Colorado Cracking Down on Nonconsensual Towing

Two Colorado lawmakers, Rep. Edie Hooton, (D) Boulder and Rep. Naquetta Rick, (D) Aurora, plan to crack down on what they call "nonconsensual towing.” 

“I don’t deny that they are legitimate reasons for people to be towed, but there is a lot of towing that is occurring without documentation about why they’re being towed....,” said Hooton. 

"Many of my constituents have complained about predatory towing, cars being taken in the middle of the night, cars taken and they have to spend $300 to get in within 24 hours, cars being taken with items that they really need. We thought it would be time to tackle it," said Ricks. 

State law requires residential communities to draft contracts that specify when and why a company can tow a car, but legislators believe there are gaps allowing companies to take advantage. 

“One of the things in this bill is whether or not they can continue to patrol and patrol and kind of like they are circling looking for that opportunity to take the car. In talking with the tow companies, they’re saying the apartment complexes are giving them that right to patrol their parking lot. That is a place where we need to talk with property managers and see if that is indeed the case. If it is, it needs to be done in a better way because it seems like birds of prey just circling, waiting to catch somebody," said Ricks. 

"The Vehicle Owner's Bill of Rights" would require companies that are towing vehicles without the owner's consent to do the following: 

Charge the same fees for tows made without the owner's consent as the carrier charges for tows made with the owner's consent. These fees must be filed with the Public Utilities Commission and posted on site 

Give the owner or lienholder an itemized bill upon demand 

Before connecting to a vehicle, photographically document the vehicle's condition and the reason for the tow. Failure to document the vehicle's condition or the reason for the tow leads to a rebuttable presumption that any damages were caused by the carrier or that the tow was not authorized 

Upon demand of the vehicle's owner, retrieve the contents of the towed vehicle or allow the owner to retrieve the contents 

To remove a vehicle from private property, obtain authorization within the last 24 hours from the property owner, leaseholder, or common interest community 

Unless ordered by a police officer, not tow a vehicle from private property because the rear license plate shows the vehicle is expired 

Repeal the two-day waiting period for tow companies to notify the owner and lienholder of a vehicle that was towed without either the owner's or lienholder's consent. Instead requires notice within 10 days after the tow 

John Connolly, president of the Towing and Recovery Professionals of Colorado said, "The biggest problems in private property towing are not the towing industry itself, rather, the contracts the towing carriers are bound to."

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