Towing Laws In The State Of Hawaii

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With a little more digging, I was able to turn up the particular non-consent towing law in Hawaii, which is HRS 290-11, click here for a link.

The law has some major strengths and some fatal weaknesses...

...and, in my opinion, here they are:

STRENGTH: Caps charges at $65 for a tow, $75 with a dolly, plus caps mileage and storage fees.

WEAKNESS: The law doesn't account for a situation where a towing company sets up shop on distant "Sand Island," possibly for the purpose of maximizing mileage fees. There needs to be a "mileage cap."

STRENGTH: Mandatory free drop after hooking if vehicle owner arrives on the scene. No doubt the law's biggest strength, and a model for other states, cities and counties to follow. (It does have an exception for hookups in an above or below ground, multilevel facility, which is still only a $30 drop fee)

WEAKNESS: No penalty outlined for violating this section of the law.

STRENGTH: Fifteen days after being towed, the legal owner and registered owner shall be notified in writing by registered or certified mail. Hey, at least some kind of written notification is required.

WEAKNESS: Fifteen days? Are you KIDDING me? If people don't come and fetch their car after 3 days, there is clearly a problem. Furthermore, this law is more archaic every day. Notification by phone and email should be required, too.

STRENGTH: Judgment and lawyer fees for excess charges. Not bad.

WEAKNESS: Who is going to hire a lawyer over a few hundred bucks in towing overcharges? The law should mandate much more severe fines and penalties.

STRENGTH: Before disposing of a vehicle after 30 days, notice is required in a newspaper of general circulation in the state. You can call this a strength because SOMETHING is required, but, come on!

WEAKNESS: Legal notice in a NEWSPAPER? Increasingly, this is an utterly archaic form of communication. All legal notices should be published on the internet.

STRENGTH: Towing companies must "accommodate payment" by cash, credit card OR (note the word "or") automated teller machine located on the premises.

WEAKNESS: Yeah, I'm sure they'll be raking in some major fees off that automated teller machine. This is a huge loophole for abuse.

STRENGTH: There is an opportunity for counties to adopt their own ordinances regulating towing operations.

WEAKNESS: What is going to make the counties do THAT except numerous abuses by towing companies?

WEAKNESS, WEAKNESS, WEAKNESS: The law does not require towing data to be electronically accessible to owners, police, towing companies, insurance companies, and all others with a stake in the fate of the vehicle. Instead, it relies on archaic notification mechanisms like CERTIFIED LETTERS and notification in (how quaint!) the legal notices of a newspaper. This law needs to be reformed before predatory towing cuts deeply into Hawaii's all-important tourism industry.

Predatory Towing Victims Sue City Of Chicago...

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And it's about time, I say.

Reporter Pam Zekman of CBS appears to have a strong interest in predatory towing issues, and she has spurred reform of Chicago's filth-filled sewer of corrupt towing practices. She's been mentioned on this blog before, click here. Now Zekman's most recent article continues to dish up the dirt, click here.

It turns out corrupt Chicago cops were on the take for years...

...allegedly, and took bribes in return for "vouching" for towing companies. This practice is against police department policy, even if the towing companies are GOOD, but in this case the companies shook people down for outrageous amounts of inflated fees. According to Zekman's article, police internal affairs and FBI knew about what was happening for YEARS.

So why did the police allow citizens to keep getting taken to the cleaners, just to catch a few crooked cops?

I might point out very similar questions were asked in the Boyton Beach, California matter, click here, where investigators kept racking up felony charges...but, in the meantime, citizens were being illegally towed. Why was that allowed to continue? And do the folks in Boynton Beach have a lawsuit similar to these citizens of Chicago?

In any case, Pam Zekman is my hero. Well, my heroine.

Keep up the great work, Ms. Zekman.

Predatory Towing On The Island Paradise Of Hawaii

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In Hawaii, according to state law as related in this recent "legal advice" article, click here, towing companies can only charge $65 for a tow, or $75 for a tow involving a dolly. They are allowed to charge $7.50 per mile. So you have to wonder how, exactly, a guy who got towed "just around the corner" on Cooke Street paid $145 cash!

I'll bet that...

...he's wondering the same thing.

Here are some other aspects of the law I want to highlight, with credit to the article:

* Storage rates are capped at $25 per day, or a fraction thereof, for the first 7 days, and $20 per day after that.

* Mandatory free drop! If you reach your car while the tower is hooking up the vehicle, he must unhook it, without charge. This is something ALL STATES AND CITIES SHOULD ADOPT and I'm sure glad I've found Hawaii as an example that can be cited.

Why is Hawaii like this? I'm guessing Hawaii is very conscious of its tourist industry, and knows a bad experience means somebody won't be coming back to spend their money. If only other cities and states could be this bright.

* The towing companies must provide a receive stating the maximum towing charges allowed by law, and the telephone number of a consumer information service. All I can say is...wow!

* Towing companies must make payment convenient by cash, credit card or automated teller machine located on the premises. Requiring only cash payments is against the law.

Online Comments Provide Substantive Info

It's hard work mining streams of online comments for any kind of worthwhile info; so often online comments degenerate into stupid and pointless discussions about race, religion, and the superiority of red versus blue. But, in this case, some good information actually turned up, pretty and gleaming, in the bottom of my gold-mining pan.

It seems there is a company called ACE Towing on Makepono Drive. They are out on a place called "Sand Island," so the only way to get there is a $40 taxi ride from downtown or the bus. The bus only goes as far as "OCCC," whatever that is, so after that you have to walk 4 miles.

Then ACE Towing says "only cash." This according to an online commenter called "Dude Aloha Joe," and it is unconfirmed.

Filling In The Towing Utopia National Map

I was worried I'd never see a towing story from Hawaii, and this state would remain terra incognito on my national map. But, it appears, predatory towing is even present in what is supposedly an "island paradise." And this during the very week when I saw my first Hawaii State Quarter.

Trailer Court Violence Over Predatory Towing In Bluffton, South Carolina

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Bluffton, South Carolina isn't a very big place, but it sure seems to be making a name for itself in the media when it comes to predatory towing. I'd just recently blogged about a guy who wrote to the local paper, complaining about what he'd endured in Bluffton, click here.

Now, according to a recent article, click here, a tow truck driver/company owner took 10 inches of knife blade into his body at an...

...apartment complex called "Shady Glen Mobile Home Park," where "residents and property management have an ugly, ongoing dispute about parking enforcement." Preston Oates, the owner of "Pro Tow," was confronted by more than one tenant of "the home on Shady Glen Circle."

No charges have yet been filed.

This situation sounds a bit like the "Abbey Court Uprising" in North Carolina, where the mayor of the town was forced to dramatically intervene...on the side of the tenants.

Violence is wrong...but hardly unpredictable when people feel oppressed and trampled upon.

Calling Out Predatory Towing In Ridgewood, New Jersey

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A blogger who concentrates on issues in and around Ridgewood, New Jersey, recently produced what I consider a "classic post" on predatory towing, click here...

First of all, he provided the specifics of the incident from his source, and included photos.

Secondly, he provided information about New Jersey's recent law, a matter I've blogged about before, click here, and allowed the incident to be contrasted with the specifics of the law.

Third, his blog post had a comments function enabled, which allowed individuals to come forward with all kinds of nitty-gritty information, right down to whether a local church-goers had been getting a break in that particular parking lot for a long time.

If all local bloggers were doing posts like this, it would save me a lot of work! Of particular interest is prominent use of the phrase "predatory towing." This phrase, when Googled, is like a key that unlocks treasure-troves of information about this issue, info which inevitably raises the consciousness of the reader and leaves them to wonder: why isn't our nation doing more to put a stop to predatory towing?

Student Newspaper Exposes Predatory Towing Problems In Maryland

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"The Diamondback" is a student newspaper, but still provided a high-quality article on predatory towing last month, click here, which revealed up to 60 percent of Maryland's towing companies might be considered "rogue towers."

In Maryland, most laws about towing are...

...left up to county governments, according to reporter Brady Holt, and this appears to be creating a regulatory hole which allows aggressive "snatch-and-grabbers" who "call themselves towing companies simply because they own a tow truck." Even the president of "Towing and Recovery Professionals of Maryland" sees a problem.

Kansas City, Missouri Wakes Up To Predatory Towing

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When I see the phrase "predatory towing" actually used in a headline, I know America's consciousness about this issue is starting to increase, as was the case in a recent article from Kansas City, Missouri, click here.

Notably, not everybody in...

...Kansas City thinks there is a problem with predatory towing. A blog devoted to issues in Kansas City suggested naive, rube-like citizens need some kind of primer in "Big City Parking 101," click here.

Well, I think that particular blog post is just wrong-headed and, further, the blogger projects a little too much of a sense of jaded, cosmopolitan superiority. Where is that blogger from, and what big city tales does "William Rockhill Nelson" have to tell to convince me of his savvy about "big city parking?" I say "predatory towing" is a big city issue, but I don't see any evidence Mr. Nelson has even HEARD of it.

It's pretty clear from recent articles in the Kansas City Star that predatory towing practices have indeed become a problem, and it unfortunately coincides with a "revival" of downtown Kansas City, Missouri, at outlined in this article, click here.

You really have to wonder how long any city's "downtown revival" can last if word gets out about sneaky, predatory towing. Some complaints concern warning signs not properly displayed and tow truck drivers lying in wait to snatch cars.

Some proposals for the a new anti-predatory towing ordinance include requiring towing companies to accept credit cards, and capping fees. I hope before the ordinance gets passed, Kansas City might look to some other cities for ideas, like ideas about required signage. Many of those ideas are documented on this blog.

The Kansas City Star is supportive of reform, warning public officials in an editorial that if visitors have negative experiences downtown, they might not come back, click here.