Champaign considering 'show-up fee' in towing cases
CHAMPAIGN — Towing companies may be allowed to charge a "show-up fee" after officials have a little more time to explore the issue — council members gave city administrators the green light to continue consideration this week.
Under an existing city ordinance, tow truck operators are required to disconnect their equipment from an illegally parked car if the car's owner stops them before the tow truck leaves. When that happens, the towing companies do not receive any compensation.
"Just because you run down the stairs in your jammies to save your car, there ought to be an expense to you for that," said council member Deborah Frank Feinen, who was part of an 8-1 majority in favor of further consideration of the fee.
Council members said they hoped allowing towing companies, when they show up, to charge half their posted fee for a full tow would deter scofflaws from trying to take advantage of private lots.
Marci Dodds was the lone no vote, and she said she does not believe the "show-up fee" would be a deterrent. She also argued that it seems like the city council was simply protecting towing companies from a cost they should expect to incur.
"I get nervous when government starts to protect a business from its costs of doing business, and I think that's what we're doing here," Dodds said.
City legal staff will spend more time reviewing the proposal, and the city council will still need to codify a revised ordinance.
In other business, council members told city administrators to continue exploring options to develop four urban properties that the city currently uses as parking lots.
Those four properties are at Hill and Neil streets, on East Main Street next to Highdive, at Third and Stoughton streets and Lot J on campus, next to Legends.
Officials could begin talking with developers and gathering proposals to redevelop those sites, most likely as mixed-use commercial and residential properties. The council would still need to sign off on plans for redevelopment at varying stages of the process, and some members expressed concern over the availability of parking.
What the city needs to do is actually solve the parking problems. Perhaps adding additional public parking lots, as well as more metered spaces could make the city more money, and also increase revenue.
They also need to look into the problem of friends and family visiting their loved ones here. Plain and simply put, theres virtually no where a loved can park without having to take a bus and walk. Even worse if said loved ones are bringing gifts or other household items with them.
While parking here is not as bad as in other cities, it still needs quite a bit of work.
state law prohibits such charges and further prohibits local ordinances from being more restrictive than state ones,as enforced by the Illinois Commerce Commission, further they are talking about private property operations which the City is not even involved in....
Thanks for your comment. I called the city attorney yesterday to get some clarity on the state law issue, and he responded to my question via email:
"Show up fees may be limited by law to situations where the car is actually hooked up in some fashion, but we are still looking at this and talking to other cities mentioned in (Deputy Police Chief) Troy (Daniels)'s memo to see what they actually do in practice. The statutes involved are not models of clarity."
Urbana has its own version of a show-up fee, to which I have never heard any challenges. While the Champaign City Council has supported the fee, city legal staff will have to determine whether or not the city can actually move forward.
They're saying that BY LAW the towing company can show up and not do any work and get paid anyway? Wow. I guess it's a nice deal if you can get it but I can't imagine why the city government would be involved in boosting the profits of a private business at citizen expense. The towing companies must be quite the campaign contributors because that's the only way this makes any sense.
I have little sympathy for most towing companies in the C/U area. I have heard enough anecdotal stories from U of I undergrads about having to pay tow truck operators cash to get their vehicles released (during the towing process, not from the impound lot) to reasonably believe there is a pattern of exploitation going on. Students' lack of knowledge about the law as currently written already makes them an easy target for this. Now we're talking about codifying the behavior of unscrupulous tow truck operators who were already doing it under the table rather than punishing them for extorting kids.
The cities are already in the pockets of the towing companies.
Just watch how the tow trucks drive around town...they speed, drive very aggressively, don't use turn signals, don't stop for 'right on red' intersections. And watch out when they get on I-74.
So yes, let's give them more benefits !
I happen to be married to a man who works for a local tow company. First, the tow companies simply enforce parking regulations. If you have parked somewhere that you are not allowed to park then you should expect to get towed. Just because the parking availability is not sufficient does not mean you do not have to follow the law. Secondly, the tow companies are regulated by statutes and city ordinances. They do not create the rules by which they are allowed to tow, or how much they charge for certain services (parking enforcement is one they do not regulate on their own). I think most tow companies would agree that if they do nothing more than show up, a fee does not need to be paid. However, if they have hooked your vehicle up and the tow is legal then you should have to pay something. Tow companies (at least I know this to be true for the one my husband works for) are not out to rob anybody, just simply to get paid for a service they provide like every other service provider does.
The towing company I dealt with is already out of control. The situation didn't warrant a tow (it was my error) but they towed it anyway. Next day when I went to retrieve it they wanted me to sign a release stating the vehicle wasn't damaged, sight unseen! Told them I wouldn't sign it sight unseen. They said you don't get your car back then and we charge by the night. I finally signed "under duress".
So these fine people would have the ability to get a partial fee by just showing up. Wonder what would happen if two of these outfits showed up at the same time? Would they split the fee or double it? Who calls them? Will they call themselves so they can get a show-up fee? And what does the City get out of this? Do they get a piece of the action too? What leverage would the towing companies have if the vehicle wasn't ticketed? Without having your car in hock how will they pry the money out of the would-be towee?
Why do tow trucks get protective fees? If anyone else in the private sector has bad luck there's no city ordinance saying they're entitled to charge other private citizens for what they *could* have made if everything went as planned. I can understand the ordinance that requires tow truck drivers to unhook a car if the owner comes along. That prevents fights and disputes. But this is something different.
Let me try this from a different approach. What other law can you name that you are allowed to break but in the middle of it decide to try to follow and get away with? Towing your vehicle for illegal parking is done because you violated a law. It is not based on everything going perfectly right. If we go with the belief that when you park illegally, as long as you get there before the tow truck driver pulls away, then it is okay. That won't cause any trouble, right? It does cause trouble which is the reason there is a need for parking laws. I do want to repeat that I do not support a law in which a tow truck company can charge just for showing up, but if they are hooked up to you by the time you arrive then you should have to pay something.
When you park too long at Walgreen's or wherever you aren't breaking a law. You're breaking Walgreen's policy. Big difference. They have a right to remove your vehicle but if the vehicle owner arrives in the middle of it, the situation changes entirely and Walgreen's and the tow truck should have to give it back to him without charge. If he still doesn't leave you can call the cops for trespassing, and maybe the cops will order his car towed. But property owners and tow trucks shouldn't have the authority to seize other people's stuff and hold it for ransom just because it's on their property.
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