JOPLIN, Mo. — The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is fighting against predatory towing practices in Missouri. On Tuesday, OOIDA executive vice president Lewie Pugh testified before the Missouri Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee. “When you’re a small business trucker, that truck is your life,” Pugh said. “It feeds your family. It clothes your kids. It takes care of everything. Predatory Towing Practices Bills, HB745 and SB516, aim to address longstanding issues with predatory towing practices. These bills, introduced by Sen. Justin Brown (R-Rolla) and Rep. Dave Griffith (R-Jefferson City), propose critical reforms. They would grant the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) the authority to regulate nonconsensual towing procedures for commercial vehicles. “96% of all trucking companies out here are small business truckers, 20 trucks or less,” Pugh said. “Trucking is a very, very, very tight profit margin business. I tell people it’s a penny saved business, not a money made business. Kind of like farming. There’s lots and lots of people who control everything about it.” Real World Scenario “When something like this happens to you as a small business trucker, your life’s pretty much devastated because your equipment you’ve spent $150,000 to $250,000 for is now damaged,” Pugh said. “You’re trying to get it back. There’s a lot of good towing companies out here, but you get unscrupulous ones who put egregious storage fees that you cannot even afford to get your equipment back to get it somewhere to get it fixed in the first place. Pugh said that they only way you can pay the fees is to get your equipment back and get back out on the road so that money can be made. If the truck was in an accident with a non-commercial vehicle and it was not the truckers fault, the cars are not insured enough to even touch the nonconsensual towing fees. Free Market “I’m a free market guy and I believe in a free market society, but I also believe we all have a right to have someone to go to when we’ve been wronged,” Pugh said. “For too long in the state of Missouri there’s nobody to go to when you get one of these bills. I personally know of a tow that happened to a friend of mine and he was charged double the price for the equipment that was sent out there. If he would have called that tower and had them come out there and done something personally. Twice the price they doubled on the equipment. That’s not right. Again, there’s lots of good towers out there. That’s not what this is about. Everybody deserves some kind of protection.” Rep. Michael Burton told the committee that he also believes in a free market but is not sure the proposed legislation falls in line with that. Freedom of Choice Burton asked why the industry cannot let the market work itself out. “There are companies that are doing wrong by the way they are charging people to tow trucks,” Burton said. “Doesn’t that open up an availability for someone else to start a company to do it?” Pugh said the problem with that is choice. “It would if this were my trucking company that called and got the tower,” Pugh said. “If I have an accident or whatever happens, I’m not calling the tower. I’m forced to use this tower. I don’t have any choice in the matter. That’s the problem here. It’s not really a free market when I don’t get to choose. It’s just this is who your using and then I get stuck with paying whatever the bill is they decide to charge.” Burton asked if there could be an exemption written into the bill just for when an accident has occurred. “That’s where these nonconsensual tows come into play,” Pugh said. “When there’s an accident…If I have a broken down truck or something like that, I call the towing company and negotiate the rate…these are times when you don’t have that opportunity. These are usually, if not always, an accident type situation.” “I’m sure there’s been trucks out there that have been left on the side of the road where they didn’t do that and there’s still a nonconsensual tow,” Burton said. “I agree with you that most of them are probably from accidents, but I think that we need to let the free market reign in a lot of ways. I believe the gentleman is coming from a good place, but I still have problems with this. We have price gouging when it comes to all kinds of things. We have price gouging when it comes to food. Two nights ago I had a $60 steak. I don’t think it was worth $60. I’m not going to come before a board and plead my case or anything. But I do appreciate you coming in here and giving your testimony.” Highlights of the Legislation Establishing a 7-member Towing and Recovery Review Board, with one member representing independent owner-operator truck drivers. Creating a complaint filing and adjudication process to address violations by towing companies. Regulating the release of vehicles when fees are disputed. Prohibiting per-pound charges for nonconsensual tows. Allowing commercial vehicle owners or operators to request a specific towing company, with law enforcement required to honor these requests except under certain conditions. Prohibit towing companies from performing nonconsensual tows if they violate the law. Parking Problems Rep. Don Mayhew asked Pugh for an example of nonconsensual towing. Pugh spoke about the lack of parking and how trucks can be booted or towed against the drivers will leaving them with astronomical bills that are not their fault. He noted that this has happened when drivers are asleep in their trucks. “If a driver parks somewhere that’s well marked, well that’s on them,” Pugh said. “That’s a whole other conversation. There’s only one safe parking place for every 11 trucks in this country right now. Trucks just get stuck parking everywhere unfortunately.” Mayhew added that to him, a situation like that could be considered theft. “I don’t disagree,” Pugh said. “For me and my organization, we would be all for adding that to the bill for sure. We’ve been fighting this for six years and we want to get this to the finish line.” “I never even realized that someone would even attempt that, but anybody will try anything,” Mayhew said. “I will talk to the bill sponsor to see if there’s something we could add to tray and alleviate that situation too.” Bad Operators Rep. Steve Butz asked if OOIDA keeps a list of bad operators known for predatory towing practices. “If they call in and we know about it we will [help],” Pugh said. “Our organization does try to work with some of our members who have a bad bill and try to be an intermediary and help them get them down to a realistic amount.” Butz suggested that if there’s a pattern with a handful of operators OOIDA should get that information out to all its members and the public. Nonconsensual Towing Reasons While accidents are the leading cause of nonconsensual towing, Rep. Carolyn Caton noted that there can be other factors. Caton, a former trucking manager, noted that weather and “acts of God” can lead to towing where there is no fault to the driver. “This bill isn’t going to fix everything, but it’s a start,” Caton said. “Is that what I’m understanding? It’s a good start toward an endline.” Pugh agreed that it will not fix everything, but it will make a huge difference. “I think you will be shocked at how much it will fix,” Pugh said. “I’ve been involved with other states that have passed these kinds of rules. It seems like once the rule is passed, the problem just sort of goes away.” Success in other States Rep. Kemp Strickler asked Pugh for examples of other states who have practices in place to prevent predatory towing. According to Pugh, Arkansas, Maryland and Tennessee are just a few of the states that have addressed the issue with legislation, with Tennessee being the best model at addressing the issue. The committee did not vote on the bill. Missouri truck drivers are encouraged to reach out to their legislators to voice their opinion on the legislation.
