The Chattanooga Wrecker Board is dealing with a new problem. The city of Chattanooga has a wrecker ordinance regulating companies that are on the city’s towing rotation list. Over the last year, those companies have worked alongside the Wrecker Board and the Chattanooga City Council to revise and update the ordinance to seek to make it fair for all entities.
There are also private tow truck companies that are not included in the rotation list. In 2015 a separate ordinance was written to regulate those businesses. From recent complaints that have come to Wrecker Inspector Officer Phil Moser, tit appears that one of the private towing companies has been in violation of that ordinance, the board was told.
A hearing of the accusations against American Tow and Recovery is scheduled for the May 4 meeting, however many people who have been affected came to the board meeting on Thursday to lodge complaints during a public comment portion of the meeting.
People are accustomed to using the large parking lots at an area Walmart to leave their cars when they join someone else traveling in another vehicle. The first complaint on Thursday came from Lacy Holt, who left her car in the lot at the Walmart on Brainerd Road. She found her car missing when she returned to pick it up. When it was tracked down, she learned that it had been towed on March 13 by American Towing. She contacted Officer Moser and found that when the towing company notified him, he was told the car had been picked up on Rossville Boulevard, yet the receipt she got when she found her car stated it had been towed from Walmart. She said Walmart had no record and had not authorized the company to tow it. She was charged $440 to get her car back.
The next complaints came from a group of people who travel together on organized bus trips. For the last two and a half years, they have met at the Walmart parking lot in Brainerd and left their cars there. Each person said they had permission from Walmart. Six people spoke on behalf of the room full of people who had come to complain.
The group left on March 25 and, when they returned the next day, they found 25-30 cars were gone. They discovered that American Towing had taken the vehicles. The signs that they found gave an address for the company on Rossville Boulevard. Each person who went there to pick up their car had to pay cash at that location to have it released. They told the board that there were no records and the company had to call around to locate where their cars were stored. In each case their vehicles had been taken to American Towing’s second location on Shepherd Road near the Chattanooga Airport. That meant an additional cost if they needed to pay for transportation to get there.
Everybody was charged a different amount to get their cars back. One speaker said they were asked what kind of car they had and the prices were based on that. Once the cars had been located, a price was quoted to the owner while on the phone, but that amount was increased when they appeared to pick up the cars. Those who spoke were charged from $270 to $290 and only cash was accepted.
Mark Shackleford, owner of Shackleford Towing who has been the industry’s liaison with the wrecker board, said that the people who had to retrieve their cars had been victimized. He said the ordinance states that a tow fee is $125 all inclusive. Additional fees were added to all these tow charges, he said. There are conditions that signage has to say where towed cars are stored, and they have to be available to owners within two hours, 24 hours every day. There should be a signed record for every vehicle that is towed that includes where it has been taken, and police should have a copy.
The vice chairman of the Wrecker Board encouraged all the people affected to return on May 4 when the hearing is scheduled. He asked for them all to bring their individual receipts from American Tow. Walmart’s parking lot is private property and the company has the right to remove cars, he said, but one question is if Walmart gave permission to American Tow to remove the cars. Officer Moser will follow up and track down the person at the business who would have that authority, and hope to have them attend the meeting, along with the owner of American Towing and Recovery.