Ct. Towing Laws Overhauled, Industry Joins Reform

Connecticut lawmakers have passed House Bill 7162, a sweeping update to the state’s century-old towing laws, following reports of abuse and a DMV corruption scandal.

The legislation comes after CT Mirror and ProPublica revealed that current laws allowed vehicles valued under $1,500 to be sold after just 15 days—one of the shortest windows in the country. The reports also found the DMV failed to enforce rules requiring tow companies to turn over unclaimed proceeds from vehicle sales.

Rep. Aimee Berger-Girvalo, co-chair of the Transportation Committee, said the new law “had, it felt like, hundreds of pages, but about 80 pages of cleaning up old legislation, cleaning up old statutes, and really addressing the most important part of this, which was how this was hurting working families.”

The bill creates a DMV working group, including three towing company representatives, to review compliance and improve oversight. Berger-Girvalo said the group will “set up a system of oversight for the agency” and examine claims that no surplus funds remain after sales. Source: https://www.courant.com