggested a 24/7 access requirement for owners to pick up their vehicles, Bonham said.

Jason Akers, owner of one of the largest private property towing carriers in the region, B & C Towing, said that through more than two decades of experience in the business, he’s aware of the schemes some companies use to maximize towing-related fees but says his business follows state law and sticks to flat fees.

“The industry is getting punished because of a few bad characters when the focus could have been put on the bad characters to get them to either get in line or get out of the business,” he said.

Akers said his business already follows many of the requirements outlined in the proposal. His tow truck drivers take several pictures of a car parked improperly before towing it, the company alerts the police before removing a car, and he has ample signage throughout the city denoting restricted areas and the fines for parking in them, Akers said.

But the three-hour rule “puts an undue burden on the tow company,” he said. B & C Towing has contracts with private property owners that designate times the company patrols their premises or responds to an illegally parked vehicle. Only towing when an employee is available to release a car would violate those contracts, he said, as he doesn’t have enough employees to staff operations 24/7.

“Nowadays, it’s just hard to find employees that want to work, let alone work graveyard shifts,” Akers said.

Bonham acknowledged the three-hour rule has been a concern for towing carriers, but said the rule “is an attempt at a compromise rather than mandating 24/7 release. Towing carriers are free to choose operating times that make the best business sense for them.”

“There is no requirement to staff the business 24/7,” Bonham said in an email. “Instead, since the impound lot has to be open anyway for a vehicle to be brought in, the impound lot would then need to be staffed for three hours after the tow truck driver brings in the last vehicle.”

The proposed ordinance also outlines requirements for the signage towing companies place in restricted areas. The signs must denote the maximum fees for violators and list the towing carrier’s phone number and address where the vehicle can be retrieved. They also must meet physical minimum dimension standards and “be red and white.”

Akers said he has thousands of signs throughout the city with the information required on the ordinance, but they don’t meet the physical standards.

“That’s a huge financial burden that either falls on the tow company or falls on the property management. Not one single company in this town can get together and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on signs,’ it’s just not going to happen,” he said.

While the new maximum fee the ordinance imposes is $184, Akers said he’s been charging a $200 fee for more than 20 years. He said he’s not worried about the minimal down-charge affecting his bottom line, but said replacing his signage would.

Other towing companies brought up concerns about the cost of replacing signage, but “one of the towing carriers present at the meeting explicitly stated that the one-time cost of updating the signs could be offset by a few tows/impounds,” Bonham said.

It’s yet to be determined when the ordinance will come back to the City Council for adoption, but Akers said he’s set up meetings with Council Members Dahl and Steve Kozachik to express his concerns.

But Dahl said the ordinance has been vetted with several tow companies, and while “there might be some tiny changes that we make ... I can’t imagine that they’ll have much to change our minds compared to the work we’ve already done before with the towing companies that responded when we reached out.”

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