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After a failed attempt in the House, Indiana senators resurrected contentious bill language that intends to crack down on “predatory” towing practices.
Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, said the major add-in targets “excessive” and unreasonable charges on towing invoices, especially for commercial vehicles like semitrailers.
Numerous trucking company representatives who testified at the Statehouse on Tuesday described thousands of dollars billed for “hidden” administrative fees and fuel surcharges — even when wrecked trucks were towed just a few miles down the road.
Because law enforcement typically decides which towing companies are called to accidents, truckers aren’t able to choose the service provider. And even when issues arise over unfair towing bills, logistics companies said they’re forced to pay the high fees in order to regain possession of both their trucks and trailers, which often contain time-sensitive loads.
“When we are number one in the nation for predatory towing when it comes to commercial vehicles, that’s not acceptable in my mind,” said Pressel, who authored the underlying bill.
“This bill really kind of gets us into a place where we can try and have a common sense approach that is fair with both parties,” he continued. “It’s a mediation tool.”
House Bill 1390 originally just dealt with BMV agency matters, like insurance verification, specialty license plates and registration stickers. After multiple amendments approved Tuesday by the Senate transportation committee, the bill now wraps in towing, as well as a ban on “outdoor” marijuana advertising.
The legislation was OK’d 6-1 by the Senate panel and heads next to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
There was hesitation from multiple senators, however, specifically around the bill’s creation of a state board to handle towing complaints.
Concerned lawmakers acknowledged “serious issues” over unreasonable charges, but questioned whether the bill was “the right answer.”
“I don’t think this hits the target,” said Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, the lone “no” vote on the bill. “I’m a small business owner myself. I’m going to pay the bill. I’m going to deal with the company through the court system. … That can already happen. … I just believe that there’re some other avenues besides creating this board.”
Addressing towing issues
Within the amended language are multiple provisions.
One would mandate that local law enforcement agencies establish a “towing rotation” policy to cycle through vetted and approved towing companies that are called to accidents, or enter into contracts with specific companies for emergency towing.
Some local agencies already maintain lists of towing companies. When an accident occurs, police call the next tow truck in the rotation. The goal is to clear scenes quickly and prevent favoritism by randomly selecting tow companies.
Under the bill, policies or contracts must define service rates, response times, storage requirements and conditions for suspension and removal of approved towing companies.
Similar provisions apply to Indiana State Police — which already has a robust rotation system. The bill stipulates that the department would have to review its towing service rate sheet at least once per year.
Another section sets fee regulations for emergency and private towing, with periodic rate reviews by law enforcement agencies to ensure “reasonableness.” Additional fees beyond those outlined in contracts between companies and law enforcement would be prohibited, according to the bill. Contracts also can’t include a minimum number of hours for a towing service to be invoiced.
Other pieces of the updated bill would allow owners to retrieve vehicles after paying 70% of the towing invoice and filing a towing complaint. Storage fees charged by towing companies would also be limited.
But most of the contention centered around a proposed “Towing Complaint Advisory Board,” a seven-person, governor-appointed panel responsible for reviewing complaints, particularly those related to excessive charges.
The Indiana attorney general would be tasked with creating a towing complaint form, and consumers would be able to challenge fees exceeding $1,000 for smaller vehicles and $20,000 for large ones. It would ultimately be up to the board to decide if charges are fair. The attorney general’s office would oversee any payment remittance.
Proponents of the bill said that board would address the few “ineffective” and “untimely” mechanisms that currently exist for refuting exorbitant charges.
“The states that seem to be ahead of us, much better than us, almost all of them have a process like is in here with the complaint board … to evaluate and determine what’s fair and what’s not,” said Gary Langston, president of the Indiana Motor Truck Association. “The towing and recovery industry is vital to us, to the trucking industry. Just like any industry, there are people who do a good job, and people who don’t. We’re only focused on those who are taking advantage of the situation. Because these things are happening every day.”
Three Hoosier trucking companies testified before the committee, detailing recent bills from towing companies.
Jessica Warnke, president and CEO of Anderson-based Carter Express, recalled when her company had a preferred, nearby tow truck on scene shortly after one of her company’s semis slid off the road. State police told Carter Express they couldn’t use that towing company, though, because it wasn’t next in the rotation.
Carter Express was later charged more than $17,000 by another towing company for a two-hour job, including a roughly $5,700-minimum charge for labor and equipment; $2,100 in administrative fees; and $1,600 for four days of storage. She said the incident happened on a Saturday, but an invoice wasn’t provided until the following Tuesday. The bill had to be paid before Carter Express could retrieve its truck and trailer.
“Really, the crux of the issue here is that the freight on our trailers is not ours: it’s our customer’s. We run mainly automotive freight, and we do just-in-time service, so those parts on those trailers are waiting to be put on a production line. I could shut down an entire production facility by having a trailer in an impound lot for four days,” Warnke said. “I don’t have a choice but to pay that invoice as soon as it’s given to me so that I can get that freight back.”
“We operate very lean,” she added. “I don’t have extra people on my staff. I don’t have general counsel. I don’t have lawyers … to help me figure out how to file a complaint. And where do I even file that complaint? Is it worth an attorney’s fee to go to small claims court? Some of these issues this bill would address will help me not have to worry about all that red tape.”
Towing companies on the defense
Karrie Driscol, president of the Indiana Towing and Wrecker Association, offered the only oppositional testimony, maintaining that Pressel’s bill “is not the way to solve this problem.”
Driscol cited state data showing 33,000 tows across Indiana each year. She said only 200 towing invoice complaints have been submitted to the attorney general’s office since 2019.
She said, too, that Hoosier towing companies are presently “stuck with 50% of the vehicles that no one ever claims.”
“We’re not getting paid on 50% of these accident calls … and we have to dispose of those loads. We have to pay to get rid of that stuff,” Driscol said. If 30% of fees are “tied up” during the complaint process, “that is going to affect towers across the state.”
“The problem that we’re seeing isn’t as large as what it is being put out here as,” she continued. “I will tell you that there are problems in the towing industry. There are those out there that are doing silly things. But there are ways to solve it.”
Driscol said her association would rather further collaborate with law enforcement to work out better rates.
“Why do we need a board to determine what’s what’s going to happen — and what not going to happen?” she asked. “If we’re going to create a board, we need to take the time and do it right. Don’t make a sloppy mistake — that’s what this board is going to do.”
Earlier in the session, legislation regulating vehicle towing tripped up House Republicans for more than two weeks before it eventually died.
House Bill 1493 would’ve forced towing companies to create service rate sheets, display them “conspicuously” and show them to owners present when their vehicles are being towed.
It also would’ve required that any property owner’s future contract with a towing company contain removal and storage rates alongside other provisions, and mandated that towing companies give vehicles back within 24 hours of getting partial payment. Other pieces would’ve regulated emergency towing services, created a statewide towing complaint process, and banned overcharging and paid referrals.
The measure made it through committee on a unanimous vote, but languished on the House’s daily agenda for eight straight session meetings as House Republicans filed competing amendments. It wasn’t taken up before a critical deadline.
Another take on towing regulations, House Bill 1108, failed to get out of committee.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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