This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with The Connecticut Mirror. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.
The Connecticut legislature is working to overhaul the state's towing laws to protect consumers and lengthen the time before a towed vehicle can be sold.
Drivers, landlords and towing industry leaders testified at the state Capitol on Monday during a public hearing before the state Transportation Committee. It is among the early actions that House Bill 7162 must undergo in the legislative process.
The bill comes in response to an investigation by The Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica that showed how state towing laws have come to favor tow companies at the expense of vehicle owners. The news organizations’ reporting found that Connecticut has one of the shortest windows in the country between towing and the potential sale at 15 days for vehicles worth less than $1,500. People with low incomes have been disproportionately impacted by these laws, the news organizations found.
“One single tow can have a profound snowball effect, forcing tenants to choose between paying for towing and paying their rent,” said Rep. Laurie Sweet, D-Hamden, testifying before the committee.
The bill would overhaul Connecticut’s towing laws and address nearly all of the issues raised in CT Mirror and ProPublica’s reporting.
The bill would lengthen the amount of time between a tow and the sale of a vehicle, require tow companies to post certain information about consumer rights and curb aggressive property management companies and towers who remove vehicles from private property. The proposed legislation would still let towers to seek permission to sell a car after 15 days, but they would not be allowed to actually sell a vehicle worth less than $1,500 until 30 days have passed.
Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Tony Guerrera said Monday that sales typically take longer than 15 days right now, and the bill would clarify that process.
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Some car owners told CT Mirror and ProPublica that requirements to pay in cash and limited hours made it more difficult for them to get their vehicles back. Sometimes, they said, towing managers refused to release their cars despite showing ownership paperwork because the vehicle wasn’t yet registered in their name, an ambiguity in state law.
The bill includes a slew of consumer protections including mandates that tow companies accept debit and credit card payments, make themselves “reasonably available” on weekends to allow people to get their cars back, issue a 24-hour warning ahead of a private property tow and require that companies accept a title or bill of sale to prove vehicle ownership.
Under the bill, towing companies would also not be allowed to remove a vehicle from a private lot or garage for having an out-of-date parking permit unless it has been expired for more than 15 days.
Melissa Anderson’s car was towed from her Hamden apartment complex parking lot in 2021 because her temporary parking permit had expired just two days before her appointment to register the car at the DMV.
“This is awesome. It’s great news,” Anderson said when informed of the proposed legislation. “I wouldn’t have lost my car, and now maybe others won’t either.”
Guerrera submitted testimony and spoke in favor of the bill on Monday, saying it contains “meaningful new consumer protection measures.”
Guerrera’s written testimony also outlined administrative steps the agency has taken to address issues outlined in the news outlets’ reporting. He said it is updating forms and guidance around the vehicle sale process and has assigned more staff to do “spot field checks” of towing companies.
Others who testified in favor of the legislation also highlighted the consumer protection aspects of the bill. People whose vehicles had been towed told lawmakers about the ways their lives had been impacted. Insurance companies said they’d also struggled with Connecticut’s policies.
“This bill is long overdue,” said Rafie Podolsky, a legal aid attorney, in written testimony. “It makes a strong effort to identify and correct abusive practices in the towing industry that have had a serious and detrimental effect on motor vehicle owners.”
Jack Boudreau, whose father and stepmother live in a Hamden apartment complex that was targeted by what residents said was predatory towing, testified Monday that his father had a truck sold under the system the bill seeks to change.
“Due to ongoing fear and badgering from these towing entities, my siblings and I have been personally afraid and cautious to visit/stay with our family due to the ongoing threat of being falsely towed,” Boudreau said in his testimony.
Jeniffer Perez Caraballo, a Hartford resident, told legislators about a time her car was towed from her apartment complex, which had a parking lot shared with other businesses. Her car was buried under ice and snow, and the fees quickly stacked up until she said it didn’t make sense to get it back.
“It soon became easier to just let it go, because we were losing money every single day and we didn’t have a way to get to the place to actually pay,” Perez Caraballo said.
“Why are we OK with people without means being a money generator for others?” she asked.
The bill faces fierce opposition from the towing industry. About a dozen tow trucks lined the parking areas at the Capitol on Monday.
Timothy Vibert, president of the Towing & Recovery Professionals of Connecticut, said towers weren’t sufficiently involved in the drafting of the bill and asked lawmakers to create a working group to study the issue. Vibert, among other towers, also said the bill doesn’t address towing rates, which they said are too low.
“I kind of chuckle about the bill of rights, about us towing people because we are getting inundated with abandoned motor vehicles,” Vibert said of the requirement that towers post information about consumer rights. And, he said, often the issue isn’t that people don’t want to pay, it’s that “they just don’t want the car anymore.”
Landlords and property managers also opposed the bill, saying provisions such as the 24-hour warning would be difficult to maintain and impose unnecessary restrictions. They want to make sure their residents can park without any issues, they said.
“Requiring a 24-hour written notice before towing an unauthorized or improperly parked car would inconvenience responsible tenants, disrupt essential operations like snow removal and create security risks,” Lauren Tagliatela, a member of the Connecticut Apartment Association, said.
Legislative leaders on the Transportation Committee said they expect bipartisan support on the bill.
“Let me be clear, these predatory towing practices are a direct attack on poor people and people who rent, and this bill seeks to address that in a holistic way,” Sweet said.
State Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney, D-New Haven, also issued testimony in support of the bill.
House Republicans on Friday called for a hearing into further reporting from CT Mirror and ProPublica that detailed how a DMV employee was able to sell towed cars and earn thousands. The lack of oversight at the state agency allowed him to trade favors for deep discounts on towed cars, an internal report found, but the agency didn’t take any action against the employee and he still works at the DMV. The employee said in an interview that he didn’t do anything wrong.
“Calling the findings in this latest news report on towed vehicle sales ‘troubling’ would be a massive understatement,” said Friday’s statement from House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, and Government Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Devin Carney, R-Old Saybrook. “State government is meant to serve residents, not exploit them. The fact that someone can brazenly use their taxpayer-funded position for personal gain is nothing short of outrageous.”
Senate Republicans on Sunday issued a statement as well, calling for bipartisan reform to state law.
“What this investigation has exposed is that consumers are not being properly protected and that the current system is unfair. Fraud and abuse is allowed to fester under the current system. Vulnerable residents are taken advantage of under the current system,” said the statement from Government Oversight Committee ranking member Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, General Law Committee ranking member Sen. Paul Cicarella, R-North Haven, and Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield.
The Transportation Committee must vote on the bill by March 24 to move it along to the House.
